‘Pregnancy, baby loss & menopause have a major impact on employees’: Here’s how you can provide support
The workplace has a number of unspoken rule – especially concerning what women do, what they should talk about, and how they should act. But Hitachi Vantara’s Claire Thomas wants to put a stop to this – here’s how she’s doing it.
News in Brief
There are a number of topics that women feel that they should - or, in some cases, can't - talk about in the workplace. But Claire Thomas, chief diversity and inclusion officer at Hitachi Vantara want to put a stop to this.
Since Thomas' appointment, Hitachi Vantara has made a number of great strides towards creating a more inclusive working culture, including introducing five new employee resource groups, provided LGBTQIA+ training to all, and signing the Human Rights Campaign business statement.
Motherhood, menopause, mansplaining, imposter syndrome, equal pay, pregnancy discrimination – what do all of these things have in common?
They’re all challenges most – if not all – women will face in the workplace, at one point or another.
Claire Thomas, Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer at Hitachi Vantara
But in order to create change, the workplace needs pioneering women to help carve the way for others to follow.
Cue: Claire Thomas, chief diversity and inclusion officer at Hitachi Vantara.
After a 15-year career in sales, having two sons, and partaking in a number of DEI related activities, Thomas decided to transition her career to help make the technology sector a more inclusive environment.
In an exclusive conversation with UNLEASH, she shares the biggest workplace challenges she’s facing on behalf of Hitachi Vantara – which has more than 6,000 employees – is doing to ensure it remains an equitable environment for all.
Breaking taboos in the workplace
Around one in seven couples have difficulty conceiving.
This, as you can imagine, can cause a great deal of stress, unhappiness, and uncertainty, which can of course spill out into the workplace if employers don’t have the right support in place.
Yet, studies have found that only 27% of employers provide this support, with 40% admitting that they don’t have a formal policy and don’t plan to introduce one, either.
This, however, is just one of the areas in which Thomas wants to improve upon.
“Having personally kept my own infertility private because I had not heard anyone else talking about similar topics in the workplace, I want to make sure anyone experiencing challenges feels supported and able to talk,” she says.
Pregnancy, infertility, baby loss and menopause have a major impact on individuals and knowing that your company is supportive and accommodating can be a huge relief during challenging times.”
She continues to explain that for companies to be truly inclusive, employers need to acknowledge that biology impacts people differently.
HR leaders therefore need to equip managers to be empathetic to personal circumstances – which is especially important if they have no personal experience to similar events.
Thomas also highlights that parents make up a huge part of the talent pool – 85%, in fact. In an increasing number of two-parent families both parents work, making flexibility critical to attract and retain parents.
“I hear more expectations from people wanting to have a meaningful career and be a present parent, which requires a shift in traditional ways of working,” she explains.
“Raising children is the most challenging thing I have ever done, so being trusted to get my work done in a way that works for me around my family needs is empowering and critical to balancing it all.”
Supporting working mothers is particularly important as one in four working women in North America reported that they were considering downshifting their careers or dropping out of the workforce entirely, according to McKinsey. For those with children, this statistic came in as one in three.
“Having guidance in place on how people can apply for different working patterns, highlighting examples of success stories and demonstrating trust in people to achieve their goals all show support,” Thomas adds.
Hitachi Vantara’s DEI progress and future plans
Since taking her role at Hitachi Vantara, the business has improved its gender diversity across all functions, Thomas says. It has increased its employee inclusion index score, introduced five new employee resource groups, provided training to all employees on LGBTQ+ inclusion, and signed the Human Rights Campaign business statement – to name just a few achievements.
These are all stellar examples of how other businesses and HR leader can ensure prioritize DEI in their organization, which creating positive change that will, hopefully, break otherwise taboo topics.
We’ve introduced new policies on menopause and miscarriage, changed facilities to be more inclusive for all genders and breastfeeding mothers and updated our healthcare benefits in various regions,” Thomas adds.
“We launched our first talent development program focused on impactful public speaking, culminating in a global virtual event called Global Stories for Change. We have solid foundations in place based on our respectful culture and DEI is now part of conversation and consideration in day-to-day business decisions.”
But this is just the beginning for Hitachi Vantara.
Moving forward, the business plans to focus on continuing the progress in gender diversity, increase its focus on other dimensions of diversity, such as race, LGBTQ+ and disability.
It also plans to invest in its manager capability to effectively manage diverse workforces and continue our talent development programs to build diverse succession pipelines.
And this is all made possible as Sheila Rohra is at the company’s helm. As a female CEO in the male-dominated technology industry, Rohra leads Hitachi Vantara with a focus on accelerating growth through transformation and innovation.
“Her appointment challenges gender norms and underscores the importance of diverse leadership in the tech sector,” Thomas celebrates.
