Would I be where I am?
“I believe that we cannot succeed without diversity of thought at all levels of the hierarchy, and that talent flourishes in an environment where leadership practices from hiring to promoting are inclusive.”
Alexander Classen, CEO and Country Head Switzerland HSBC
If you were a woman, do you think you would have made it to the top leadership ranks? Why (not)?
Today’s environment is really different compared to 25 years ago in Switzerland, especially within the financial services industry. It is difficult to look at the past with today’s eyes as our codes have evolved. I am glad to see things are moving in the right direction and changing quite rapidly. We have made so much progress, but there is still more to do. That said, as a father, I am very happy that my son will not grow up reproducing the same biases as past generations.
How have gender stereotypes influenced your career choices and professional development?
And do you feel these stereotypes are present in your current work environment?
If you are not conscious of your biases, you can apply gender stereotypes without realizing. This is why it is important to be aware of your own biases.
Gender stereotypes are unfortunately still present in our current work life. At HSBC, we continuously work on creating a culture where everyone stands to gain by enhancing our flexible working policy, by making sure a promotion can be achieved regardless of the individual’s gender and by regularly improving our benefits policies to be more inclusive. It is rewarding to create an environment where employees can bring their full and authentic self to work. I am convinced that everyone deserves a seat and a voice at the table. If we succeed in creating a more diverse organization, we will definitely be better equipped to meet our clients’ needs and demands.
How do you personally act against gender stereotypes in your environment?
I personally ensure Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) is included in our strategic agenda, targeting all levels of the organisation. Every action counts and I send strong signals to all employees as often as possible.
As an example, last year, I lead exchange meetings on ethnicity, I gave regular D&I updates during our Monthly Employee meetings and I personally supported our internal “Pride” initiative.
We have also strengthened our hiring process over the past years to be more inclusive: We use a gender decoder tool for each job description to ensure these are neutral from a language perspective, we advertise roles at 80-100% as often as possible, hiring managers are systematically trained prior to initiating a hire and we ensure we have a gender-balanced shortlist of candidates and panel of interviewers.