Adobe’s Sarah Dunn on how women are shaping the company
2017 was a big year for women’s rights in workspaces as many companies and senior leaders across the world faced the consequences of the increasing awareness and demand for equality for women. With the women’s equality voices being heard globally, some technology companies and brands changed their people policies by revisiting them and taking into account the female perspective. In January 2018, Adobe achieved 100 per cent pay parity in India between men and women. In conversation with Digital Market Asia, Sarah Dunn, Head of People Resources, APAC talks about how Adobe is working towards equality within the organisation.
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How have the international campaigns about gender equality resonated with the technology/marketing industry in Asia? How are the APAC counterparts faring in terms of the gender pay gap?
It has been heartening to see progress being made in terms of gender equality at workplaces. More and more, we’re seeing brands pledge their commitment to make that change – signing the Equal Pay Pledge, and working towards eliminating gender pay gaps. The technology sector needs to look critically at what it can do to move the needle. We need to set an example for others to follow, and support the movement to shatter stereotypes. This starts inside the organization, by building inclusive cultures where all employees have equal opportunity to get hired and advance, and have the resources to succeed. By raising awareness and setting the standards, each of these steps taken will no doubt create a ripple effect that will have a positive impact across Asia too.
Adobe is making strong advancements toward equality. In January this year, Adobe announced that we had achieved 100 per cent pay parity in India between women and men, following our achievement of pay parity in the US last December. We have now closed the wage gap between our male and female employees in 80 per cent of our employee population, and have recently made a pledge to further advance that globally this year.
We are 217 years away from gender parity, according to data released by WEF. APAC markets have varied advancements in gender pay gap. How do you think we need to ensure we get more women to enter technology domains?
Opportunities in the technology sector are on the rise, yet fewer women are seeking them out – only 18 per cent of Computer Science majors are women. This is a huge disparity and creates a serious issue for companies that are looking to hire more women.
One way that Adobe has been tackling this is through early intervention education and outreach. We believe in contributing to the technology ecosystem which in turn will ensure that we have a pipeline of excellent female candidates from which to hire from in the future. For example, to help get more young women into tech, we have given $3.5 million to youth coding initiatives. We also started the Adobe Digital Academy to reskill people in lower opportunity job fields to move into tech. Our goal with these programs is to connect with those who never thought of themselves as computer scientists and open their minds to the possibility of tech as a career choice.
We are also focused on hiring diverse candidates through university partnerships, targeted recruiting and neutral hiring practices. By proactively reaching out to women to let them know about the opportunities there are for them at Adobe – we hope to keep attracting the best female talent out there.
While we are proud of all the achievements and progress Adobe has made to support diversity and equality, we also recognise there is more to be done. There will be a number of new global initiatives and programs lined up in 2018 that we are very excited about. We believe in leading by example and we’re confident that the collective effort of corporations, authorities and the society, will go a long way towards helping all of us achieve better days ahead.
According to you, what policies need to be adopted to ensure equal wages and equal representation of women in key roles across advertising, media and technology domains? What are the challenges that you face in bringing about a gender parity in SEA?
Adobe is constantly pushing the envelope to support diversity and equality. Our current global workforce is 31 per cent female. That’s up three per cent year-over-year– but not as high as we would like it to be. We have focused on improving our hiring practices – from recruiting to how we assemble interview panels and train managers, therefore helping the movement to shatter stereotypes. For example, we introduced a Breaking Bias training for all our employees to raise awareness about unconscious bias and how to mitigate it in decision making situations like hiring. The program has resulted in broad and transparent conversations about the many ways we can make our teams and company more inclusive.
We have also taken steps to review our job descriptions to ensure they use gender-neutral language, carefully scoping the requirements and responsibilities of each job at Adobe to ensure roles are properly matched against market, and drive fair and competitive pay for employees and candidates. In addition, we no longer ask candidates their salary history during the application process to prevent propagating wage gaps that may have existed in their prior roles. Adobe also offers a myriad of communities, development programs, and benefits designed to support and celebrate our diverse workforce. Our focus is to create a workplace where employees can grow their careers in an inclusive environment that embraces difference, including community building, training and internal awareness-building and family-friendly benefit policies. We provide generous family leave benefits offering up to six months of fully paid leave for new parents, flexible schedules and a “Welcome Back” program to help employees re-engage after a long absence – all aimed at respecting diverse family situations and creating an inclusive and supportive environment for women.
As part of fostering leadership, we encourage all employees to “lead from where you sit.” Through the Leading@Adobe program, we invest in our employees so they can flourish as leaders and grow via a wealth of online and in-person development courses and opportunities. Adobe’s Leadership Circles program is another great initiative, focused on developing female talent by bringing together a group of women leaders from all around the world to share insights, offer career-changing advice, and form a network of peer-to-peer connections.
Feedback, and making sure everyone’s voices are heard, is also a very important step to support career development including internal mobility. In 2012 Adobe bravely abandoned its traditional annual performance review to create a culture that gives genuine, ongoing feedback in real time. The quarterly Check-In gives ownership and control to individuals for their development within our organization, focused on goal-setting, feedback and growth.
There are also opportunities to participate in programs that support a diverse workforce, such as the annual Adobe & Women Leadership Summit where we bring together our employees to connect, learn, and focus on personal and professional growth. It gives employees the time they need to focus on their commitments – whether it be their career, integrating work and life or developing networking skills.
What role do you think the governments in SEA and APAC can play in helping organizations with encouraging gender equality in the workplace?
We need all hands on deck to encourage gender equality in the workplace. As companies take practical steps towards gender parity in terms of policies and hiring practices, governments too, can play a part with progressive policymaking that encourages gender diversity. Norway, for example, has often been cited as a positive example – since 2008, publicly listed companies have been required to have 40 percent of each sex on their boards. This has resulted in the country having one of the highest degree of gender equality in the world.
Public education is also instrumental in leading mindset change and the shift in social norms to ensure the workforce is diverse, inclusive and full of opportunity for everyone. It’s not only the right thing to do, we firmly believe it’s a key driver to business success.
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