Meet our Head of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Head of DEI Zahra Sheikh discusses the different initiatives created to encourage diversity, embrace equity and foster inclusion, and shares why her role is particularly meaningful to her
We created the Pictet Asset Management Diversity, Equity & Inclusion committee in 2016 and began by looking at gender representation across the company, a key area of focus.
There was also a strong desire to look at socioeconomic background and cognitive diversity, to bring greater range of thought and experience and ensure we're not always hiring the same profiles.
There's been good progress on DEI
Employee networks on gender and race give our staff a platform to connect and share their personal experiences, to make changes and promote inclusion from the bottom up.
Meanwhile in the industry, regulators and clients are giving more importance to DEI. They want to ensure firms represent society and the clients they serve. This increased attention is helping address issues that have existed for a long time, including pay disparity and minority representation in senior management.
But there's still a lot to be done
There’s more we can do in relation to gender representation. We need to continue to make progress on other segments such as disability and to continue our efforts relating to socio-economic background. We've started the conversation on ethnicity, a topic that will only grow in importance, and on ensuring we don’t miss out on talent whatever their age. We continue to develop our family-friendly policies. And on the LGBT front, we need to make sure we create an environment where everyone feels they can bring their true selves to work, regardless of their sexual orientation.My ambition for DEI is that a role like mine becomes obsolete
Minority representation
We raised our hand to be one of the first 100 firms committing to the ‘100BlackInterns initiative’ giving black students opportunities and helping to bring change. What was an investment-led initiative has now expanded across industries. Having conversations about race internally led to the creation of the Race of Work (RAW) forum. A group of us in London decided to set up a talk on #Talkaboutblack, as a reaction to what was happening last summer with Black Lives Matter. Then it grew into a broader conversation. And to me, that's very important, because it was grassroots. Employees who felt affected were encouraged to make their feelings known and we listened and acted on what they told us. As a signatory to the Valuable 500, we also want to promote disability inclusion. We have started dedicated recruitment for disabled candidates and will continue to build on this initiative.I am very proud of our work on social mobility and charitable engagement.
Social mobility and charitable engagement
The partnership we created with Sponsors for Educational Opportunity (SEO) in 2017 led to the creation of our summer internship programme. We expanded the programme this year to include students from 10000BlackInterns. These partnerships have enabled us to-date to give 45 students experience in the investment industry, opening career opportunities that they may not otherwise have had. It gives us a pipeline of young talent from diverse backgrounds and brings a new perspective to the teams they work in. Also in 2017, we held our first employee volunteering programme. It has since expanded into a Group-wide programme, operating in partnership with the Pictet Group Foundation. Over the years we’ve been able to give back to communities in many of the countries we operate and this social impact makes a difference.
The younger generation will help to shape diversity, equity & inclusion policies as it joins the workforce.
- Greater flexibility in how we work is already changing working patterns
- The perception of what a family looks like is evolving
- Mental health is being discussed more openly
- Social impact is increasingly important in how we make decisions
The key will be to listen and be open to change. This year we started running focus groups for our employees in their 20s to really understand what matters to them when it comes to diversity, equity, inclusion and culture as a whole. And we will continue to run these annually and expand the areas of focus.
My background is diverse
I’m obviously diverse in my gender and ethnicity. But it’s my life experience that makes me more diverse than what’s visible. I spent my childhood in Canada then went to middle and high school in Pakistan. My professional career started in Canada and the US before moving to the UK where my job often took me to Asia. That exposure to a wide range of cultures has given me a perspective that enables me to connect with people and empathize.
If I can make a difference to somebody in their career or their life, it matters to me. Growing up in both a developing and a developed country broadens your perspective of what is possible for some and may not be possible for others, and that it is not always by choice but by circumstance. I was taught the importance of charitable giving. That's why equal opportunity, social responsibility and charitable engagement really resonate with me.
You should not be limited by where you come from and your personal characteristics. And you should give back if you’re in a position to do so. That’s what makes my role personally very meaningful: that in some way, I can enable this through my work.
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