Without doubt, it’s the right thing to do.

Getting more women into leadership roles—both within AMP and society more broadly—is good for women and men.

There are many ways women have an impact on AMP’s business outcomes: the way we make decisions, tackle and solve problems, foster creativity and innovation, and connect with our customers, employees, partners, communities and shareholders.

A recent McKinsey report found gender diversity on executive teams is correlated with profitability and value creation. It is one of countless reports that support gender diversity as a driver of organisational performance.

But why? For us, it goes beyond the ability to source great talent to a place where diverse perspectives and approaches (diverse thinking) can tangibly change the way team members behave and interact with one another.

In her 2016 book 'Which two heads are better than one?' workplace diversity expert Juliet Bourke argues that gender diversity improves the collective intelligence of a team because it changes the way conversations take place. That women and men perform better in a gender balanced team because women encourage information sharing and collaboration which influences what they discuss, and how they discuss it. People also tend to contribute more openly in gender balanced teams.

This dynamic is at the heart of AMP’s future growth: the need to deepen and broaden our conversations and continually shift and shape our business in line with changing customer and business needs.

Our targets

We have some big gender diversity targets in place at AMP.

Our goal is to have women hold 50% of our middle manager roles and 47% of our senior executive roles by the end of 2020. We have a clear plan to accelerate progress through active sponsorship of our female talent, transforming our recruitment and appointment practices and mainstreaming flexible work.

We also have a 40:40:20 target for the AMP Limited Board (40% women, 40% men and 20% women or men): one we’re currently meeting under the guidance of our Chairman, Catherine Brenner. Women also hold more than 40% of positions on the AMP management team.

Our targets are both a goal and a signpost, a reminder that the more we invite diverse thinking into our business, the better our outcomes will likely be. Women are one – very essential – part of this.

Recognition

AMP is proud to be named an Employer of Choice for Gender Equality by the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) again in 2018. We are committed to creating the policies, practices and experiences that will help women excel at AMP.

Kylie Scott is the Head of Talent - Inclusion & Diversity at AMP.