5 key takeaways for DEI in maritime

Drawing on data-led insights from members of the Diversity Study Group (DSG), Founder Heidi Heseltine offers 5 key insights on getting the basics right in maritime.

1. Building inclusion throughout an organisation’s levels

We know that shipping has made vital progress in recruiting and retaining women in certain sectors over the last few years, with significant effort put in into achieving a more gender balanced workforce. For instance, we’ve seen improvements in closing the gap in more junior/trainee levels and in management positions — though these numbers drop off at head of department and director roles, indicating fewer women in executive and senior roles.

While the knee-jerk reaction to this would be to specifically target greater inclusion only at specific tiers of management — which is often effective and can look great on corporate ESG registers — organisations should look to embed and maintain inclusion efforts at all levels, so that gender-parity is reflected throughout the business whether lower level or higher. After all, we know from well-established research that when women make up 30% in any given decision-making forum they stop being treated as ‘exceptional’ and additional women are not seen as particularly remarkable or threatening. This can be particularly key for creating welcoming spaces and proactively preventing backlash to DEI efforts, where possible. If the goal is embedding sustainable and resilient DEI practices, then our focus must be on ensuring that having women in all spaces in reasonable numbers is not the exception, but the rule.

2. Avoiding seeing women in maritime as a monolith

Women are diverse in their requirements of a workplace and its culture, and should not be lumped into a single group defined by our presumptions. When considering what DEI approaches work best at sea or even on shore, we need to account for the fact that our global workforces are culturally diverse and have different levels of awareness when it comes to gender, age, nationality, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, neurodiversity and gender identity, amongst others. Societal norms, local legislation, and what is understood as ‘diverse’ can vary based on lived experience as well as the demographics of those involved. Understanding what is important to the women in individual workplaces and how we as an industry can support them will help us develop appropriate action plans for the short and long term.

3. Creating support systems to enable gender parity in technical positions

Technical positions, fleet and port management are slower to evidence change and inclusion when compared to progress seen in more traditionally female-led fields like maritime finance, Human Resources (HR), and Communications and Marketing. Organisations keen to address this disparity might benefit from creating training programs that include mentorship initiatives, skill-building workshops, and leadership development opportunities tailored to women in technical fields. This can foster confidence for the employee and their co-worker, help establish relationships for them to draw on in the workplace, and ensure they have the sector-specific knowledge and tools that they need to succeed.

4. Fostering relationships and embedding peer support

Following on from the previous point, peer support often plays a pivotal role in fostering an inclusive workplace but this doesn’t mean that disparities may not persist among different groups of people. Working with DSG, I’ve seen factors such as nationality, culture, ethnicity, and location all help or hinder DEI efforts. This is why it is crucial to closely monitor changes in perceptions, especially during challenging industry conditions, to prevent any employee from feeling undervalued or unsupported since this can impact engagement, efficiency and productivity. It’s important that organisations proactively work to recognise and address any issues in morale, which then helps maintain employee wellbeing and ensures a continued level of performance and investment in the organisation’s goals. Regular feedback mechanisms and evolving and updated policies can help support better company culture.

5. The support of leadership in successful DEI practices

Data from our members at DSG indicates that simply having knowledge of an organisation's commitment to equality, with good intentions evolving to well-researched and considered action and policy, significantly boosts confidence in fair treatment. This is often irrespective of group affiliations benefiting from such policies — everyone benefits from the process.

This confidence in a company’s commitments not only supports recruitment and retention — as establishing a sense of belonging and fairness often attracts dedicated workers and keeps them — but often helps elevate the public and private profiles of the organisation and its leaders.

The future of our workforce is global; to remain competitive within and outside of our industry, embedding fair practices and equality is likely to be a key differentiator for success.

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