SWITZERLAND: At a kick-off breakfast to the World Economic Forum annual meeting, top global CEOs from companies ranging from Barclays to eBay and Cisco to Marriott, stated a belief that men’s roles matter in increasing gender diversity in the workplace.

The event was hosted by Mercer’s ‘When Women Thrive’ global initiative for action. “Men have a unique opportunity in this, as we still make up 80 per cent of the executive ranks and even more than that at the CEO level,” Mercer’s president and CEO Julio A Portalatin said. “We have a unique obligation to be out in front on growing women in the workforce. It’s not a ‘women’s’ issue. This is a workforce issue.”

In previewing the January 27 release of the When Women Thrive global report, Mercer’s Pat Milligan highlighted new data on leadership engagement, saying engagement of men in diversity and inclusion efforts has dropped from 49 per cent to 38 per cent, more than 10 points, since 2014. JurgZeltner, CEO of UBS Wealth Management, said half the wealth managed by UBS is held by woman clients. “We lose women exactly when we’ve trained them and they’re at their best.” eBay’s Devin Wenig, whose company has 170 million active customers, one-half of which are women, said, “We could employ all guys in Silicon Valley, but that’s not going to help us understand our customer.” Cisco’s Chuck Robbins said one move he’s made around pay equity is to put data into the review process: part of an over $2 million investment in the framework and analytics for pay parity. Marriott CEO Arne Sorenson said, “We’re in a business about welcoming and caring for people, areas that have long been strengths of women. How do we make sure these women can become general managers and, ultimately, executives of the hotel?” — PTI