Follow this year’s conversations on  and , as well as the 91Ӱ�� Blog.

We are celebrating International Women’s Day this year by recognizing the remarkable achievements of women in our industry and lending our voices to bring awareness to the challenges women continue to face around the world.

For us, #EmbracingEquity means leveling the playing field. Once we acknowledge that we don’t all start from the same place, we can create an equitable workplace through identifying the barriers that exist within our systems and processes, developing programs and policies that generate equal outcomes, and leading the change in our industry.  

The benefits that come from diverse and inclusive teams, both organisationally and culturally, are hard to ignore – when our teams reflect the communities they serve, our people are more engaged, innovation and collaboration flourishes and we deliver better solutions for our clients. However, the pace of change, particularly in increasing the number of women in our industry and STEM fields, is slower than we would like.  

Across our company, we’ve improved gender diversity of our workforce. Women comprise 19 percent of our leaders, which puts us close to achieving our near-term target of 20 percent. We are also making progress towards our goal of 35 percent of our overall workforce being women—we’re currently at 33 percent. Recognizing that diversity looks different everywhere in the world, we have also established KPIs and associated near- and long-term diversity targets in each region of our business.  

We are ensuring leaders and managers are accountable for our inclusive culture because it takes all of us to be more mindful of inclusion and unconscious bias. We encourage hiring managers to take training on inclusive practices in sourcing and interviewing candidates, and in making hiring decisions.  

What’s more, it’s not just about hiring more women. We need to support them throughout their career through job opportunities, learning and mentorship programs, and family-friendly policies. Globally, we offer a suite of development programs, four technical and business-related career paths, and flexible work arrangements that support work-life balance for all our employees. Additionally, in the U.S., we’ve doubled our parental leave this year, and it applies to birthing and non-birthing parents, foster placement, or adoption. 

When our employees thrive both personally and professionally, they deliver their best for our clients and better social outcomes in the communities we serve. We establish partnerships with small and minority-owned businesses in our projects and make strategic community investments that benefit society and generate opportunity. For example, our work on the Arthur Sheridan Expressway in the Bronx, New York is improving community access to waterfront recreation areas, and our Safe Places Initiative is helping counter inequities and create more inclusive public spaces in Sydney, Australia and beyond. 

This year’s theme, #EmbraceEquity, is particularly meaningful to us as we remain steadfast in our commitment to ensuring workplace equity, diversity and inclusion. 

Happy International Women’s Day!

The post Embracing equity in our workplace and communities appeared first on Blog.

We live in an ever-changing world, and it is up to us – as individuals and as an organization – to help lead the change toward a more equitable future.  

In recent years, we have prioritized and facilitated talking about gender bias and the importance of true equity in our society and workplaces. This indicates there is learning and growth happening in this space, and that is fantastic! While it is important to celebrate successes along the way, we must also understand that acknowledging the need for change is the first step. 

We recognize that gender biases are still strong across our industry. We are doing our part by making meaningful strides toward developing and implementing programs that break the bias in the workplace. As part of our strategy, we build safe and respectful work environments where our employees are invited to bring their talents, backgrounds and expertise to bear on some of the world’s most complex challenges and where everyone can thrive both personally and professionally.  To ensure our people feel supported at 91Ӱ�� and have access to equitable opportunities, we have implemented several programs across the globe, including:

• A reverse mentoring program that enables our leaders to learn more about our organization, employees and culture through the eyes of our people 
• An employee resource group in the Americas for gender equality, Women’s Leadership Alliance, with another being established in Europe 
• Networking and mentoring forums for women called mCircles, active across several countries 
• A “returnship” program that provides opportunities for job seekers who are returning to the workforce after a career break 
• An active, formal sponsorship program that supports the continued career development of women 
• Ongoing review of our processes including promotions, pay equity and career development opportunities  
• Unconscious bias training for all employees  
• Our Freedom to Grow framework offers the flexibility employees need to do their best, deliver for clients, and bring their whole selves to work
• Coming soon, inclusive hiring training for all hiring managers on how to recognize and disrupt bias in the talent pipeline  

International Women’s Day is a time of reflection, to stop and celebrate the progress we have made as a global community, as each of us becomes more mindful of others’ experiences and understand that we all bring unique value to our community and workplaces.  

We choose how we interact or empathize with others, and we decide what behaviors we need to unlearn to move forward.  

Breaking the bias takes initiative and determination, an open mind in how we see the world, and – importantly – a willingness to change.    

The post A time of reflection and change to #BreakTheBias appeared first on Blog.