CEO of Mercer (Sweden), Johan Ericsson, joins Alberto Lidji to discuss diversity and inclusion within the corporate space.
Johan has been with Mercer since 2001, a global human resources advisory firm with 25,000 employees operating in 130 countries.
Johan notes that diversity and inclusion have been gaining importance in recent years. There are also more jobs in this field and those jobs are to be found in more senior levels within organisations. Diversity and inclusion is now often a function in its own right, as one would find a head of legal or head of IT; it is no longer a sub-role in the margins.
Mercer have 30,000 clients globally; many of these clients are multinationals with subsidiaries in a large number of culturally diverse countries. In essence, some clients approach Mercer because, for instance, they might be operating in Sweden where auditing for diversity and inclusion is often required. However, in other instances, clients come up to Mercer simply because they take the challenge of diversity and inclusion seriously and want to learn what best practice looks like.
When Women Thrive – is an annual piece of research by Mercer done in conjunction with the World Economic Forum that looks at diversity and inclusion and how individual countries can ensure they fully leverage all of the brain power in a country.
We hear how cultural context is important, too. It isn’t simply a matter of telling companies to be diverse and inclusive. Cultural realities in Norway are different than in the Middle East, and this impacts how companies within these countries embrace diversity and inclusion.
Ultimately, Johan notes that business performance is better in diverse more inclusive organisations; more innovation and creativity, easier to hire and retain talent, the reputational angle as a good employer – there are many reasons. Moreover, diverse and inclusive organisations can be more fun, you meet people from different walks of life, and you learn more too.
While change is happening in the right direction, the pace is too slow. The vast majority of clients want to accelerate this agenda because they want to drive long-term sustainable and profitable growth. This is very important to them. It’s also important from a cultural point, in terms of the people they want to attract and retain – they need people from all backgrounds.
Johan’s key takeaway: building a diverse workforce is going to improve your productivity, efficiency and your profits, and at the same time you’re going to have more fun, you’re going to learn much more, you’re going to meet fascinating people and it’s going to increase your team’s engagement levels – do it because it makes sense in so many ways.
Visit Lidji.org for guest bios, episode notes and useful links. Please subscribe and share if you enjoy this podcast – thank you!
Celebrating our 150th Episode! Tania Bryer of CNBC fame interviews Alberto Lidji to explore insights from The Do One Better Podcast’s 150 episodes. A candid look at podcasting, philanthropy and more
Ari Simon, Pinterest’s Head of Social Impact and Philanthropy, joins Alberto Lidji to discuss their work supporting emotional wellbeing and mental health -- leveraging scale with half a billion users!
Nicola Galombik, Executive Director of Yellowwoods Holdings (owners of Nando’s restaurants, Hollard insurance, Spier wines and many others), joins Alberto Lidji to discuss achieving ESG impact
Prof Jennifer Davidson, Executive Director of Strathclyde University’s Institute for Inspiring Children’s Futures discusses how to translate research on children’s rights so policymakers understand it
Beth Breeze, Director of the Centre for Philanthropy at the University of Kent, joins Alberto Lidji to discuss her latest book “In Defence of Philanthropy” — we explore the arguments and opportunities
Naghma Mulla, CEO of the EdelGive Foundation, talks about philanthropy in India and their new GROW Fund — supporting 100 NGOs in India and backed by the likes of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Matt Hyde, CEO of the Scouts UK, and volunteer Andrew Bollington join Alberto Lidji to discuss ‘the Squirrels’ — a new Early Years provision for 4 and 5 year olds
Simon Sommer, Co-CEO of the Jacobs Foundation, and Sharath Jeevan, Founder of Intrinsic Labs, join Alberto Lidji to explore motivation in the world of foundations
Let’s get “out-of-school girls” back into school! Safeena Husain, Founder of Educate Girls, talks about their work in 20,000 villages in India and launching the first development impact bond (DIB)
Let‘s recycle everything! Tom Szaky, Founder and CEO of TerraCycle, on managing waste to minimise climate impact.
Let’s harness the power of global diplomacy and interfaith dialogue to tackle climate change! UK Ambassador to the Vatican, Chris Trott, joins Alberto Lidji during COP26
Let’s decarbonise one million hotel rooms! Keith Barr, CEO of InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), joins Alberto Lidji to discuss how they’re improving and innovating to become more sustainable
Let’s transform food systems! COP26 Special. President of WWF Int’l & CEO of GIST, Pavan Sukhdev, and Executive Director of the Global Alliance for the Future of Food, Ruth Richardson, call for action
Dr Sanford “Sandy” Greenberg shares his philanthropic ambition to end blindness. Sandy is blind, highly accomplished and talks with passion about adversity, hope and driving medical breakthroughs
Charmaine Griffiths, CEO of the British Heart Foundation, joins Alberto Lidji to talk about the challenges posed by the pandemic, the immense value of partnerships and why a sense of urgency matters
Caroline Anstey, President & CEO of Pact, explores how the NGO sector is accounting for its own carbon emissions and argues the sector isn’t always practising what it preaches
Shami Nissan, Head of Responsible Investment at Actis, joins Alberto Lidji to discuss ESG investing from a practitioner’s perspective — exploring key questions and highlighting the latest trends
Philanthropists Laurence Lien, Kathlyn Tan and Dominic Scriven are all collaborating on the launch of Asia Philanthropy Circle’s new Climate Collective, which is launching now!
John Rendel of the Peter Cundill Foundation joins Alberto Lidji to talk about trust-based philanthropy and the value of long-term, unrestricted funding provided by grant-makers
Stefan Flothmann, Global Director of Mindworks — the cognitive science lab of Greenpeace — joins Alberto Lidji to discuss the use of neuroscience + behavioural science to make campaigns more effective
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The Commercial Edge: Unleash the Power of People
The emPOWERed Half Hour
Social Dallas Podcast
Change Church Podcast
Six Degrees with Kevin Bacon
Nonprofits Are Messy: Lessons in Leadership | Fundraising | Board Development | Communications
Digital Islamic Reminder