We talk to Sonja Albers, member of the Board of Managing Directors at Union Investment and member of the Board of the industry association BVI, about diversity and inclusion.
Sonja, in March you officially joined the Board of Union Investment. What are your responsibilities there?
I have been working at Union Investment since 1998, most recently as Head of Group Human Resources since 2008. Now on the Board of Managing Directors, my responsibilities therefore include HR, as well as Legal & Compliance and Fund Services.
As a member of the Board of Managing Directors at Union Investment, what do you want to change in terms of (gender) diversity?
For me, it's less about changing and more about making our activities in this area a much stronger focus of our actions. Diversity is an important strategic success factor for us, because diverse teams make better decisions. We are a successful growth company, so we have to keep developing and innovating. Diverse companies succeed much better at this. We already have a corporate culture that does not hinder us in our endeavors, and we have a high level of intrinsic motivation for this topic. What I would also like to promote more strongly is that we nevertheless always question ourselves in this regard and also become aware of possible blind spots. This will be a change process that will be strenuous. But this is how I understand my role as an ambassador for diversity and inclusion within the Board of Management.
You once changed the texts of your job ads in the hope that more women would apply...
Correct. We have asked ourselves the question in the personnel area: How do we have to present ourselves so that more women apply to us and we become more attractive in terms of gender? How do we present ourselves in the labor market? This starts, for example, with our image. For several years now, we have been making sure that we represent diverse teams: Different cultures, generations, and gender. We have critically examined ourselves: How do we address our candidates other than the legally required "m, w, d"? We changed our wording, and formulated our ads "warmer" because we reach female or diverse genders better with this address. We achieved very good success with this and also subsequently revised our entire career pages. It was important to us to present our company authentically. Nevertheless, we have not yet achieved our diversity goals.
How do you plan to achieve these goals?
Up to now, we have been very much involved in the general discussion: We must, we should... However, it is possible that concrete objectives and actions were too infrequent. When a department says, "We want more women in our business unit." What's stopping us? More than a year ago, we decided that we wanted to continue to support this.
What have you done specifically?
We have set up a Diversity Council to structure and establish the topics of diversity and inclusion in our company with a view to the future. The aim is to develop a concrete strategy, target figures and specific KPIs, and derive measures.
By the way, just today as we speak, the Diversity Council is having its inaugural meeting. As of now, it's picking up steam. I am the patron, and the council is chaired by an executive from the front office who is otherwise responsible for institutional sales in the non-general area. This also shows that it is not a soft personnel issue, but a clear business issue!
What is the feedback like within the company?
Overall, very positive. The tone is: This is an important topic, and it's great that we're now putting it on a more structured footing! A spirit of optimism has arisen. Incidentally, there was a great willingness to participate. The Diversity Council is made up of managers and participants from all hierarchical levels and areas.
How do you measure and report your progress in the area of diversity and inclusion in your company?
At the moment, this is rudimentary. Of course, we have the classic structural analyses: age structure, gender ratios and so on. But the issue has not yet been incorporated into an overall strategy. The Diversity Council is now developing such a diversity strategy. Our clear goal is to make us more heterogeneous. For example, we want to significantly increase the proportion of women in specialist and management positions. We currently have just under 20% female managers. This compares well with the rest of the industry, but we want to drive this forward.
If my colleagues tell me credibly, "I'd like to hire more women, but I can't find any!" then we have to think: How can I do it differently? It will be exhausting, but I am convinced that it is possible!
Is progress in the area of diversity & inclusion bonus-relevant for your managers?
Not yet. We have HR targets for the Executive Board, part of which also relate to diversity. For the management levels below, we will examine the extent to which we also take this into account in the targets and variable remuneration. Ultimately, diversity and inclusion is a management task that cannot be delegated.
You recently joined the board of the German Investment Fund Association (BVI). How many women are on the board, and what are your responsibilities there?
The BVI Board has 7 members, and I am currently the only woman. The Board performs the classic Board tasks, which are of a formal nature, such as coordinating the interests of the members. The BVI represents the interests of the German fund industry vis-à-vis politicians and regulators. We advocate sensible regulation, fair competitive conditions, and the strengthening of Germany as a financial center. Important to me here, for example, is the reform of private pensions, especially an adjustment in contribution guarantees, but also sustainability and the taxonomy with pragmatic conditions.
And what do you think the industry association needs to do in terms of gender diversity?
Gender diversity is not a classic industry association issue, but rather an issue for the individual member companies.
As a young woman, what motivated you personally to take an interest in the fund industry, and ultimately to work there?
Actually, I didn't actively choose the fund industry at all, but rather the function. I started at Union Investment in 1998. I wanted to work in personnel controlling and didn't really know Union Investment at the time. It was only when I started my career that I got to know the fund industry and became more and more interested in it. After all, it's a great and meaningful industry, because it's all about securing prosperity.
What did your education look like before that?
I studied economics, with a focus on human resources and auditing & controlling. My goal was to work in HR, but also analytically, so I applied for a job in HR controlling at the time.
Speaking of the shortage of skilled workers, what can we all do together to make young women more interested in the financial sector and keen to work there?
We should communicate more about what an interesting, dynamic, exciting and meaningful industry it is. We are all about growing wealth for customers and ensuring prosperity for people into old age. The perception is often that our industry tends to be male-dominated, competitive and solely profit-maximizing. In fact, however, this is not the case.
We can also highlight more strongly what interesting jobs are available in our industry. The fund industry is a growth market, with extremely good opportunities for advancement, but also with a good work-life balance. I can only advise every woman to take an interest in the finance industry!
Do you feel that joining the board has changed the mood, process, and possibly the length of board meetings?
Something always changes when a team changes. I don't notice it consciously, but now that you've mentioned it, I do believe that the team members behave differently. Whether that's because I'm a woman or because Sonja Albers is a woman, I can't say.
Thank you for the interview, and all the best to your Diversity Council!
Anke Dembowski is a financial journalist and author of various investment fund-related and other financial books. She is also a co-founder of the "Fondsfrauen" network.