A year ago the outlook for women in sustainability was looking a tad on the grim side. Their traditional high visibility in the profession was slipping, at least in terms of wage parity.
According to Richard Evans, chief executive of recruitment firm Talent Nation, it was probably a reflection of the shifting dynamics of the industry and the economy as a whole.
The data, which showed up in his company’s annual ESG, Environment & Sustainability Remuneration Report, is anonymised and there’s scant anecdotal evidence to go on, but with his own background in forestry, engineering and finally an MBA and his observations of the sector, we figured he could take a pretty accurate stab at the reasons.
Sustainability, has traditionally been good for women in terms of pay parity and Evans says, certainly “from a leadership perspective, it has been weighted more towards female representation.” So the increase in pay disparity probably links to the slippage in bonuses at the senior strategy focused levels of companies, as companies pulled back on their sustainability commitments, and a comparatively stronger focus on compliance roles, especially in the engineering and mining sectors, where men still outnumber women.
The cutbacks in resourcing of sustainability intensified with the cold snap that followed the election of Donald Trump in the US – and in our view the federal election that had the opposition promising to quit the Paris agreement and freeze the National Construction Code for 10 years if they won. (A story that is still playing out as the code continues to crumble and lose its previous harmonised national rollout.)
It’s enough to give anyone the chills.
Evans says some companies acted quickly and sliced big chunks off their staffing. Today they’re starting to hire again. Others took a slower approach of reducing headcount by kind of “death by a thousand cuts” approach, and this has had a significant impact on employee morale, Evans says.
But overall there’s a distinct lift in activity. The mood is up on previous times. Evans can see the signs even in his local café. Business is up slightly and of course more people in the cafe attracts even more people.
It’s noticeable in his work too.
“It’s been the busiest quarter” in the past two years, he says.
He knows why we regularly tap on his door to check the lie of the land.
“People look at recruitment as the canary in the coal mine”. It’s the same for him with consultancies
“We look at consultants and when they’re busy we know the system is reaching capacity and it soon starts to translate to new appointments for our clients.”
And this subsector has been reaching capacity, particularly around disclosures.
The big demand is coming from climate reporting requirements through mandatory disclosures under the AASB S2 standard. Group 1 companies that report on the financial year are finalising their submissions to Australian Securities and Investments Commission, while Group 2 companies are now ramping up for their turn.
Some companies have tried to keep the work in house with consultants chipping in but failed to realise how demanding the work would be.
“There was a belief that you could use consultants to pull it together, but you know as they’ve looked more into it, they’ve realised that it’s just straining internal resources to breaking point.”
These are the companies that have been appointing fractional CSO resources – or contract resources – for sustainability services.
Reporting for Group 2 companies is next.
Among both groups it’s the real estate and extractive industries that have been best positioned for this reporting. Real estate because it’s been a long term leader in the space and mining because… well there’s a lot of spotlights trained on that sector.
It’s an interesting adjacency to have, but Evans notes that real estate has long seen the direct value case for sustainability – better NABERS ratings and better tenancy outcomes, for instance – but for that for mining industries it’s social licence that’s the greater motivator.
This can be seen by the huge pile that came from the ABC’s Four Corners and Guardian Australia report on BHP .
The program revealed that the mining giant had “quietly shelved billions of dollars in green energy projects and delayed decarbonisation efforts at its Western Australian operations, despite publicly committing to net-zero emissions by 2050”.
Evans says the program is well worth a look but he expresses sympathy for some of the hugely committed staff that have been let down by management decisions.
“They did have a good story to tell for a long time, and the report highlighted actions of a few people internally that that really unwound a lot of the good work that had been done… they’ve have always had exceptional people working in this space as well so really heartbreaking to see.”
Demand for jobs
Evans says the demand for sustainability skills now is pooling around mid-career technical people, with experience to present to senior and boards particularly sought after but in short supply.
Skills and great data can only get you so far.
Poaching or headhunting is part of the game he says because those who are good at what they do won’t be looking for a new job. They need to be tapped on the shoulder.
Seeking people from overseas can sometimes help but employers are most keen on those with local experience.
In the real estate sector industrial – and data centres in particular – is showing strong demand.
In commercial property it’s still a struggle to get people back to the office but retail property is picking up after a “challenging period”, Evans says.
“Across the board it’s positive but is also an interesting time at the moment because disclosures are dominating so much of the narrative.”
In real estate and other industries boards are not looking to put their neck out or to overextend themselves at this point in time, he says.
“So, what we’ve seen over the last couple of years, and I think this will continue, is that we won’t necessarily see a significant uplift in salaries at senior levels or at the at the very senior roles. What we’ll see is an uplift at the mid career levels, because that’s where the majority of the demand sits at the moment.”
Evans says the next remuneration report gets under way within weeks.
