Governance, risk & compliance


Right: Meltwater’s DEI metrics not only look at gender and race, but also what languages employees speak.


Previous page: Female leadership is being promoted by Meltwater by supporting women with childcare.


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Companies with more than this proportion of women executives were more likely to outperform companies where the percentage ranged from 10–30%.


McKinsey 38


partners, investors and stakeholders, and share our DEI metrics,” Shishkina explains. “The industry competes for talent so we want to be top of the ranks for being an attractive employer. We also aspire to become the benchmark in the industry, inspiring other companies, but it’s a work in progress. Both internally and externally, Meltwater has always been a very transparent company about our successes but also some of the areas we need to improve.” For her part, Bjertnæs argues that transparency is an effective way to demonstrate credibility and integrity. “Measuring means continuous improvement. We measure and measure again and see the progress. It creates energy and momentum and gives us the ability to be best in class because we’re concrete about what we do. What you measure you manage, and what you manage you measure.” For the rest of 2022, Shishkina and Bjertnæs plan to prioritise getting their KPIs in place, and move ahead strongly on their recruitment goals. From there, they aim to move from employees to suppliers. “Our first priority was our employees,” Bjertnæs stresses. “Our procurement function will be the next to shape up.”


Beyond the charts It seems clear, in short, that Meltwater is taking DEI seriously. Even so, not every aspect of a DEI programme can be measured empirically – even if less tangible activities are just as important as the ones that fit neatly on a graph. “To inspire and elevate female talent, and show them the way to leadership roles, we need to be asking the basic questions like: how do you manage childcare?” Bjertnæs stresses. “Everyone needs to be able to speak on that level with a female leader.”


Seemingly simple additions to day-to-day life at Meltwater – like a Slack channel for parents – are typical. “People post pictures of their kids, watch out for each other and check in,” Bjertnæs says. “I’m in here as well. I love it. One of the guys had a baby and we got him a body suit with the Meltwater logo on the front and a ‘to the moon’ rocket on the back. That one was popular. Our CEO is also in the group, so that’s a clear sign of support from the top.”


More broadly, the executives argue it’s important to acknowledge the mental health challenges that rear their heads during many journeys to leadership positions. “We had one female leader who had been exceptionally successful for many years, but was going through a difficult time,” Shishkina recalls. “We got together to figure out how to help and support her because she hadn’t experienced this before. It was about helping her recognise it was OK.”


This combination of transparent, measurable targets for education, hiring and leadership accountability – and a culture that treats employees as humans who face problems at work – serves to strengthen what Bjertnæs calls the ‘DEI building blocks’ which hold up the rest of the organisation. “A company has a vision: where they’re going,” she summaries. “Then it has a mission about how to get there: their goals and strategies. But what holds this up are the values, the culture and the people. And we know that diversity, equity and inclusion are the building blocks, holding the whole thing up. For me, that’s the foundation of everything we do. If you know what your vision is and you have your culture, your people and the right values with you, you’ll get there.” ●


Finance Director Europe / wwww.financedirectoreurope.com


Meltwater


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