The positive news first: the proportion of female board members of Austrian WBI companies reached a new high in the second half of 2023 and is currently at 10 percent. However, 36 of the 56 boards of the companies examined are still exclusively occupied by men, according to the latest Leadership Barometer of a consulting firm.

Another important finding from the study is that while 20 of the 56 companies currently have a woman on their board, no single company has more than one woman on its board.

Supervisory Board: +50 percent share of women

ÖBAG is committed to promoting gender diversity, particularly through the nomination of experts for the supervisory boards of its portfolio companies. Since 2020, the proportion of women on the supervisory boards nominated by ÖBAG (as of June 30, 2023) has increased to 52 percent, compared to 44 percent in 2020. The proportion of women on the supervisory boards of its portfolio companies, including works councils, is now 36 percent. When compared to the boards of listed companies in Austria, where the average proportion of women is 30 percent, the ÖBAG companies serve as role models in this field.

Women in executive positions

A closer look at the board level of ÖBAG's portfolio companies reveals some progress, but with four percent of women in executive positions (as of December 31, 2022), the companies are still well below the 10 percent mentioned above. Edith Hlawati therefore raised awareness of this issue with her appointment to the ÖBAG Executive Board in 2022, and from April 2024, Susanna Zapreva-Hennerbichler will be the first woman to serve on the board of the listed energy company VERBUND after many years. Daniela Vlad has also been the female member of the OMV Executive Board responsible for the Chemicals & Materials division since February 2023. As a member of the ÖBAG Executive Board, Edith Hlawati actively promotes gender diversity and promotes awareness of the need for more women in leadership positions through various dialogue formats, as well as in her role as a member of the Executive Board and Supervisory Board.

50:50 – A cultural change is necessary

In addition to increasing the proportion of women in relevant committees, ÖBAG has been measuring various KPIs in the social area for three years. In addition to indicators such as turnover rate and training hours, diversity indicators are also used, which are compared for each company in an international industry comparison. One significant step towards gender balance is the proportion of women in management positions. The portfolio analysis shows that the proportion of women in management positions has increased or at least remained constant. * Four out of six companies now have a proportion of more than 35 percent, and Casinos Austria AG is even at almost 40 percent. This puts the ÖBAG portfolio companies above the Austrian average of 32,9 percent.

To complete the picture, we also consider the proportion of women in the total workforce in the portfolio companies: Although 46 percent of the workforce in the European Union are women, the ÖBAG median is significantly lower at just under 34 percent. The proportion of women in the total workforce varies considerably across the various sectors in the portfolio, and Telekom Austria has the largest proportion of women in the company at 40 percent. It is clearly visible that ÖBAG and its companies are aware of the issue and the associated challenges (keywords: waves of retirements, shortage of skilled workers, etc.) and are making efforts to achieve gender balance in the companies; the initiatives range from structural Programs like ELLY (Austrian Post AG) to “Gender Balance” programs at VERBUNDhttps://www.verbund.com/de-at/ueber-verbund/verantwortung/berichte, where all top-level managers have been measured against targets for promoting equal treatment of women since 2017. In this way, companies are assuming social responsibility and setting a good example.

Conclusion

Recognizing diversity and equal opportunity may sound simple, but in reality, it is often accompanied by emotional debates and presents companies with structural challenges. Measures intended to ensure greater fairness often impact the entire corporate culture and challenge established structures. Societal and generational change, new transparency guidelines (CSRD, supply chain, wage transparency, etc.), and the increasing demands and needs of various stakeholder groups require actions at various levels, a holistic perspective, as well as good teamwork and open and proactive communication. After all, ultimately, we all strive to be among the winners and not leave anyone among the losers.

Further information on Diversity & Inclusion in ÖBAG can be found in the Annual Report 2022. Studies and further reading:

• Stop Making the Business Case for Diversity. Harvard Business Review, 2022.
• Diversity wins: How inclusion matters. McKinsey & Company, 2020.
• Women. Management. Report 2023. EU Directive milestone, Chamber of Labour and Social Affairs Vienna, 2023.

* It should be noted that there is no harmonised definition of manager in the ÖBAG portfolio.

Kerstin Hosa As Sustainability Manager, she is responsible for ÖBAG's sustainability agenda and acts as a communicator in the digital space. She initiated initiatives such as the cross-portfolio Sustainability Data Science ChallengeAs Media Manager, she most recently headed the communications agenda of the think tank “European Forum Alpbach.”