Month: July 2023

Crain’s Cleveland Business has named KeyBank Cleveland Market President Kelly Lamirand to its 2023 Women of Note list. Honorees represent numerous industries and roles, showcasing how diverse and encompassing women’s business influence in Northeast Ohio truly is.

Lamirand, who has spent her entire 25-year career at KeyBank, was honored for her longevity, passion for mentoring and commitment to Cleveland. She says the key to her longevity has been learning when and how to take advantage of opportunities within the company.

Crain’s wrote: “She began with KeyBank in 1998. After she had her first son, she worked a reduced schedule, a concept unheard of at a time before remote work was even an option, she said. Once she was ready to return full time, she could focus more on her career. 

“I was never pressured to do anything, but when I was ready, there were plenty of opportunities that were presented to me,” she said. Recently, Lamirand felt the timing was right for the next big challenge (as market president). 

“My kids are a little bit older now, and I have an incredibly supportive husband, and I just thought this is probably the right time for me to try something a little bit out of my comfort zone,” she said.”

In Lamirand’s current role, she works with clients with revenues of $20 million to $500 million as head of Key’s commercial banking team. Active in the community, Lamirand serves on Magnificat High School Board of Directors and has been an active participate in the American Heart Association’s Cleveland Heart Walk and the American Lung Association’s Fight for Air Climb. Additionally, Kelly participates in Key’s Executive Women’s Network and has sat on the local board of the Risk Management Association, serving one term as the treasurer.

Read more about Kelly Lamirand in Crain’s Cleveland Business 
 Learn more about KeyBank’s commitment to helping clients and communities thrive

Originally published by Ericsson

Welcome to the latest edition of our Diversity & Inclusion News Round-Up. Today we are talking about UK’s 4-day workweek trial results, hair discrimination, Generation Z being stressed in the workplace, and how Europe could solve its tech talent shortage.

Well being

A few weeks ago, the world’s largest 4-day workweek trial came to an end – and the results are promising for both employees and employers. The pilot showed an increase in employee well-being, retention, productivity and even revenue, and also had a positive impact on gender parity at home. Read more here.

Generation

According to various surveys, Generation Z is currently the most stressed generation in the workplace. But what are the reasons for this, and what do employers need to consider? Interesting insights.

Women in tech

How can Europe solve its talent shortage in tech? Interesting analysis from McKinsey, looking at the talent gap and how this could be solved by recruiting and retaining more women (women currently hold only 22 % of all tech roles in Europe).

Hair discrimination

According to the CROWN 2023 Workplace Research Study, Black women’s hair is 2.5x more likely to be perceived as unprofessional. Dove and LinkedIn have now teamed up for a campaign to raise awareness about hair discrimination.

The Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth

By Christine Svarer and Payal Dalal

RISE supports collaborative industry action at scale to advance gender equality in global garment, footwear and home textiles supply chains.The partnership builds on the positive impact of wage digitization proven by The Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth’s previous partnership with HERproject (a founding partner of RISE), which supported over 45,000 workers (70% women) in Egypt and Cambodia and developed a range of materials including the Digital Wages Toolkit.Mastercard will support RISE’s focus on financial health through wage digitization with its technical and financial inclusion expertise, products, network and philanthropic funding.

Meet Champi, a 24-year-old cutter at a garment factory in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, where she has worked for seven years. Champi is married to a farmer and has a three-year-old daughter. Her long-term financial goal is to invest in her family’s farm, and she is saving towards buying a tractor.

The factory where she works recently switched from paying workers in cash to paying wages into a digital bank account. Coupled with financial education, the shift has opened up new conveniences, like online shopping for her daughter, and is helping her save and build a financial cushion.

“I’ve started saving $10 each month,” says Champi. “I feel more confident now about my future expenses – if someone is sick, then I have savings to pay the hospital bill.”

Since 2018, the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth and HERproject have been working together to scale up digital wages for garment factories and workers like Champi in Bangladesh, Egypt and Cambodia. We’ve seen the longer-term potential of digital wages to drive financial inclusion and resilience and bring low-income workers into the formal financial system. Digital wages have increased the ability of workers, particularly women, to save, plan and respond to crises.

Workers are experiencing economic stressors resulting from factors like the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the energy crisis, inflation and climate shocks. Globally, about 165 million adults receive private sector wages in cash. Switching to digital wages is an opportunity to create resilience against these economic stressors and start to build financial resilience.

Introducing digital wages is most effective when done so in a gender-intentional manner. Women represent nearly 60% of the garment workforce globally, reaching 80% in some regions. Studies show that women who maintain financial accounts have more control over their income and greater influence over household spending. When women have more control over household spending, there is greater investment in education and health, leading to wider benefits for families and local economies.

Digitizing wages can build financial inclusion by driving usage, trust and confidence to use financial products, which can lead to an increase in savings and better financial management. By empowering women workers with knowledge and skills, they can make more informed financial decisions, improve their financial well-being and build a stronger financial future. For example, after digitizing wages and participation in the HERfinance Digital Wages program (now RISE Financial Health), 96% of workers surveyed at one factory in Egypt reported that they now preferred to be paid in a bank account, rising from 2% at the start of the program. Four in 10 women said they were saving every month after the program implementation.

Digitizing wages is good for business too. For factories, wage digitization offers timely, accurate payments and reduces the risk of errors or fraud. Brands and buyers welcome the greater efficiency and transparency. One study conducted by the World Bank showed that after two years of digitizing payroll, factories had slashed costs by 45%.

The opportunity now lies in creating impact at scale. We have tested our hypotheses through our collaboration over the past four years, and we have evidence of the benefits of digital wages for financial health and inclusion. We now seek to replicate and expand these benefits to more women workers. Partnerships will be crucial in this effort, which is why the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth has become the anchor partner for RISE’s Financial Health focus area, doubling down on its support for women workers in global garment supply chains.

We look forward to working together to expand and deepen the impact of economic empowerment for women workers, and we will share what we learn through reports on our work in Cambodia and Egypt later this year.

Photos courtesy of RISE

Originally published by The Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth

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