There’s a very easy lesson to learn when it comes to diversity in real estate. It is to open your eyes and to look outside. Look to the environment in which you are operating. Then turn around and look back inside your business. Does it look at all similar? If not, you probably have an issue you need to solve.
Community shopping centre investor Ellandi has done just that. Its portfolio of shopping centres serves a community that is decidedly not male, pale or middle class, so it has made a very visible decision to make sure that its management is not overwhelmingly male, pale or stale either.
“We know that 69% of visitors to our shopping centres are female and that on average they spend 10.6% more than male shoppers,” says Morgan Garfield, managing director of Ellandi. “At a time of rapid change in retail property and shifting shopper patterns, it is a competitive advantage to have a team that reflects our customer base.”
The Ellandi team is now almost overwhelmingly female. Twelve of its 21 staff are female (with six out of 21 employees from a BAME background) and its senior management team is now gender balanced.
Improving the business
“We are confident that hiring highly capable, talented people with greater gender diversity will improve the management of our business and contribute to bolder, more creative decision making,” adds Garfield.
Ally Stewart, Ellandi’s recently installed chief operating officer, says it was “refreshing” to walk through the doors at Ellandi and find such a balance of gender and mix of ethnicities.
“If you think about what we are trying to do at Ellandi, we need to be externally focused and if we are really going to deliver on the mission that we have set for ourselves, bringing into that a proper understanding of diversity is absolutely critical,” she says.
The mission Ellandi has set itself is making community shopping centres work. In a time when retail is facing some of its toughest challenges yet, the group is working to “celebrate the individual character” of each location to try to bring the public back to our high streets.
“We are dealing with demographics that are hugely diverse,” adds Stewart. “If we don’t bring into our thinking every single aspect of that diversity, whether it be class, whether it be age, whether it be race, whether it be sex, whatever it is, we will be missing the opportunity to deliver on what we are seeking to achieve.”
Competitive advantage
Julie Pears, director of development and head of future places at Ellandi, believes that the diverse make-up of the business not only enables it to properly understand the wants and needs of the customers and clients that it serves, but that it also gives the firm an edge.
“A business is driven by competitive advantage,” she says, “and what better advantage than to have a diverse workforce.”
The statistics on that are clear. McKinsey & Company’s 2018 report Delivering Through Diversity found that companies with more gender-diverse workforces were 21% more likely to experience above-average profitability than those with less diverse workforces. Those with more ethnically diverse workforces were 35% more likely to outperform.
McKinsey’s report is just one of a host of research documents to show that diversity matters if you want to run a successful business.
No easy win
But the team at Ellandi will admit that it is no easy win when it comes to diversity. It has to be embedded in the culture, and that can take time and a whole lot of effort.
“One of the things that struck me about Ellandi was the strength of the culture,” says Stewart, “and that has to come from the top down. It is an extraordinarily difficult thing to do and is a huge challenge. If there is any weak link in the chain then that culture gets broken really quickly. It’s like brand, it is only as strong as its weakest link.”
And while Ellandi may have a strong link to be proud of, there is still plenty to be done in the industry as a whole.
“The old boys’ network is something the industry still needs to work on,” says asset manager Ruth Moorhouse. “And we’ve still got a bit of a way to go as to how we address the profile of women in this industry. There are lots of incredibly intelligent, valuable women who can really add to this debate and discussion and it is about how we see our way through that and how we increase female representation in the high-profile panels, debates, seminars and conferences we go to.”
There is no denying that there has been a shift in the industry’s attitude to diversity and inclusion over the past few years. Different voices are becoming more prevalent, support groups are growing, the industry is challenging itself to do better and in doing so is delivering a strong portfolio of role models – like the team at Ellandi – for anyone looking to develop a career in real estate.
The Ellandi team on diversity
Julie Pears, director of development
“It is not just a female thing. Females can be just as guilty of unconscious bias as men. Society has changed and we are getting better at it, but we are hardwired to expect certain stereotypes. We need to challenge ourselves on working out unconscious bias.”
Ally Stewart, chief operating officer
“Women have immense contributions to make but often don’t feel like they have for whatever reason. A lot of that is about confidence, but a lot of it is just about being true to yourself, about not losing sight of the blindingly obvious that you have as much contribution to make as the next person.”
Stephanie Brew, head of finance
“We need to celebrate everyone’s differences and be comfortable doing so.”
Isabelle Hease, head of research and analytics
“Sometimes coming into an industry as a young woman trying to establish networks you have to work doubly hard – you may not be the first choice to be invited to a golf day or similar male-driven networking activity.”
Ruth Moorhouse, asset manager
“The old boys’ network is something the industry still needs to work on. Arriving from university without the ready-built network of rugby friends was something you had to put your mind to changing.”
To send feedback, e-mail samantha.mcclary@egi.co.uk or tweet @samanthamcclary or @estatesgazette
