Thank you, Madam Chair and members of the committee, for giving me the opportunity to speak to you today. I'm sorry I couldn't be there in person.
My name is Andrea Nalyzyty. I'm vice-president and associate general counsel, governance and government relations, at CIBC. My team and I are responsible for global regulatory affairs and government relations in all jurisdictions in which CIBC operates.
I began my career as a real estate lawyer in private practice and transitioned to financial services in the mid-1990s. Since 2000 I have worked at CIBC in a series of senior positions that have been both challenging and rewarding. After having led a skilled team of lawyers who supported personal, small business, and commercial banking, I moved to human resources. There I was responsible for employee and labour relations and all risk and control matters for CIBC HR globally. While in HR, I also took over management of our vendor contracts. A few short years later, I became our bank's chief procurement officer.
I suppose this all goes to show that you really do have to be careful when you have suggestions on how another team can enhance their performance and better serve their clients. You may just end up running that team.
I'm really proud of the career I've had so far. I know, if I'm here speaking to you, that it's partly because some things have changed in the business world, but it is also evident to me that certain things have not changed and that much more work needs to be done. While I think it is fair to say that we've made positive progress in curbing certain more overt forms of gender discrimination, there is still a lot of work to be done to challenge more unconscious forms of gender bias that impact women's participation in the workforce. I mean this not as a comment directed solely toward corporate Canada, but much more broadly throughout the Canadian economy.
Unconscious bias comes in so many forms, such as simply not considering a woman when it comes to filling certain kinds of positions. It can also mean something more systematic, such as enacting policies that unconsciously discriminate against pregnancy, or that fail to ensure flexible working arrangements for employees, primarily mothers, with children and extra family commitments. Let me be clear that I don't think these biases are most often rooted in malice. Rather, it's a lack of understanding of how certain policies impact women in the workplace. I think that is exactly why we need to talk about them more and actively design policies to guard against them.
At CIBC we have a robust gender diversity and inclusion strategy that has been in place since 2014. To support our strategy, a gender diversity and inclusion executive action committee was established, comprised of senior leaders across the organization. We focus on improving gender balance at leadership levels and on fostering an inclusive organization. Our strategy is aimed at breaking down unconscious stereotypes and biases. It is based on a few key premises—simply and most straightforwardly, that it's the right thing to do, that gender diversity is good for business, and that it helps us gain better insights into our clients' thinking and needs. It accurately reflects the world in which we operate. Research tells us that companies with more women in senior leadership positions perform better financially than those with fewer or no women in senior leadership positions.
Our programs, and I will only highlight two, have actively focused on unconscious biases and stereotypes. In partnership with Catalyst, we have posted the first “men advocating real change” program in Canada. Leaders and clients participated in a one and a half day workshop on how to better champion inclusion and achieve better gender balance at leadership levels in the organization. Three more sessions are planned before the end of 2017.
We have also provided “disrupting unconscious bias” training for leaders to influence mindsets and become more aware of and disrupt unconscious biases, supporting our leaders to leverage difference and develop and advance a diverse talent pipeline.
With respect to pay equity, CIBC complies with all federal and provincial requirements. We leverage compensation policies and programs that are bias-free. These policies and programs reflect our ongoing commitment to be proactive in providing equal opportunity wages to our employees. To help women balance work and family life, we leverage flexible work options through our CIBC@work program, including options to work from home where it makes business sense and is agreed upon by manager and employee. We have developed and strongly support progressive and leading leave policies.
Sponsorship and mentorship, which we know are two very different things, are key components of women's success in the workplace. Research shows that sponsorship is critical to professional advancement and that women are 46% less likely to have a sponsor than men.
To support women in developing sponsorship and mentorship relationships across the organization and at all levels, we created the CIBC women's network. This network delivers a variety of professional programming across the country, including networking events, speed-networking lunches, and career panels featuring various female executives and senior leaders across the organization. This network also organizes speakers' series featuring topics relevant to professional development and facilitates peer-mentoring circles.
Advancing gender diversity requires leadership, vision, and commitment. At CIBC that leadership is provided by Victor Dodig, our president and CEO. He is a strong and vocal supporter of the advancement of capable women on boards and in executive roles, and plays an active role in the business community as the chair of Catalyst Canada, an organization that works to accelerate progress for women through workplace inclusion. We have made some significant advancements. Within CIBC 41% of our board members are women, up from 31% in 2014; 30% of our executive team are women, an increase from 24% in 2014; and gender representation goals are included in our senior leaders' performance scorecards.
I do work for a bank after all, so let me close by speaking on why gender diversity is also good for business.
First, it is a demonstrable fact that organizations with more women in management and senior leadership positions are tied to stronger financial performance, including higher ROE dividend payout ratios and valuations. Companies with diverse workforces benefit from higher returns, increased innovation, and higher employee satisfaction. Gender diversity more accurately reflects the world in which we live. When you embrace gender diversity, you gain insight into your clients' thinking, you build better relationships, you have the best team, and you build a better company. When our team members realize their full potential, we benefit from increased innovation, productivity, and engagement, resulting in better economic outcomes.
On that, Madam Chair, I would like to thank the committee for engaging in this study and I welcome your questions.