Thought Leadership News

Originally posted on Business Post 08 May 2022.  As a country, we consistently ask the wrong questions about our industrial and investment policy. The current row over turf tells us much about Ireland’s body politic, and it isn’t a good story. Bad policy does damage, but we don’t have enough politicians with sufficient ambition for their constituents to do it a better way. Surely, the real question is why any citizen of one of the wealthiest countries in the world has to rely on turf to heat their homes. The wrong questions are also being asked about our industrial and investment policy. The focus, post-Brexit and the Northern Ireland protocol, has been our trade in goods with Britain and the wider world, but Ireland exports just as much in services. Services can only be provided if we have people to provide them. Investment policy in this country has traditionally focused on how we tax employers. Having resolved the tax status of the body corporate, it is now time to think about the body in the office sitting at the keyboard, providing the financial management, systems programming and business support facilities which fuel so much of our prosperity. We have issues with the retention of qualified talent in this country. This seems to be particularly pronounced in the medical profession, where, as an OECD study of health systems pre-pandemic rather dryly observed, a high number of medical graduates who qualify here will never work here. It is difficult to resolve retention challenges in any particular sector, but we have to slow if not completely halt the brain drain. While not every problem can be solved by throwing money at it, should we start thinking again about how we tax our working population? What might the effect on the workforce be if we increased the personal tax allowances available to those under 30, while reducing the personal allowances available to those over 50 by a similar amount? That would, in effect, frontload the personal tax allowances people receive across their lifetime of work in the country to ensure they are less taxed in their early careers. Such an initiative would be a long-term project, and history suggests that while it wouldn’t be ineffective, it may not be permitted to be effective. The last attempt at engineering the make-up of the workforce with income tax policy was individualisation – lower taxes for working couples – and that failed for little better reason than a political resistance to any form of change. There was no ambition for the wellbeing of working couples, or for the resourcing of national growth. Turf fire thinking is not a new phenomenon. Yet there are some grounds for optimism. There have been positive developments in providing apprenticeship opportunities and in education syllabus reform. One area where the government has made considerable progress in dealing with the challenge is in the granting of critical work visas for skilled personnel coming into the country. Waiting time has dropped from almost six months to, in some cases, less than a month. Many knowledge workers do not need to be physically located in this country. International tax conventions preclude the possibility of special tax dispensations for workers resident outside the country but employed by an Irish firm. They do not, however, preclude simplifying the whole process of calculating and offsetting the correct amount of taxes due between countries. Making administration easier can make all the difference in ensuring ready supplies of goods, as post-Brexit Britain is finding to its cost. The same holds true in ensuring the ready availability of talent. This time last year, Ireland was an outlier from the international consensus was when the government sought to protect the country from the loss of one of our key investment incentives – the 12.5 per cent corporate tax rate. The outcome was an international rate of 15 per cent that would not go any higher, while persuading the European institutions that it was tenable to run a tax regime with different rates depending on the size of the industry. But the other side of the international reform agenda, which garnered less attention was that some corporate tax revenues would migrate from countries of production to countries where markets were to be found. This would mean that Western economies such as the US, France and Britain would in effect be surrendering part of their corporation tax take to countries with large markets such as Russia, China and India. There is now little to no chance of that happening any time soon. Future success will not be achieved by attempting to mirror the patterns of the past. It has often been pointed out that money tends to flow to locations where it is most welcome, and the same is true of professional talent. It is not terribly long ago since we systematically impoverished our country by restrictive trade and industrial policies which did little other than prompt people with get up and go to get up and go from our shores. We now need to do exactly the opposite. It’s time to stop the turf fire thinking. Dr Brian Keegan is Director of Public Policy at Chartered Accountants Ireland

With gender pay gap reporting on the horizon, it’s time for organisations to really examine whether they’re doing the best they can for female employees. Dawn Leane outlines 10 things every business can do to help women in the workplace. According to recent research, the advancement of women in the workplace has, at best, stalled. So, what can organisations do to get back on track? 1. Start with the culture Many organisations over-engineer initiatives to improve gender balance. This often manifests as policies and procedures, which research shows can be counter-productive and have a negative impact. Organisations should focus less on control and more on creating environments that are genuinely egalitarian. This is achieved by modelling appropriate behaviours and embedding good practice. 2. Ask questions Don’t assume you know why women are not advancing in your organisation. Issues can be specific to the culture of individual workplaces or teams. Without insight, you could spend a lot of time and money developing solutions to the wrong problems. Independent interviews with current and former employees can help build an objective picture of the challenges unique to your business. 3. Support fathers All fathers are entitled to paternity and parental leave. However, only a third took paternity leave last year. Research suggests that men and women believe fathers don’t take their full entitlement because parental leave is still viewed as the domain of women. Yet, fathers are no less interested and engaged in their children’s lives. Encouraging fathers to take leave might not do much for your individual organisation, but this is a wider issue for business and society and will contribute to higher staff retention and satisfaction. 4. Don’t outsource management responsibility A survey by the 30% Club found that employees spend increasingly less time with their manager discussing their personal development as they progress through the organisation. Opportunities for career-relevant advice and feedback are outsourced to mentors or coaches. Women at this stage of their career receive less advice from their manager than men by a ratio of four to one. While mentors and coaches have a role, it is the relationship with their manager that is pivotal to women’s development. 5. Provide access to gender-specific training This can be a divisive topic, but research shows that women benefit enormously from gender-specific training. The chance to discuss common experiences, like gender bias or personal leadership challenges, is key. However, it is important to ensure that management doesn’t wipe their hands after offering this kind of training. Other types of development opportunities should also be offered to women. 6. Create dress rehearsals Developing leadership abilities takes practice and requires learning from mistakes. With low levels of women in senior roles, those who do succeed have increased visibility. Organisations can create space for women to enhance their leadership skills without being subject to undue scrutiny. Opportunities such as leading projects or deputising for their managers, when coupled with appropriate feedback, can help to provide such a ‘safe’ space. 7. Reduce the opportunity for unconscious bias In organisations, even the smallest amount of bias can have significant consequences. Unconscious bias is prevalent in both women and men. The Implicit Bias Test developed at Harvard University offers incredible personal insight. Training for unconscious bias has proven to be largely ineffective. Until our conditioning changes, the solution is to limit the opportunity for such bias to occur. For example, blind, systematic processes for reviewing job applications will help to end such bias. 8. Monitor where women are in your talent pipeline The McKinsey Women in the Workplace reports advise that, for women, inequality starts at the very first promotion; entry-level women are 18 percent less likely to be promoted than their male peers. This has a dramatic effect on the pipeline as a whole. Organisations should be attuned to this, as it is easier to correct imbalance at earlier stages in the pipeline. 9. Accept that careers are marathons, not sprints Organisations often place too much emphasis on rapid advancement, leading people to burn out and leave, particularly when they have competing demands outside work. Reframing career development as a long-term goal allows both women and men to increase and to slow their pace as appropriate to their circumstances without being written off. 10. Focus on output not presenteeism If accountability and results are what matter, show this through flexible working arrangements. Hybrid working has been both a blessing and a curse to women in the workplace. Flexibility is necessary to ensure women continue to be productive and successful members of the team. Dawn Leane is the Founder of Leane Empower.

Businesses facing rapid change, emerging threats and unforeseen disruption must prioritise proactive risk management and build the right culture to support it, writes Andy Banks. Risk is unavoidable and, as the pace of change continues to quicken, managing risk is becoming a bigger challenge for all organisations. Disruption—be it geopolitical, environmental, social, or technological—is impacting societies at every-greater speed, making the risk landscape facing businesses more volatile and uncertain than ever before. It is not enough to stand still. In an increasingly unpredictable world, companies need to rethink their fundamental risk management principles to help protect and grow their business no matter what might lie ahead. So, where to start? Through our own research, we have found that four key characteristics can help to future-proof businesses facing greater risks. 1. Be forward-looking Recent events have underscored the need for organisations to be more proactive in scanning the horizon for risks, from industry regulations to systemic global disruption. A range of new threats are now emerging, and many have no precedent. As a result, we can't always use past events to tell us what comes next. Instead, organisations should consider what they learned in the past about handling major disruption and use this assessment to prepare a flexible response to future threats. 2. Be transparent and build a culture of trust The pandemic has further demonstrated that you can earn or lose trust depending on how you respond to the threats and challenges you face. Organisations should consider how they can embed a culture that supports transparency, particularly when it comes to identifying and addressing risk. This will be crucial as we all respond to major macro-challenges that require trust and transparency to forge a culture of accountability and drive positive behaviours. 3. Be resilient Many of the risks facing organisations are unavoidable. This is not just true of the COVID-19 pandemic—it is also true of other systemic issues, from supply chain disruption to cyber crises. The focus, therefore, needs to be on ensuring that your organisation can weather the storm, adapt, and emerge stronger. 4. Be inclusive The scale and interconnectedness of the risks facing organisations and society at large demands a collaborative response. This comes in many forms, from being open to new ideas, and seeking perspectives from different people, to co-operation between industries and sectors. We can't overcome systemic challenges without asking for help and working together on shared solutions. Risk journey questions Kick-start your organisation’s risk management journey by considering these 10 key questions: Is your risk management framework forward-looking and comprehensive? Does it align with your organisation's purpose and values? Is your business strategy translated into a risk strategy and risk appetite framework, as the foundation for all risk management processes? How does the risk function contribute to decision-making? How do you develop tangible data insights to model and quantify risk so that threats can be prioritised and measured using imaginative thinking? How is the organisation accountable to employees and other stakeholders? How does your organisation promote trust and transparency when it comes to equity and diversity? Is your risk appetite framework understood, implemented and used to steer the day-to-day business? How does risk management support agile and responsive decision-making? How diverse are the teams within your organisation? How does your organisation listen to different voices that can challenge entrenched habits and viewpoints? Andy Banks is Partner of Risk Assurance Services at PwC.