How to be a better ally in the workplace

Put simply, allyship is making sure no one in your store feels marginalised. Every convenience store’s member of staff should feel completely comfortable with their level of responsibility. This means store owners and managers need to take a nuanced approach to the differing ways their employees need uplifting.

“The first thing I would do is educate myself on the challenges women go through in the workplace, but more specifically the challenges that are relevant to the world of convenience and FMCG,” says Ayman Nasreldin, a European Mentoring & Coaching Council (EMCC)-accredited inclusive leadership consultant, who has held commercial leadership roles at Mars, PepsiCo and Nestlé Purina, among others.

It’s a broad topic that can be tackled in several ways – indeed, Nasreldin says there are several ally “roles” that work for different situations. Here are just a few that are relevant to convenience.

Recognise

Allyship starts with recognising how privilege manifests itself and affects people differently, says Nasreldin: “Understanding that there are microaggressions that women go through that men don’t is privilege,” he says. “It’s invisible to me but ever-present to those who don’t have it.”

As a generic example, Nasreldin cites not feeling any discomfort walking from the gym to his car at night, which women may more readily feel. Within convenience, this could be recognising the risk of leaving staff members alone on the shop floor, or seeing that they’re not being acknowledged by colleagues or yourself sufficiently if they have worries or even ideas about how to improve your shop. “Allyship is deriving a level of self-awareness about the privilege you have that women don’t. Once you understand that, you’re able to start the journey,” he says.

Amplify

It’s important to make sure everyone’s voices are being heard, and that people aren’t being singled out negatively, whether inadvertently or not. This means making sure people aren’t being pigeonholed into repetitive tasks. “It’s choosing to amplify the voice of those who don’t have enough of a voice,” says Nasreldin. “I can recommend someone is the person who goes to a conference, or say in a meeting, ‘We’ve not heard from you, do you have something to add?’”

Such behaviour may unearth fresh perspectives on your store from staff that you may not have previously considered. This in turn gives staff a chance to develop professionally, benefitting both parties.

Challenge

Allies should also be ready to challenge patterns of discrimination when they see them, especially as the perpetrators may be completely unaware they are forming them. “When you see injustices on a day-to-day basis, be the person that says, ‘How come no one else has done this?’ or, ‘Let’s consider someone else for this’,” says Nasreldin.

It’s important to nip these patterns in the bud to prevent a potential fallout further down the line. “The person [committing microaggressions] is more likely to accept your feedback when they’re small, before things spiral,” says Nasreldin. If left unchecked, they may lead to a more significant event which may require serious intervention which disrupts your running of the store.

Confide

When it comes to allyship, it is critical for staff to feel comfortable reaching out to you and to view you as somebody who they can confide in. Through actively listening to female staff members and acknowledging their feelings and experiences, you can help foster an inclusive work environment and inspire both trust and respect from your staff.

By not taking the time to educate yourself on the challenges that women face in the workplace you can fall into the danger of either dismissing an issue or of making the assumption that all staff are being treated equally.

“If you end up with the attitude that says, ‘I don’t see the problem, we treat everybody equally, I give the jobs to the best people’. But the fact is there aren’t enough women working in senior leadership roles. As an ally, you need to understand that there is a gap in senior leadership roles in the world of convenience,” says Nasreldin.

By being a confidant for women you can better understand the challenges they might be facing and in turn be better equipped for finding ways to overcome issues.

Be strategic

Think critically about how you approach staff and gender-related issues in your store. It is important to be nuanced in your approach to allyship.

As both an ally and a confidant, you can also turn to women for advice and take the time to ask them how they feel and find out what kind of support or mentorship they might need.

Avoid taking centre stage and instead ask women to express how they would like you to approach the situation at hand. By building authentic relationships allies can gain a better understanding of how to foster equitable spaces in a strategic and actionable way.

“Without understanding this, you end up with male saviour syndrome, which is not what women need for support,” says Nasreldin.

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