The issue of gender diversity is now widely recognised as a business issue by organisations of all shapes and sizes. Many large companies are setting ambitious targets to significantly increase the number of women in senior roles. In doing so, they balance the skillset of management teams and provide role models for female staff from graduate-entry level upwards.
In particular, a lot of effort is being directed towards identifying where unconscious bias might be creeping through the corridors of UK businesses, where it ensures that the current male-female imbalance remains.
Having been through such training, I can testify that it is incredibly insightful and has already led to improved inclusion outcomes across the firm.
Having said this, I have also witnessed at close hand the experiences of friends and family who have been the victims of discriminatory behaviour in their own workplaces. I am acutely aware that there are plenty of blue chip institutions out there which still need to focus hard on removing conscious bias from their male-dominated environments, before attempting to tackle bias of the unconscious kind.
I think most rational managers understand the benefit of developing well-balanced teams where extremely talented female members are able to flourish into key roles at any level of the business.
However, there is one crucial area which is often overlooked, but which in my view would undeniably improve the level of equality in senior positions across businesses large and small. That is, simply making it easier for women to work their way through the two or three years when so many of them decide to drop out of their careers: after the birth of a child, and in particular, the birth of a second child.
We’ve all seen it and, regrettably, some of us have been guilty of it in the not too distant past. As head of a busy team which often has to work long hours and seven-day weeks as transaction deadlines loom large, I know that there have been times when I could have done more to be inclusive of team members who had family commitments. As a result, we’ve lost some fantastic talent, something which is both regrettable and unacceptable.
If businesses can adopt entirely new, dramatically higher levels of flexibility, time investment, counselling and other transitional support for highly talented women during this time, I have no doubt that we would see many more come through the other side of this intense period with their career map fully intact.
A greater commitment to flexible working, whether relating to the number of hours worked or the location; better use of mobile technology; temporary role adjustments to suit personal circumstances; and maybe investment in additional support staff would all help, as would the redefinition of an employee’s day-to-day targets to reflect their changed circumstances.
Put simply, if business leaders can think more creatively about the ways in which we may be able to help mothers through these domestically focused years, I firmly believe that we would be able to place less reliance on targets. The male-female balance would even out, reducing the problem of both conscious and unconscious bias.
Meanwhile, businesses would benefit dramatically from some truly exceptional female executives whose skill sets have been enhanced by the experiences and knowledge gained from their time at home. Perhaps equally importantly, male executives may also feel more empowered to take more shared parental leave, enhancing their own skills and behaviours in the process, so that they too return to the workplace as more fully rounded executives.
