Diversity: Turning the spotlight on ourselves

We have talked a lot about the importance of diversity, so we were delighted to see so many of our clients in The Times Top 50 Employers for Women 2018.

This list highlights ‘the organisations that are transforming what it means to be a woman in the workplace’, celebrating their innovation in achieving gender equality.

The evaluation looks at areas such as; the roles of senior leaders, actions to increase representation of women in senior positions, recruitment, progression, supporting parents and economic empowerment of women in supply chains and communities.

These leaders have been; introducing returner and development programmes, supporting women into senior roles, encouraging girls in study, encouraging colleagues to write blogs about gender diversity in their workplace, challenging and changing practices, introducing networks and programmes dedicated to diversity and launching flexible working.

With so many of our clients being such high achievers in this space we need to make sure we as an organisation practice what we preach and have turned the spotlight on ourselves.

With the recent appointment of a female Head of Danos Consulting due to start in the new year, over 48% of our team are now women. 31% of those are in Global Management or Heads of Department positions, meaning four out of nine of our functions are led by women. A further 33% are either Associate Partners, Senior Associates or in management roles.  These figures put us in the same league as those in the Top 50 and like them it’s something we’re very conscious of building upon in our future strategy.

As a Father of three, our Global Managing Partner understands the importance of family life and we value the contribution of those who are able to work for us because of our flexible working allowances. This is an area that Barclays have been particularly strong. 57% of their workforce partake in flexible working and they have said that it has “empowered colleagues and been good for business.” We recognise that gender is just one element of building a high performing, diverse team. We are also very proud of our cultural diversity with extremely talented team members from lots of different ethnicities and walks of life.

The realisation that diversity impacts performance and the drive seen by companies to encourage change alongside the support given by regulation, makes now such a critical time for the future of our workplaces. If we support women in not only staying in work but rising to the top, the culture that will naturally arise from this greater balance will help engrain diversity as part of an organisations make up. Diversity will become more effortless – and we’ll be championing it all the way.

We are often asked to participate in diversity discussions and roundtables. If you would like our insight and support, please get in touch.