Worst sectors for boardroom diversity: Women joining FTSE 100 boards but mining lags far behind retail industry as Conservatives push to end gender pay gap July 13, 2015 More women are joining the boards of Britain’s most powerful companies, but there’s a big difference between different industries, a breakdown by sector reveals. In a bid to end the gender pay gap "in a generation”, Prime Minister David Cameron announced plans today to require UK firms to publish gender pay audits. But progress is [...]
Women still left out of top FTSE positions July 12, 2015 Britain's blue chip firms hit their target of 25 per cent female directors this week, but campaigners say more still needs to be done. Research by Sapphire Partners, an executive recruitment agency, revealed that with several recent appointments, including Diane Schueneman at Barclays, Irene Lee and Pauline van der Meer Mohr at HSBC and [...]
Women on FTSE boards forecast to reach Lord Davies 25pc target by October July 10, 2015 Women are becoming more common in the boardrooms of the UK’s most powerful companies, as new research from executive recruiter Norman Broadbent showed the FTSE 100 companies on track to having one-quarter female boards by the end of the year. Currently, women make up 23.7 per cent of the companies’ boards, but an average of [...]
UK start-ups beat the US for diversity as founders are five times more likely to be female July 3, 2015 The UK's tech hub may have fewer "unicorns" than its American counterpart – but at least we're doing better at one thing. Start-up founders in the UK are five times more likely to be female compared to the US, a new study from startup accelerator Wayra shows. They’re also ten times more likely to have a minority [...]
Who is Carolyn Fairbairn? Meet the first female director-general of the CBI June 29, 2015 The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has appointed Carolyn Fairbairn, a former director of strategy at both the BBC and ITV, as its first female director-general. Fairbairn will take the reins of Britain’s biggest business group from John Cridland later this year, the CBI announced yesterday. Cridland has led the CBI since 2011. [...]
Forget chauvinism: It’s good to be a woman in business June 29, 2015 Almost every week, another story portrays the City as a bastion of chauvinism, where women are underpaid and undervalued, dominated by macho males and discriminated against. In almost 20 years, I have never seen this happen. I have never been overlooked for a job, promotion or pay rise because I was a woman. My salary [...]
Six behaviours for women to get ahead: If you aspire to leadership, you need to show ability June 28, 2015 Gender diversity. Every organisation is grappling with the issue. There’s a regular drumbeat of reports about how women are performing in the workplace and how businesses are supporting – or not – gender diversity. At the heart of the issue is culture. If an organisation is truly committed to increasing the ratio of female [...]
Rising inequality, dampened growth and poor prospects: Why everything you thought you knew about Sweden is wrong June 23, 2015 Scandinavia: Home of advanced technologies, strong economies, happy people and the occasional murder, right? Wrong, according to a new report by the Institute of Economic Affairs, which claims that “contrary to popular belief” countries such as Sweden and Denmark are struggling from rising income inequality, declining economic prowess and low job creation. The [...]
How to retain female talent in the workplace: Offering agile working and tailored support is crucial June 22, 2015 Lord Davies’s report, published in March this year, showed that representation of women on FTSE 100 boards has almost doubled in the past four years to 23.5 per cent. The government’s target for 25 per cent of board positions to be held by women by the end of this year is in sight, and there [...]
Recruiter says lack of diversity at top firms is hurting UK business June 21, 2015 A lack of ethnic diversity in Britain’s top firms is putting UK companies “at a serious disadvantage,” according to a new report out today. Researchers for recruiter Green Park have identified a widening so-called “diversity deficit,” with the position of ethnic minorities in leadership roles at FTSE100 firms declining over the past year. The report [...]