Britain leads the world in female entrepreneurship – but gender barriers remain June 16, 2015 There’s no doubt that the UK’s startup community is alive and kicking, with over half a million new businesses registered last year alone. Startups by their very nature are bold and agile, and they play a seminal role in contributing to the innovation the UK needs to remain competitive. With the number of incubator and [...]
Most women in finance don’t think they’ll ever get the top jobs, report shows June 9, 2015 Most women working in finance believe they won't make it to a senior position, according to a report by PwC. It claims there is a “perceived lack of career progression” among women, and this is preventing them from trying to rise the ranks. Read more: The world needs more women with top jobs in finance [...]
Virgin staff on parental leave get year’s pay up to 100 per cent of basic salary June 7, 2015 Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin will offer staff who take shared parental leave after the birth of their child up to a full year’s pay, under new policies announced today by the fitness-to-financial services giant. The government introduced new rights in April allowing parents to share up to 50 weeks of leave and 37 weeks of [...]
HSBC hires two new female non exec directors, Irene Lee and Pauline van der Meer Mohr June 2, 2015 Embattled banking giant HSBC appointed a pair of new experienced business names to its board yesterday, in a move that could bolster its governance, after a series of bruising reputational scandals. Irene Lee is an expert in Asia-Pacific finance, and has served on the boards of finance firms including ING Australia and Hang Seng Bank. [...]
Deloitte promotes more female partners in drive for equality May 31, 2015 Big four accountancy firm Deloitte promoted 22 women to the position of partner today, in its biggest ever round of appointments. The promotion of 75 new partners also includes 23 outside London as the business expands its reach outside the capital. And it announced a “return to work” scheme designed to help women who have [...]
Prudential says men can expect to earn their first million by 50 – 19 years before female colleagues May 27, 2015 A man on average income will earn his first million nearly two decades before an average female worker, according to new analysis from Prudential out today. The insurance company crunched the numbers from the latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) survey of hours and earnings, finding that male workers earn £1m by the time they [...]
Average FTSE 100 chief exec is a 54 year old man with a background in finance May 19, 2015 A background in finance is likely to boost your chances at becoming the boss of one of the UK’s largest companies, according to new research published today by recruiters Robert Half. The dominant background for a FTSE 100 chief exec remains finance, with 52 per cent having a financial background, compared to 21 per cent [...]
PwC research finds women over 55 are best suited for leadership May 17, 2015 Businesses should be appointing more women aged over 55 to leadership roles, according to research from accounting giant PwC. The company found that only eight per cent of business leaders currently have the best capabilities for their roles, in a survey of 6,000 European professionals’ leadership capabilities, carried out by psychometric specialists Harthill Consulting. PwC’s [...]
The end of male, pale and stale politics? The new women in Westminster after David Cameron’s cabinet reshuffle May 11, 2015 Throughout most of modern British history, female MPs have numbered few and far between. Women took up less than 10 per cent of the seats in the House of Commons until as recently as the mid-1990s, when, alongside Tony Blair’s landslide victory in 1997, the percentage of female Labour MPs shot up by a staggering 173 [...]
If you’re a woman, experience doesn’t seem to count for much – a man is still more likely to win the top job May 7, 2015 Women's struggle to be taken as seriously as men at work appears to be far from over. It turns out that even with more leadership experience than their male competitors, they're still likely to be overlooked for the top jobs. This is the conclusion a group of researchers at the University of Kent came [...]