Category Archives: Diversity

Diversity, Recruitment

SME considerations for recruiting diverse talent

Article by Steve Butler, CEO of Punter Southall Aspire and author of Inclusive Culture: Leading Change Across Organisations and Industries

The business argument for greater diversity and inclusion in the workplace is simply this: the more ways in which you can look at a problem, the better chance you have of solving it. Added to that is the fact that every business should reflect the clients and customers it serves if it really wants to understand and connect with them. This is simple enough but what is uppermost in your mind when you look to recruit a new individual for your business? Are you looking for someone who has the same skills and background as the person they are replacing? Is it important that they come from a well-respected university? That they’ll get on well with the rest of the team, and share a similar outlook to yours? That their ‘face will fit’?

That’s the safe route, and it’s the traditional way that most companies have recruited. It’s also why the workplace lags so far behind society in the diversity of its workforce – especially in smaller organisations. Have you ever wondered if the safest route is actually the best way forward for the future of your business? A few things to consider next time you recruit that will open up a wider talent pool:

Consider an individual who doesn’t have the qualifications and technical ability required for a role, or who doesn’t slot in as a direct replacement – but who has the potential and will contribute most to their team.

Look for someone with a different perspective that will complement the others while challenging their and your thinking when necessary: The more cognitively, ethnically, and socially diverse your teams are, the better they reflect the clients they serve and the more effectively they can rise to the opportunities and challenges they are presented with.

Try to hire in clusters. That way, it’s a lot easier to hire diverse talent. For example when hiring graduates, if recruited together as part of a wider strategy there would be the widest possible talent pool at certain times of the academic year whereas if recruiting as singles as and when needed there may not be as much choice.

Use structured interview processes and cognitive tests. This will ensure you collect objective and comparable data on candidates and remove some of your unconscious bias in your decision making.

Embed flexible working throughout the business and encourage everyone to be as effective as they can be. It’s OK for different people in a team to work in different ways – we all need different things at different stages of our career.

If ‘cognitive diversity’ is your aim, neurodiversity has to play a role. Neurodiversity is the infinite variation in how our brains are ‘wired’. From an organisational point of view, these variations in cognitive functioning can increase diversity of thought and reduce groupthink. It also provides ready access to sought-after skills: the more neurodiversity we have in our business, the more able we are to look at things in a different way and question established ways of thinking and working.

To attract neurodiverse talent businesses need to simplify job their descriptions. They should be concise, with clear distinctions between must-haves and nice-to-haves. They should also demonstrate that neurodivergent talent is welcomed. Include case studies on recruitment websites or state your commitment to neurodiversity in job descriptions. Once this is done, recruitment teams need to post job vacancies on dedicated websites. For example, the charity Autism Speaks runs an online jobs board, and the LinkedIn group The Spectrum Employment Community is dedicated to employment for people on the autism spectrum.

 Next businesses need to review their interview process and techniques. Interviewers should be aware that neurodivergent candidates will often directly respond to the question asked and may not know how to expand in ways that will highlight their additional skills or experience. Training can help interviewers ask the right questions and interpret the responses they receive. Providing direct feedback on interview performance is important. Many neurodivergent candidates struggle to ‘read between the lines’. It will help them if your feedback is concise and to the point, especially if you decide not to take forward discussions.

 

Diversity, Employee Engagement, News, News for HRDs

Newton becomes first UK company to work towards GEN certification for workplace equity

Newton, the management consultancy, announced today that it is the first UK company to work toward earning the GEN Certification, a data-driven accreditation that recognises organisations for excellence in workplace equity.

Launched first in the US by Executive Director Sara Sanford and her team, the certification initially focused on intersectional gender parity. In partnership with a consortium of award-winning data analysts and a research team at the University of Washington, the certification model has expanded to recognise cultural levers that can be adjusted to counter the biases that impact underrepresented groups of all backgrounds. GEN will assess Newton across over 200 indicators of employee experience and equity-centred best practices.

The announcement coincides with the recent appointment of Sandra Masiliso as Newton’s new permanent EDI Manager, marking another facet of Newton’s commitment to true workplace equity. The EDI manager will report directly to the People Director, who – along with the rest of Newton’s Supervisory Board – is the key sponsor for developing the company’s approach to EDI to deliver tangible, measurable outcomes.

Newton began working toward the GEN certification in August 2021, with GEN conducting an employee survey and an internal processes audit. While only 75% employee participation is required in GEN’s survey, over 80% of Newton’s employees took part. Newton’s leadership team has also been highly involved in the process, with all members of the supervisory board participating in one-on-one interviews with GEN’s assessment team.

As part of the certification process, the GEN team will also be identifying specific gaps in employee experiences and opportunities to optimise practices and policies to ensure equitable career flows for all employees. In partnership with Newton’s leadership team, GEN will tailor an action plan and change management program for closing these gaps and adopting best practices.

 

Sara Sanford, Founder and Executive Director of GEN, comments:

“We created the GEN Certification as a new gold standard for equity in the workplace, rewarding leading companies like Newton, who raise the bar for workplace equality everywhere.

“We’re so impressed with the time, effort, and candour behind Newton’s work toward earning this certification. In conducting interviews with the leadership team, one of their directors said, ‘We’re less interested in how to maintain our culture as we grow, and more interested in how to evolveour culture as we grow,’ and to me, that encapsulates Newton’s approach to this process. They exemplify the kind of commitment, transparency, and accountability that are crucial to centring equity and inclusion. They clearly know that prioritizing this is both the right thing to do, and the smart thing to do.

“While the certification assessment process is still ongoing, GEN’s team has noted several successes already: ‘We’re pleased to see that employees of all backgrounds have reported equal access to opportunities for training and development, and we’re excited about the ambitious targets Newton has set for diverse representation across leadership roles.

“The reaction from within Newton towards the first part of the certification process has been outstanding and we look forward to working with them on implementing a targeted action plan. Newton is the first UK company GEN has worked with, and we are enjoying learning together as we embark on this unique process.”

 

Kate Mills, People Director at Newton, comments:

“After first being introduced to Sara Sanford’s work as a guest on the Newton Talks podcast, her approach felt refreshing. Lead by insight and data, GEN helps organisations go beyond intent to take action.

“Last year we announced our commitment of 30% of our leadership positions being occupied by women by 2023. This is one of four EDI targets set to ensure that we reflect society more broadly and acknowledge our intention to ensure colleagues are fairly represented at all levels, and across all areas of Newton.

“Today’s partnership represents dedicated action towards achieving our commitment and more importantly, action towards creating a fairer workplace.”

 

Sandra Masiliso, recently hired Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Manager at Newton, comments:

“When the opportunity arose to join Newton on their Equality, Diversity and Inclusion journey I jumped at the chance. From the outside looking in, I was impressed by the various internal efforts, from diversity awareness months to the Newton Talks podcast which has been unafraid in exploring a range of D&I topics with a range of guest speakers, encouraging diversity of thought.

I’m thrilled to be joining at a time when I can help Newton work towards the GEN certification and I look forward to supporting Newton, empowering colleagues to become champions for change and continuing to drive commitment to real, lasting, and systemic change in the company culture.”

Diversity, News, Tech

Women in tech: inspiring the next generation of female founders

The technology sector is thriving and continuously evolving, creating many exciting career opportunities. In the UK, areas such as AI, FinTech, Life Sciences and Green Tech are growing rapidly and require a diverse workforce to accelerate innovation. With such a fantastic outlook for the sector, female entrepreneurs are on a mission to inspire others to consider a career or build a business in STEM industries. 

On the 26th of October 2021, The Female Founders Forum discussed their recent ‘Female Founders Report’ findings in Parliament, to help improve diversity in Britain’s tech sector and tackle barriers facing females in the industry and education. 

Many successful female entrepreneurs from across the UK attended the House of Commons in support of the report. Yorkshire based female tech entrepreneur, Zandra Moore CEO at Panintelligence who is an advocate for improving diversity and inclusion in the tech sector attended the report launch in the House of Commons.

Zandra commented: “Reading through the Female Founders Report was so re-affirming. It encompasses many things I am deeply passionate about. I’m sure with more female professionals, entrepreneurs and innovators entering STEM roles. We will build better businesses; we’ll have more innovations and we’ll help create a more prosperous and inclusive society.

“All of the issues, challenges and gender biases raised in the report are ones I’ve personally experienced as a female founder in Data Analytics and AI but the recommendations are clear and easy to implement. I’ve been lucky enough to have female role models and mentors in my life. Particularly, my mum who worked in the emerging technology sector in Leeds in the 1990s. My mum often shares how she made a lot of people rich in the technology businesses she helped grow, yet despite this, she didn’t have any shares in these businesses, and never thought to ask for any because she didn’t have any role models or peer groups to turn to for advice or support back then. Although we’ve come a long way since then, we’ve still got a lot further to go to be more diverse and inclusive to all.”

The report highlights the issues that are creating barriers for females in tech, such as discrimination facing female entrepreneurs when trying to raise equity finance. Shockingly, just 7% of equity finance raised in the UK goes to female-founded companies. The report also shines a light on gender bias in venture capital firms – showing that only 13% of decision-makers in Venture Capital (VC) firms in the UK are female and, almost half of firms don’t have any females on their investment teams at all.

Under-representation of female students in STEM subjects is still an issue for the sector. Only 17% of technology workers in the UK are currently female. This highlights that more needs to be done to represent females in STEM within education environments, such as turning to groups such as Founders For Schools to bring in female founders to share their stories. 

Zandra added: “Female STEM ambassadors need to be proactive at supporting and inspiring fellow females. We need to be present at events, share our experiences and successes. We also need to be looking at enabling re-training and internship opportunities which I can vouch for, are just as beneficial to our businesses to gain new ideas and skills to build a diverse fresh-thinking, talented workforce”. 

Recommendations within the report on careers services show campuses and careers fairs need to introduce more females to the vast amount of STEM career opportunities. The report shares an appalling statistic that 84% of women were never introduced to AI or machine learning careers on campus or at a careers fair. Employers also need to be doing more to adapt to the changing and more technologically advanced world by offering mid-career retraining opportunities, to improve the diversity of their tech talent quickly. Increasingly popular organisations such as North Coders are collaborating with businesses like Panintelligence to help employees re-train to become software engineers. 

Along with the Female Founders Report, which is created in partnership with the Entrepreneurs Network, Barclays and Beauhurst; there is an increasing number of organisations and communities being created across the UK to inspire, educate and support people entering or working in tech, to help the sector become more diverse and inclusive, such as Women in Leeds Digital, Barclays Eagle Labs, BUILD, The No Code Lab, Investing in Women Code and many more. 

Some additional ways that we, as a society can improve support and inspire females to begin careers in seemingly male-dominated industries, is by creating more female-focused and diverse networking and mentoring opportunities. Creating conversations around and highlighting the inspirational work of females in the media to publicise the role models who often get overlooked, to inspire young women to have the confidence to enter entrepreneurship, STEM and other male-dominated fields.

Diversity, News

‘Inclusive Culture: Leading change across organisations and industries’ to drive change in financial services

Steve Butler, CEO at Punter Southall Aspire, has published his fourth book, Inclusive Culture: Leading change across organisations and industries to help business leaders in the investment and savings industry encourage change and improve diversity and inclusion.

The book includes thirty-plus interviews with people, who share their experiences and stories of inequality to inform guidelines, advice and best practice.

Steve says, “The rise to the top in the financial services sector is still, largely, the preserve of a small section of the population, despite educational, demographic, social and cultural shifts.

“To counter this inherent inequality and unfairness, the sector must tap into talent in the wider population, which will produce long-term benefits for organisational performance.

“Recruiting a diverse and inclusive workforce is only one part of the equation – retaining people and ensuring they progress is another. My book aims to raise awareness of the urgent need for more diversity and help business leaders shape strategies that will deliver lasting change.”

All proceeds will go to the Diversity Project, on which the book draws by detailing the collective knowledge and experience of prominent businessmen and women championing a more inclusive culture in financial services.

As a member of the Diversity Project, Steve asks why diversity and inclusion matters, and what these terms really mean, before considering gender, ethnicity, age, ability and LGBT+, while offering best practice on how to improve diversity and inclusion in these areas.

The concluding chapters explore ‘smart working’ which Steve suggests is the number one way a business can recruit and retain more diverse talent and build back after workplace changes resulting from COVID-19 to become more inclusive.

He has also published three other books – Midlife Review: A guide to work, wealth and wellbeing offering business leaders, managers and employees guidance to help them understand and support ‘midlife’ workers.

Manage the Gap: Achieving success with intergenerational teams looking at the impact of an ageing population on the workforce, but this time, focusing on employees in the middle of their career.

The Diversity Project: Accelerating progress towards an inclusive culture in the investment and savings industry which recounts the progress made to date, discusses the progress that still needs to be made and sets out practical ways to achieve it.

‘Inclusive Culture: Leading change across organisations and industries’ is now on Amazon priced at £14.99.

Diversity, Diversity in Tech, North of England

Increasing racial diversity within Leeds’ digital sector: New project from WILD Digital to unlock the full potential of the city’s digital sector

WILD Digital (formerly Women in Leeds Digital) have launched a new project aiming to understand the current landscape for people of colour in Leeds who are working or looking for work in the city’s digital and tech space. The project aims to unlock the full potential of the sector across Leeds. Empowering organisations across the city to create diverse and inclusive workplaces.

According to research by Druthers, there is a clear issue in regards to diversity in the digital and tech space across the UK, with only 2.6% of UK tech board members being from ethnic minorities. However, there is further work needed to uncover the lived experiences of underserved groups within the Leeds digital and tech sector, which the project aims to do.

Together with delivery partner Diverse & Equal, WILD Digital is running the project to ensure that the city becomes a UK leader in true understanding and commitment to change.

Led by WILD co-founder, Sarah Tulip, the project aims to uncover key learnings and create objectives to help empower the digital and tech sector within Leeds. Taking time to understand the barriers and lived experiences of people from ethnically diverse backgrounds, allowing the sector to move forward with confidence and to become truly diverse, unlocking its true potential.

Creating a diverse and inclusive workspace is vital for the continued growth and development of the sector,  allowing everyone to feel safe and bring their whole selves into the workplace. Recent research from McKinsey shows a 35% increase in profit for organisations that are ethnically diverse and inclusive.

A survey is being launched on 6th July 2021 to explore the experiences of people working, or looking to work in the Leeds digital and tech space. The survey is to be accompanied by a large number of qualitative in-depth interviews, run in partnership with NEXUS and Leeds University.

The project will present its findings at Leeds Digital Festival – an event hosted by WILD Digital – where a panel will discuss the findings, establish what needs to be achieved, and how the city of Leeds can lead in the creation of an ethnically diverse digital and tech sector.

The survey represents a significant commitment from leaders within the sector. Key partners include Leeds City Council, Sky Betting and Gaming, TPP, BJSS, Bruntwood, SciTec, Nexus and Crisp.

Sarah Tulip, Co- founder of WILD Digital, Head of Digital Transformation BJSS, said:

“The last 12 months has brought to the forefront that we need to talk about race, especially in the Digital sector, where we are often setting the pace for innovation.  Conversations about race are happening and we are starting to see change in pockets, but it is a topic that still often makes people uncomfortable and worry about “getting it right”. This project led by WILD Digital aims to try and make this conversation clear and accessible for everyone. It is an opportunity for the Leeds Digital Sector to show our passion and commitment to equality and to lead in our listening and set objectives to create a fairer and more inclusive space for all.”

Annette Joseph, Founder, Diverse and Equal, said:

“We’re excited to be leading this work on behalf of WiLD for the city of Leeds. Innovation from tech touches every part of our lives — from how we communicate to how we shop, and everything in between. This research demonstrates the city’s commitment to equality. The insights will feed into Leeds becoming a diverse, innovative and productive centre of tech excellence for the future.”

Councillor Jonathan Pryor, Deputy Leader and Leeds City Council executive board member for Economy, Culture and Education, said:

“This project is crucial to helping uncover the lived realities of people of colour in the digital and tech sector across Leeds and will allow the sector to take the necessary actions to create a diverse workforce truly reflective of our city. It is really pleasing to see so many companies across Leeds buy into this really important work and contribute to the necessary change.”

Diversity, News

Training must be a priority to support female talent

Coaching, mentoring or sponsorship can help women increase their self-confidence and career success, as well as empowering women to invest in their own self-development.

Businesses need to not just focus on quantitative data but focus on qualitative data to create personalised solutions to support female talent, according to the City & Guilds Foundation recent online event (30th June).

Pertemps Chair Carmen Watson, along with an executive all female panel, explored gender diversity and female inclusion in male-dominated industries.

The discussion, Gender Diversity – a women’s panel, was the latest in a series of webinars held by City & Guilds Foundation, offering thought-provoking conversations about how organisations can take actionable steps to promote and improve inclusion and diversity.

The panel discussion included Alexandra Evreinoff, Managing Director at INvolve, Sonya Byers, CEO at Women in Transport and Charly Young MBE, CEO at The Girls’ Network.

Three in ten businesses (30%) have slightly increased or significantly increased their approach towards gender, according to the CBI and Pertemps latest Employment Trends Survey, but when women enter the workforce, gender gaps persist.

“We need to speak to people in a way that resonates with them. If we talk purely in a male dominated language, we are cutting off a large percentage of women,” said Carmen.

“But all genders need to be involved to understand the issues women face to enhance mutual understanding and drive change. Training needs to be an essential part of the recruitment process, from on-boarding to progression.

“It’s evident there has been significant improvement in the gender diversity realm. According to the Hampton-Alexander review, there are now no zero all-male boards in the FTSE 100, 250 and 350.

“Businesses need to bolster their efforts to understand the issues women and diverse employees face, through leadership, training and development opportunities in order to take meaningful action and address the challenges we collectively face.” 

Diversity, News, Thought Leadership

Celebrating, engaging and leveraging multiculturality at work

Written by Aduke Onafowokan, MD and Founder of Inclusivitii

The UK is unarguably a multicultural society with a diverse population of people with differing identities, values and traditions. However, multiculturalism can often be seen as a ‘benchmark’ within an organisation and the benefits forgotten.

Promoting and integrating different cultures leads to new innovations, fosters rich communication and reaches a wider audience. By fully embracing multiculturality, organisations increase their sense of wellbeing, fun and solidarity. Overall, it can help employees to feel more engaged with the wider world. One of the greatest examples is L’Oreal which has transformed its business and was named one of the world’s top 10 companies by the 2020 Diversity & Inclusion Index, contributing to its success.

The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) defines “Multiculturalism” as the co-existence of diverse cultures, where culture includes racial, religious, or cultural groups and is manifested in customary behaviours, cultural assumptions and values, patterns of thinking, and communicative styles.
According to the United Nations, cultural diversity is a driving force of development, not only with respect to economic growth, but also as a means of leading a more fulfilling intellectual, emotional, moral and spiritual life. At the same time, it recognises that acceptance and recognition of cultural diversity are conducive to dialogue among civilizations and cultures, respect and mutual understanding.

Over the past year, conversations about diversity and inclusion have expanded and deepened across the world. Communities and corporations have stepped up intention and action-oriented work to foster more inclusion and diversity at all levels and some of the dividends of this work are already moving us all forward.

However, it is critical not to mistake inclusion for sameness and retain the need to understand and celebrate diversity for what it is – diversity.

The World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development provides us with an opportunity to deepen our understanding of the values of cultural diversity and to further our understanding of the people that form our communities.

For organisations, this ongoing dialogue is critical for promoting inclusion and diversity, to create the space for safe conversation, authenticity and individuality. As our focus on promoting inclusion and diversity heightens, here are four tips to help organisations develop a more positive mindset so that multiculturalism is celebrated rather than just a target to reach.

1. Encourage Conversations:

Encourage conversations about individual experiences and identities – it is okay to be unique and have different experiences and there is joy in creating space for these experiences to be shared and understood. Team leaders can be especially impactful here by inviting team members to share their unique experiences and perspectives with other team members during brainstorming or strategy sessions. Having the opportunity to show how our views have been shaped by our unique experiences is a great way to foster inclusion and promote positive understanding of each other, especially those who come from generally underrepresented communities.

2. Celebrate Diversity:

This can be tricky as it may come across as being too obvious if it is seen as a tick box exercise, however genuinely tapping into events and activities that mean a lot to your people can be a powerful tool for motivation and belonging. This can be done through fact finding activities to identify the authentic ways that cultural diversity can be celebrated and highlighted and how these activities can be woven into the fabric of the organization’s culture. And these celebrations do not always have to be massive clusters of events, but thoughtful recognition and acknowledgement of culturally relevant events and creating the space for those who want to participate to join in freely.

3. Role Modelling:

Organisational culture is shaped in part by how leaders react, what they prioritise and what they pay attention to. Much of how your people react to diversity will be shaped by how leaders react to diversity. Using inclusive language that signals valuing diversity and difference is a great way to show that this is something that your organization believes in. No matter how effective your diversity and inclusion are, if your people sense that the leaders are not on board, they also will adopt a lackluster attitude to engaging with diversity and inclusion initiatives. An example is how well leaders engage with employee resource groups, and to what extent they are part of the conversation at this level, how visible are they, do they stay for the entire duration of events, or ‘pop’ in. It really, all starts with leadership and sadly often ends with leadership.

4. Leveraging Multiculturality:

Inclusion is defined as welcoming and engaging difference. A lot of organisations and their leaders do well with welcoming or aspiring to welcome diversity, however the leveraging aspect can be trickier. Rather than just having diversity for the sake of having diversity, diversity needs to be welcomed and engaged, inviting the participation of diverse perspectives in decision making processes can truly bring to life the power of diversity holds. Perhaps the best way to celebrate multiculturalism is to use it, to make your business solutions more inclusive, tap into new markets, explore new opportunities and in the process build an inclusive, inspiring work culture that enables everyone to be their best.

Diversity

Business leaders share best practices to create more diverse workforces

Leading figures from multiple sectors came together to share their insights and best practices to help businesses across Wales create more diverse workforces in the latest event facilitated by Chambers Wales.

The hour-long virtual discussion, attended by 74 businesses, was chaired by Cerys Furlong, CEO of charity Chwarae Teg which aims to inspire, lead and deliver gender equality in Wales, focusing on three strategic priorities: women in the economy, women represented and women at risk.

The expert panel featured Caroline Gundu, Senior Business Consultant at CGI; Adam Keen, Managing Director at Adventure Travel; Khushboo Patel, Local Director for Wales at Metrobank; and Keela Shackell-Smith MBE, Inclusion Manager at Food Standards Agency.

Ranging from the impact of flexible working to experimenting with recruitment methods, the engaging discussion explored the role of both leaders and employees in creating an inclusive working environment and the subsequent benefits for a business.

Khushboo Patel said: “Inclusion promotes belonging, purpose and wellbeing and diversity ignites that problem solving, creativity and innovation and these are things that businesses want for their people and their work. There are plenty of studies and statistics that prove the benefits of diversity and inclusion, however on the other hand we have alarming statistics that show how much work there is to do.

“As a business, why would you want to throw away the opportunity to increase performance, productivity and innovation, why wouldn’t you want a better performing team? Leaders in particular have the opportunity to create a diverse workforce and then an inclusive environment within it, because they hold influence.”

Caroline Gundu said: “Diversity is a conscious and intentional approach to diversify your workforce, to make them feel included and valued. To sustain this, it needn’t be from leadership only but leaders and people who work within the business at a grassroots level. From a diversity and inclusion perspective, we’ve been able to reap the benefits of flexible working. We’ve had much deeper conversations on important topics and it has provided more collaborative opportunities across our networks.”

Businesses could also learn practices and obtain guidance on eliminating issues around language, terminology and attitudes during the event.

Adam Keen said: “The potential to put your foot in it and say the wrong thing is real. The reality is you have to do two things: get really good HR advice and have difficult conversations to keep learning and progressing. It’s ok to challenge inappropriate language and views.”

Keela Shackell-Smith said: “We can change business culture through allyship. I’ve worked on a number of allyship training programmes for LGBTQ+, race and disability. The programmes cover definitions, terminology, history, rights, lived experiences, microaggressions and also highlight the differences between allyship and saviourism. Giving allies the tools to support, help and champion marginalised groups puts inclusion into action.”

Benefits, Diversity, HR News, News

Aging population and caregiving responsibility trend in the UK set to increase employer challenges, advises Aon

Aon plc (NYSE: AON), a leading global professional services firm providing a broad range of risk, retirement and health solutions, has published a new guide, advising employers of the impact from the aging UK population. Aon has identified two major age-related trends that are merging to create issues in the workplace: an increasing number of workers with caring responsibilities and the rising average life expectancy.  Stats show:

  • By 2040, one in six workers will balance their job with caring responsibilities[i]
  • Unpaid carers provide approximately £132 billion worth of care each year[ii]
  • 2.6 million people have given up working altogether to provide care, a 12% increase from 2013[iii]
  • Almost half of workers with caring responsibilities describe their situation as stressful, with 20% falling ill themselves[iv]

This pressure is affecting increasing numbers of individuals which will in turn pressure employers by impacting absence, productivity, employee health, diversity and inclusion and retirement. Aon discusses the issue in its new guide, The Aging Population: Why it’s time to take notice.

Mark Witte, principal, Health Solutions UK at Aon, said:

“This issue is about eldercare in its broadest sense. On one hand, we have employees in the sandwich generation, looking after both their own children and elderly parents. These individuals are concerned not only about looking after younger and older dependents, but also themselves as they move into their old age. The pressure is acute, impacting their mental, physical and financial health, which in turn impacts productivity at work. For employers, on the other hand, the situation is likely to grow, with a particular consideration for women as they are more likely to manage caring responsibilities.

“At a minimum, this issue will impact productivity, absence, healthcare costs and retirement age, as well as diversity and inclusion. Neither the government nor employer eldercare eco-systems are currently strong enough to manage the likely strain.”

Aon’s report outlines the scale of the issue in the UK:

  • Unpaid carers provide approximately £132 billion worth of care each year, but with numbers of dependents set to increase due to the aging population, this will likely bring greater costs.
  • One in seven employees – 4.87 million – are currently balancing their jobs with caring responsibilities. This will rise to one in six employees by 2040.[v]
  • Approximately 2 million people have already reduced their working hours to care for a dependent and 2.6 million have given up working altogether, while more than two thirds of carers are using their own income and savings to cover the cost of care.[vi]
  • Adults are also having children later, meaning they are more likely to have both elder dependents and child dependents at the same time. Women, in particular, are more likely to have given up work due to multiple caring responsibilities, with 60% of informal carers in the UK being women.
  • An insecure retirement income, after a rise in the retirement age, a drop in access to a defined benefit pension and low levels of investment returns, means there’s a lack of money to pay for care.
  • In the UK, average life expectancy has increased from 75 to 81 over the past
    30 years and projections are that life expectancy will continue to rise to over 85 by 2040.vii

Witte added:

“Given the wide-ranging impacts of the aging population, there are a number of ways employers can take action. Some are more easily established, such as policies, services and benefits that can be formed to create a programme of support. In time, an eldercare eco-system could include support for both short- and long-term care, assisting with searches for residential care, facilitating home modifications for adult dependents, flexible working hours, financial wellbeing and helping to promote a healthy life through emotional and physical wellbeing programmes.

“Understanding employee data will help employers develop the most relevant response. Some potential metrics may be easier to point to such as absence or engagement data. In other areas, value is harder to measure, such as the impact on productivity or presenteeism, but action should ultimately support all aspects of individual wellbeing. The aim here for employers is to create stronger, more resilient employees, who are able to cope better with the stresses of modern life.”

Read the full guide, The Aging Population: Why it’s time to take notice, here.

Diversity, News

FTSE female directors up 18% but women account for just 34% of UK board members

Research by Yoppie, has revealed that women are bossing the board when it comes to business, with the number of female directors within FTSE 100 companies climbing 18% in the last three years alone. Although this boardroom balance is far better in some countries than it is in others.

Yoppie crunched the numbers on the number of FTSE 100 directorships held by females since 2017 and found that overall, there are now 305 female directors flying the flag for females at the very top tier of business – an 18% jump on the 259 seen in 2017.

What’s even more impressive, is the fact that some FTSE 100 females hold more than one directorship, meaning there has been a 21% increase in the number of female held directorships since 2017, a 24% increase in the number of female executive directorships and a 20% jump in the number of female non-executive directorships.

Women are also bringing some young blood to the boardroom when compared to their male counterparts. The average age of a female director across the top FTSE companies is 58, two years younger than male directors.

The biggest age gap is between chairs, with the average female chair aged 60 versus 66 for the average male chair.

However, there’s still work to do in the UK to level the playing field where gender representation in the boardroom is concerned.

Across the UK, women account for just 33.8% of all board directors. While this is a fairly respectable level of representation, the UK has some way to go to match the frontrunners of France and Norway where women account for 44.6% and 44.2% of all board directors respectively.

At CEO level, there is even more work to be done. Sweden ranks top with women making up 20% of all Swedish CEOs, with Norway (16%) and Ireland (15%) also ranking high. In the UK, however, this figure sits at just 5.3%.

Founder of Yoppie, Daniella Peri, commented:

“It’s great to see an increase in the number of women bossing it at the highest level of business and it’s long overdue.

Women in business want to be appointed on merit and so this slow but steady progress suggests we’re on the right track, rather than implementing an immediate fifty-fifty split simply to tick the workplace gender balance box. At Yoppie, this approach has produced a natural board balance whereby two-thirds are female and so it’s an issue that can be very much addressed if we wish to do so.

However, we still have some work to do in the UK and as a Swedish national, I’m delighted to see my home nation leading the way with such a high percentage of women in business.

This is something I hope we can emulate here in the UK and increasing the extremely low number of female CEOs would be a perfect place to start.”

FTSE 100 Directorships 2017 2018 2019 2020 Change (2017-20)
Female held directorships 294 305 339 355 21%
Female executive directorships 25 25 28 31 24%
Female non-executive directorships 269 280 311 324 20%
Total female directors (NED and ED) 259 264 292 305 18%
Source: Cranfield – The Female FTSE Board Report
The total number of female directors is lower than the number of female held directorships because some women hold more than one directorship

 

Most female board directors as a percentage of all board directors by nation Most female CEOs as a percentage of all CEOs by nation
Nation % Nation %
France 44.6% Sweden 20.0%
Norway 44.2% Norway 16.0%
Sweden 38.3% Ireland 15.0%
Belgium 35.5% Denmark 12.0%
Netherlands 35.5% Singapore 10.0%
Italy 35.3% Finland 8.0%
Finland 34.1% United States 6.0%
United Kingdom 33.8% United Kingdom 5.3%
Germany 33.4% Austria 5.0%
Denmark 31.4% France 5.0%
United States 28.0% South Africa 3.9%
Ireland 26.0% Belgium 3.5%
Spain 24.2% Germany 2.9%
Austria 23.9% Italy 2.4%
South Africa 22.3% Spain 2.0%
Turkey 19.2% Japan 0.4%
India 16.3% Netherlands 0.0%
Singapore 16.0% Turkey 0.0%
Japan 11.0% India x