40 roundtable: women in business
This Roundtable was hosted by The Business Magazine and Women in Business sponsors Barclays, Deloitte, law firm Blake Morgan, and recruitment specialist GCS. It involved winners, finalists and nominees from the 2014 Awards
Overcoming the barriers that still exist ...
Participants
*Kerry Adamson: Development executive, Interserve
Lucy Clifford: Head of rigour, corporate division, Barclays
Katie Dallimore-Fox: Audit manager, EY
Judith Daykin: Senior manager, corporate tax, Deloitte
Heidi Drummond: Founder and director, Pear & Ginger, event management
Claire Edmunds: Founder and CEO, Clarify, business development
Lisa Forrester: Head of sales, GCS
Lined up to debate: our roundtable team Journalist John Burbedge reports the roundtable highlights
... not least, the patter of tiny feet
Nadine Dereza mentioned research by the Association of Accounting Technicians among 2,000 women this year, which found that half believe having a baby poses such a risk to their career that they would consider remaining childless.
Additional findings included:
• 77% concerned about balancing work and family life as a mum
• 55% of mothers admitted childcare-work balance was a barrier to staying in work
• 20% of working mums complained of insufficient employer support
• 60% of non-mothers would consider fresh qualifications or re-training to give themselves greater flexibility when parents
• 24% of women changed career after having children
• 64% changed career to be able to work flexible hours.
. . . and inclusion in key business matters This Roundtable event illustrated a typical
example of problems that beset women in business – and the way they can overcome them.
*Interserve development executive Kerry Adamson had apologised for not attending “due to an unforeseen closure at my daughter’s school.“
However, displaying the benefit of technology and her work-related productivity while caring for her daughter at home, she emailed a 700- word overview of her insights, concerns and suggestions for the Roundtable.
“This is one of those occasions when, as a woman in business and a single parent, the conflict within the workplace becomes apparent,“ she explained.
We felt such a timely demonstration of the effectiveness and flexibility of home working for women, merited inclusion within our Roundtable report, so *Adamson’s views are added appropriately throughout.
Are employers embracing the diversity agenda?
*Adamson: Within my organisation, large steps have been made towards improving the balance of women in senior positions (ie we now have women on our board). The Interserve community actively supports a ’Women In Interserve’ initiative which broadly revolves
Heidi Drummond
around developing networks and mentoring opportunities (male and female mentors), opening up the debate on gender diversity and equality, assisting organisational goals of giving everyone a voice and SustainAbilities targets.
Barclays was embracing diversity, said Lucy Clifford, through its Transform programme led by forward-thinking group chief executive Antony Jenkins. “We have come a long way, and there’s still a long way to go but we are fully committed to the journey.“ Adoption of the diversity agenda is a recruitment differentiator for Barclays, she added.
Stephanie Morris: Marketing manager, Utilita Energy
Kath Shimmin: Partner, Blake Morgan
Nadine Dereza: Business presenter, journalist and author,, chaired the discussion
www.businessmag.co.uk
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – SOLENT & SOUTH CENTRAL – DECEMBER 14/JANUARY 15
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48