roundtable
Attracting and retaining valuable female talent
The Business Magazine hosted this Women in Business roundtable at KPMG’s office in Theale. It was co-sponsored by KPMG, Barclays, Blake Morgan, recruitment consultant Ten2Two and Windsor Vehicle Leasing. The panel took on the issues of how businesses can attract and retain female talent, and how they can create an inclusive culture for all employees
Participants
Sarah Chapman: Technical manager, 3M
Louize Clarke: Co-founder, ConnectTVT
Alice Attwood: Planner, Vail Williams
Vikki Hemming: Relationship director, Barclays
The Roundtable team Journalist Tim Wickham reports the highlights
There was general agreement from the panel on the need to broaden attitudes about flexible work patterns towards ‘intelligent working’, as well as widening the pool of talent for businesses to recruit from, particularly by including more returners. There was a consensus that younger generations are playing a crucial role in accelerating the pace of change in attitudes. And panel members acknowledged that the debate has to be carried forward by women and men together.
Action or inaction?
The panel began by discussing actions, and barriers, to attracting and retaining more women in the workforce. Barclays has been looking at this across the south and South Wales region, said Vikki Hemming. “We know we need to plan for long-term succession and that there are more men in leadership positions in our organisations. We are trying to encourage women to promote their talents more. We recently ran a survey asking people if they felt ready for their next role and if not why not and what
might help them. We acted on this by supporting them in areas such as interviewing skills and CV writing.”
Fi Warren-Smith emphasised that confidence is one of the main differences between the genders. “You sometimes find men overstate the things they have done when applying for new roles. On the other hand, women may be awesome at something but not push themselves forward.”
Sarah Chapman pointed out: “I would think that when you take on a senior role in a company, it could be an intimidating environment if there is no one similar to you around to be a role model.”
Kath Shimmin drew attention to a ‘push and pull’, especially in banking and law. “Men have learned behaviours in how they traditionally deal with women, and perhaps have never had to deal with many women at senior levels. If you want to get away from a slightly confrontational approach then you have to include men in finding a solution.”
Sharon Pursey: Co-founder, SafeToNet and CEO, SafeToNet Foundation
Dr Alessandra Sherman: CEO, United Konsultants
Kath Shimmin: Partner, Blake Morgan
Fi Warren-Smith: Owner, FWS Properties Karen Witton: Karen Witton
Tamsin Napier-Munn: Campaigns manager, The Business Magazine, chaired the discussion
Sharon Pursey talked about her experience starting up a business. “There’s a responsibility to develop a diverse culture from the beginning. We have had to be inclusive and diverse, just to exist. I think companies could publish demographic information about their staff. I don’t know how people might feel about publishing salary levels as well.”
STEM struggles
Attracting women is more of a challenge in some sectors than others. Science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) businesses have always struggled. Louize Clarke: “I think STEM needs to be totally repackaged. It
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businessmag.co.uk
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018
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