roundtable
stay in a role long term it could hinder your ability to progress because many roles will change over time offering the opportunity for development and advancement.”
Chapman: “Another challenge we have to overcome is the filtering process that can stop people applying for higher level roles, for example, working parents not being able to commit to overseas assignments. But there are ways of creating more ‘family friendly’ roles, through job shares and by using technology.”
Sherman pointed to the impact greater disclosure will have. “There’s massive change coming around the gender pay gap, especially with publicity like the salaries the BBC pays men and women. They are being forced to address the problem. Traditionally, job roles were about filling ‘dead men’s shoes’: when someone retires, everyone moves up one place. Now, it is becoming far more merit oriented."
Opportunities for returners
One of the biggest areas of concern was the difficulty faced by women looking to return to work. Panel members shared examples. Witton: “All our new offices are hot desks only. We encourage returners to work where and when they want, for example, from 9am-3pm, picking up kids from school, and then doing a couple more hours later. We measure performance on outputs.”
Shimmin: “We have a colleague who returned and now works a three-day week. They spend one day in one of our offices, one day in the other office, and then spreads the other day across the rest of the week, which is actually better for us because the resource that person provides is available on a much more flexible basis.”
But Clarke observed: “A problem for the Digital Gum cohort is they simply can’t find these opportunities. The bigger companies that have returner programmes tend not to offer less than five days a week. And recruiters can be less keen to work with candidates who might be harder to place, as they might not be able to earn their fee.”
Chapman had also seen differences in how companies respond to returners. “It’s great to hear what some companies are doing, but there are still many who are not there yet. Some are introducing flexibility internally, when people already have the job, but they aren’t yet at the stage of advertising flexible roles.”
Sherman: “I heard of a case where a company wanted to recruit a woman.
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018
After advertising the job at one pay level they only received applications from men. When they dropped the pay level there were lots of applications from women. That comes down to confidence.”
Warren-Smith added: “On the other hand, some firms take you more seriously if you ask for more.”
Attwood: “At university, all the focus was on academia, on knowledge. They don’t necessarily teach you things like negotiating skills in pay reviews. There is almost a fear of asking for more.”
Takeaways from the discussion
At the end of the discussion the panelists summarised what were key points for them. Witton: “I’m thinking how we can give people more confidence to return to work. We need to discuss with our recruiters how we can be better about this, so we attract the best talent.”
Sherman: “Our company employs people for a range of lifestyle reasons. I’ve realised we can look at taking on more people from backgrounds like experienced returners or people working from home.”
Chapman: “It’s really good to look outside your company and how you can work locally with other organisations to overcome challenges. It’s about matching problems to solutions.”
Shimmin: “We can cast our net wider when we recruit. And we should encourage aspiration, especially in young people, whatever their social background or gender.”
Clarke: “I can see how important it is to give people confidence to apply for roles. Or perhaps to think about starting their own business instead of applying to join a company. They create their own opportunities and a work-life that works for them.”
Warren-Smith: “If we can change the language we use, like calling it intelligent working, we can make the idea of flexible working more exciting. We can scale up what we are doing with flexible working because there’s such an appetite for this.”
Attwood: “Communication is key – and creating an environment where people know it’s okay to voice their opinions and ask questions. If you’ve got a good worker you have to ask yourself how are you going to retain them.”
Hemming: “For me, it’s about having more role models. We need to get out there and shout about what we do well and give people, especially the young, career aspirations.”
businessmag.co.uk 25
Dr Alessandra Sherman
Vikki Hemming
Tamsin Napier-Munn
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