EQUALITY
responsibility rather than automatically locating it with women. Keep people connected to development opportunities if they want that contact. Plan return-to-work conversations properly. Discuss future ambitions rather than assuming them. Do not allow maternity leave to become a year in which someone quietly drops out of the succession conversation.
Make promotion boringly fair The report recommends 360-degree appraisal because progression that rests too heavily on a single manager’s judgement is vulnerable to unconscious bias. I would add some simple disciplines. Advertise opportunities rather than relying on taps on the shoulder. Publish the criteria and the salary. Use consistent scoring. Make panels broad enough to challenge each other. Review who applies, who is shortlisted and who is appointed. If women are disappearing at one stage, investigate why. And look hard at how leadership is described.
We sometimes code leadership through words such as ‘tough’, ‘commanding’ or ‘always available’, while describing relational leadership as softer. In care, empathy, judgement, listening and the ability
to build trust are not decorative qualities. They are core operational capabilities.
Do not separate progression from safety It would be wrong to write about women progressing into leadership and skip one of the report’s most disturbing findings: More than one in five (22 per cent) of respondents reported sexual harassment by a colleague. At the same time, 97 per cent of women in executive roles said there were insufficient effective policies to address gender inequality. No mentoring scheme compensates for a
workplace in which someone does not feel safe. Providers need trusted reporting routes, managers who know how to respond, prompt and consistent action, and a culture in which inappropriate behaviour is challenged before it becomes normalised.
Policy only works when managers live it In addition to 360-degree appraisals, the report recommends cascading leadership and development opportunities, embedding policy into culture, and recognising the burden of unpaid
THE CARE HOME INDUSTRY HANDBOOK 2027 27
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