‹1›

Points of View

What does great look like?

We know that Gender Diversity is taken seriously by a firm that is

committed to fostering a culture of opportunity and access. This is

backed up by public statements around the topic. A leading firm

will have a global policy on Gender Diversity and, in the UK, will be

a signatory of the law society’s Diversity and Inclusion Charter, the

flagship Diversity initiative of the legal profession. The firm will be

seen as an employer of choice for women from graduate to senior

executive level and rates at the top of the Best Companies, Best

Employers, and Top 50 Where Women Want to Work rankings.

With over 30% of the board being represented by women, it is

clearly an organisation worth joining and investing in.

The reality of Gender Diversity in practice is a measure of the firm’s

culture, values and beliefs. Successful inclusion and promotion of

women in the workplace is embedded as business as usual, in all

processes, policies and practices – from company values, planning

recruitment, the recruitment process itself, through to training,

pay and incentives, talent management including promotion

processes and policies, excellence in managing career breaks and

maternity coaching, staff scheduling, right time-right place (or

flexible) working practices and enablers, and retention policies and

practices.

Nobody is saying that women in business are cleverer than men:

instead it is a question of using the overall pool of talent. It is the

mix – diversity itself – that yields better results. Wise executives do

well by keeping this in mind as they consider preparing and

promoting talented people to the executive team and ensuring this

approach is part of business as usual.

The case for a strong Gender Diversity reputation goes far beyond

the legal requirements of the Equality Act into the area of distinct,

competitive advantage. Many organisations are proud of being an

equal opportunities employer and recognise their strengths in

being able to attract, retain and develop the finest people from a

range of backgrounds and experiences. The goal is to establish and

embed a superior and sustainable approach to achieving a diverse

employee and leadership base that truly reflects the diversity of

the clients’ needs, cultures and values.

The issues today

Lord Davies recent report (Women on Boards, Feb 2011)

recommends that FTSE 100 boards have at least 25% women by

2015. Whilst rejecting statutory quotas at this point, companies

should report their targets by September 2011. Other

recommendations are that the Financial Regulations Committee

should amend the UK Corporate Governance Code to require listed

companies to establish a policy on boardroom diversity, including

measurable objectives for implementing the policy.

In a recent survey carried out by Opportunity Nowi of over 1,200

team members and 330 managers in 13 organisations, both male

and female managers are largely positive about their

organisations’ commitment towards diversity and agility but are

less likely to believe that it is manifested in practice. Over 80%

believe that the organisation is committed to diversity but only

63% believe that the performance measurement process

encourages them to support agile working. Just 60% agree that

their organisation recognises and rewards the talents and

contribution of all employees whatever hours they work.

Diversity has been an issue in professional services firms for many

years. Around 60% of admissions to the Law Society are women,

yet only around 23% of partners in private law firms are women,

often much less. Recent McKinsey & Co. research suggests that

many companies have not yet developed robust programs to

support and increase gender diversity. In London, among the

biggest law firms, women have the best chance of rising to partner

at Herbert Smith (33% of new partners are female), DLA Piper

(28%) and Eversheds (27%). Compare this also with the top ranking

organisations in the Female FTSE 100, such as Burberry (37.5%)

and Diageo (36.4%) and you see the laggards have some way to go.

Flexible working conditions and smarter working practices are the

single most frequently chosen action companies take in support of

gender diversity. But we know this is not the complete picture and

other issues from recruitment through to training, rewards and

promotion must also be addressed.

Closing the Gender Gap in the Legal Sector How can legal firms address the gender gap to deliver increased revenues, reduced costs, and a more balanced, attractive, and rewarding working environment?

‹2›

Points of View

Not just about feel good

Researchers at Cranfield Universityii in the UK have found a

consistent and growing positive correlation between share price

and women in management. The researchers monitor the FTSE 100

they found that of the 20 companies with the highest market

capitalisation, 18 had at least one woman on the executive

management team. Of the 20 companies with the lowest market

capitalisation, only 8 had a woman on the executive management

team.

A 19-year study the USiii shows the correlation between women in

executive management and short and long-term profitability. The

study of 215 Fortune 500 companies shows a strong correlation

between a good record of promoting women into the executive

suite and high profitability. The 25 Fortune 500 firms with the best

record of promoting women to high positions are between 18 and

69 percent more profitable than the median Fortune 500 firms in

their industries.

Companies where gender diversity is a higher priority are likelier to

be taking more measures to improve the flexibility of work, and

the results are impressive. Here are a few examples:

Addleshaw & Goddard - now have around 87% return to work

after the first child through a combination of increased

flexibility in where work gets done, flexible hours, informal

flexible working knowledge sharing groups, and providing the

right support to employees. 55% of returns are on a flexible

basis. They also feature # 2 behind Accenture in the Top 50

Where Women Want to Work list.

Eversheds - were able to significantly increase their female

partner numbers through their award winning Lifestyle

programme.

PWC - increased return from work up from 40% to 92%.

BT - return from maternity leave went up to 99% (v's the

national average of 47%).

Deloitte - return from parental leave went from close to 0% in

2000 to 86% in 2003.

On top of this, our own research and experience shows that by

implementing more flexible, smarter ways of working (a major

component of addressing the Gender Gap), when deployed across

the workforce, means you not only get access to a wider talent

pool, but you may be able to get more experienced talent for less

from areas outside of the large cities. It provides direct cashable

benefits in reduced recruitment, retention and training costs, as

well as a much wider set of benefits, such as:

reduced property costs of up to 40-50%

reduced travel up to 30%

increased productivity of 20% or more

reduced turnover of up to 50% and

reduced illness of up to 30-50%.

So what’s the answer?

A best practice approach looks at the larger context of Gender

Diversity and its impact on the effectiveness of the firm. The

cultural dimensions, the practices, policies, protocols and

measures in place at the firm need to be identified and evaluated

against how they align with the strategy and structural enablers.

Practical outcomes will be to tackle the key touch points from

attracting talent and recruitment, through flexible working

practices, and on to training, incentives and promotion.

The starting point has to be with identifying any root causes for

why the organisation is not best practice today. It will then be

important to benchmark against what are deemed to be the best

performing organisations across a number of elements, in order to

understand where the biggest opportunities and challenges are,

and to set some targets.

One of the key areas to be addressed lies in Talent Management

and working to build a sustainable talent pipeline into diverse

pools of talent which serve the current and future people needs of

the organisation. This involves looking at the whole employee

lifecycle to identify areas where Gender Diversity is breaking down,

such as in maternity coaching, career-break management and

communications, promotion processes and incentives, partner

mentoring and training, or flexible working.

Another key element to be addressed is implementing a working

environment and working practices that enable and encourage

people, within certain boundaries, to work in more productive

ways that the job, their personal life, and clients demand without

unnecessary restriction on time or place.

Our view is that, whilst new, more flexible ways of working will

certainly address the Gender Diversity issue, they should not be

just focused on one set of individuals. In our experience it makes

sense to implement measures that will benefit the maximum

number of people across the organisation, rather than just a

specific focus on specific groups within the organisation. However,

the right place to start might be to create the blueprint for more

flexible ways of working within a distinct group of people that will

cut across the organisation and will create a blueprint for a wider

roll-out. In parallel the more Gender Diversity specific aspects to

complete the solution will need to be addressed as outlined above.

So it’s about identifying root causes, understanding best practice

and how far you have to go, more flexible and smarter ways of

working and talent management. It’s also about implementing

solutions that can cut right across the organisation as far as

possible to gain maximum benefits, and which recognise the true

diversity of the organisation.

‹3›

Points of View

The good news

The challenges to implementing a more attractive place to work,

are well documented. We consistently hear the same concerns.

How do we change the working culture? How do we prevent

workers from becoming isolated? How do I know if people are

working if they are allowed to work more flexibly? How can I

convince senior management of the benefits?

Setting up a programme to realise these benefits is

straightforward. Sufficient decision making information can be

generated for your board in a short space of time. A plan for action

supported by workforce profiling and a compelling business case

for change can be developed in around one to two months. The

transformation itself can usually start straight away, often using

existing assets within your organisation.

As specialists in this evolving way of working, Flexility has the

necessary skills, tools and experience through our in-house team

and our partners to help you with every step of this journey. We

know how to provide insight into how your people work today and

set a vision for future ways of working. We know what it takes to

convince and support your managers to interact differently with

their teams, and we know what issues your teams are likely to

encounter as they transform the working environment. We can

help you to identify what policies and other enabling elements

need to be in place to create a more balanced, productive and

attractive working environment.

Our ability to tap into a pool of experience of providing hands on

diversity training equips us to work with managers and

professionals to identify and improve the processes, behaviours

and skills needed to achieve the level of diversity needed to meet

the aspirations of the firm. At the strategic level, our experience

of people and culture change enable us to ask the right questions

and help you make the right decisions that positively impact your

Gender Diversity results. Our experience includes:

Recruitment and Selection

Learning and Career Development

Flexible Working and Wellness, including work life balance

Performance Management

Employee Engagement

Having worked with a range of organisations in the public and

private sector, we understand what the achievable improvement

targets should be and the tips and tricks for successful

implementation. Contact us now at info@flexility.co.uk to find out

how we can help you.

i Opportunity Now: Out of Office - Building Teams for an Agile Future, 2010 ii Vinnicombe & Singh, The 2003 Female FTSE Index iii Adler, Roy D: Women in the Executive Suite Correlate to High Profits

Copy & Paste Bullet Points

› cash savings to your organisation

› a more productive and loyal workforce

› a better experience for your customers