There’s no denying that the bleak economic prospects for 2012 are uppermost in our minds, but one of my personal hopes for this year is to see businesses committing to the cultural change required for more women to make a difference in the boardroom.
Following his Government-commissioned review, Lord Davies recommended that FTSE companies work towards a voluntary target of a minimum of one in four female board members by 2015, yet a report by Cranfield School of Management found that very little progress had been made.
What I found particularly disappointing was that more than two thirds of the UK’s top 100 companies had not yet decided how they intend to comply with the recommendations.
This is not only an issue for big businesses, the same situation arises with many SMEs, and it would be fantastic to see change being embraced by all businesses and across all industries.
Whatever the size of the company I don’t believe that a combination of quotas, heavy handed rules and further regulation is the way to create the next generation of women at board level – it simply wouldn’t be beneficial, especially for companies that operate in more gender biased industries.
Research suggests that what typically drives employees to stay in or leave a job is not so much money, as relationships and job satisfaction. For SMEs, particularly in the current climate, the key to success is surely a matter of finding ways to ensure that talented women are content within the workplace, and this can be achieved at least in part by giving them the opportunity to gain experience and develop the skills required to run a business at the highest level.
