STRATEGIES AND BEST PRACTICES TO INCREASE THE SHARE OF WOMEN IN MIDDLE AND HIGHER

MANAGEMENT POSITIONS

EU PROJECT PROMOTING WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP

Goals and focus

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Three central questions:

1. What is the current situation of women’s representation in managerial positions and what ‘speed of change’ over last 5 to 10 years;

2. What – possible - effectiveness or impact of binding and non-binding governmental regulations and of voluntary industry initiatives and policies at the national and European levels, as far as investigated and reported on in the literature;

3. Good and best practises

Methodological approach:

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Cross-country comparison Germany, France, Italy, Poland, Sweden, UK plus

Norway

Data analysis Literature review (law, economics)

Industry – good and best - practices; interviews

Graph 1 – percentage employed female managers all ages/all education levels (Source: Eurostat LFS Database – Employment Rates – Employment by sex, occupation and highest level of education attained, 10 April 2014)

40%

38%

36%

34%

32%

30%

28%

26%

24%

22%

20%

2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

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European Union (28 countries) Germany France

Italy Poland Sweden

United Kingdom Norway

Female managers

Percentage female board members (Source: EC database on gender balance in decision-making positions – Board members, 7 March 2014)

45% 40% 35% 30% 25% 20% 15% 10%

5%

0% 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

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European Union (28 countries) United Kingdom France

Italy Poland Germany

Norway Sweden

Some conclusions:

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% of women representation in middle, higher and top management positions is overall still quite low

while differences are to be noted, the speed of change

in middle and higher management positions is generally low in all researched countries and in all age groups

the speed of change at board level is quite high in some

countries as a result of recent regulatory steps, but EU average is still very low

Explaining cross-country divergences

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Different welfare systems (Esping-Anderson, 1990);

Liberal (UK) Conservative (Italy, France, Germany)

Social-democrat (Norway, Sweden) plus: post-communist (Poland)

Cultural differences (Hofstede’s cultural index, 2010): Individualism/collectivism Masculinity/femininity Level of power distance

Multitude of regulatory responses

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CEE-countries -> absence of public regulation

Poland -> pure self-regulation, but incentive for this in the law

UK -> self-regulation for private sector, but soft quota for public service

Sweden -> self-regulation and soft public policy (government ‘letter of

governance’ to public companies), but no quota rule/targets

Netherlands -> soft public policy, setting legal target of 30% but no sanctions

Germany -> conditioned self-regulation but legislative proposals for quota for listed companies and certain public services

Italy, France and Norway -> hard quota regime, including sanctions EU -> moving from soft law (recommendation) to hard law approach (directive) but still rather soft target rule

Discovery of Best Practices Approach

Experiences of 6 selected international companies, in different industries and EU countries: Accor, Gekoplast, H&M, Sandvik, Syngenta, T‐Systems

Desk research: public information sources (website, annual reports)

Per company two interviews: HR director female senior manager (tenure, BU management, p&l

responsibility) Preparation: ‘Company Briefing’ and ‘Outline themes for

interviews’ Telephone interviews of 60 ‐ 90 minutes Summary of the interviews (key elements) including

quotes for approval to be included in publication 4

Interviews and desk research Themes

1. Facts and statistics

2. Business case for gender diversity and integration in the organization

3. Employment conditions, facilities, policies

4. Corporate culture

5. Best practices

Interviews with female senior managers Themes

Career history and deciding moments

Barriers and enablers for advancement of women in management

Best Practices and advice

Interviews Two specific questions

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1. How to deal with so‐called ‘modest behaviours' of women?

2. How to engage men and deal with resistance

against plans and policies aimed at promoting (more) women in management?

Facts and statistics Company data

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Company Accor Gekoplast H&M Sandvik Syngenta T‐Systems

Industry Hotel Plastics Fashion Industrial Agriculture ICT

Incorporated France Poland Sweden Sweden Switzerld Germany

Revenue 2013 € 5.5 bln € 16.7 bln € 9.6 bln $ 14 bln € 9.5 bln

No. employees 160,000 < 500 116,000 47,000 28,000 50,000

% women employees 46% 89% 18.5% 33% 33%

% women NED/SB 40% 0 55% 10% 20% 37%

% women ExCo/EB 9% 33% 37.5% 33% 22% 0

Best Practices H&M

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1. Diversity is in the company’s “genes”, since 1947.

2. In‐company cross‐gender mentoring program (for specific departments) to create awareness around women’s experience of the culture.

3. Innovative approach to motivate upcoming

women by having senior women talk about their career (storytelling) and for instance how to deal with moving your family to another country in films on the intranet.

Best Practices Sandvik

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1. The business case and the why, i.e. 4 business drivers behind it.

2. The strategy for inclusion: “Guideline of small

acts of inclusion”.

3. Global intranet portal with tools, including a global movie (10 minutes) about the business case and drivers, in different languages, and a dialogue kit, checklist for D&I perspective in recruitment processes.

Best Practices Syngenta

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1. Maternity policy: full pay for 9 months plus one month bonus, if you keep in regular contact with the person who is covering your maternity leave (UK).

2. Flexible working (from home) is possible and well facilitated by IT systems.

Teleconferencing is used globally, and accommodated to country’s time zone.

3. Global mentoring program for women. Objective is to identify and

train women who have potential to grow into senior management roles. Key features:

1. To support their confidence and development as leader.

2. To give access to a wider network in the company. 3. Mentors can be male or female. Mentors are from different

business units than mentees, so there is no hierarchical relationship between them.

Best Practices T‐Systems

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1. Drive from top management and immediate appointment of senior women

2. Target as a tool to change HR processes and culture, not as an absolute number

3. Business case rationale: quality of decisionmaking

Best Practices Accor

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1. Group International Diversity Charter

2. Diversity training, including recruitment

3. Company wide womens network and mentoring

Best Practices Gekoplast

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1. Project approach

2. Flexible working policy

3. Quarterly assessments. Individual talks between managers and employee that help identify and coach female managers.

Lessons learned

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The lack of data of appropriate size and quality.

Actions and policies must be developed in accordance with company specificities.

The commitment of top management is absolutley necessary

Top level of management (non executive boards) will not be gender equal without quotas.

Personal advice from women senior managers

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Never underestimate yourself

Be stubborn. When you are sure something, stick to your conviction

Show what you have achieved, and don’t hide.

Ask for a chance

Remember that everyone is responsible for her own development.

Thank you for your attention

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http://womeninmanagement.eu/ http://www.cec-managers.org/