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UK - Staffing sector leaders share best practice on gender diversity

22 October 2014

While Facebook and Apple offer to freeze eggs for female employees in an attempt to attract more women on to their staff, staffing firms such as SThree and Page Group believe mentoring and flexibility are the keys to achieving better gender diversity within their organisations.

Apple, in its diversity report this year, stated that its workforce was 70% male, while Facebook reported its workforce was 69% male. The dearth of senior women working in these Silicon Valley firms has led Apple and Facebook to expand the range of perks offered to their employees to include extended maternity and paternity leave, along with cryopreservation and egg storage as part of their support for infertility treatments.

Statistics recently released by the European Commission show that the average share of women on the boards of the largest publicly listed companies in the EU has risen to 18.6% (April 2014). This represents an increase of nearly one percentage point since the European Parliament gave strong backing in November 2013 to the Commission's draft Directive, currently being discussed by the Council of the EU, aiming for a share of 40% of female non-executive members on the boards of listed companies.

The UK Government, however, resists quotas and wants to see a "sustainable change at the heart of business...to address the underlying cause of gender inequality" (Baroness O'Cathain, chair of the House of Lords EU Committee).

The top 12 listed UK staffing firms have approximately 90 directors, of which 16 are female, equating to 18%. This is significantly lower than the proportion of women within the industry below management level. According to The Female FTSE Board Report 2013, 17.3% of FTSE 100 director positions are held by women; however, women only hold 5.8% of Executive Director positions.

Much has been written about the causes of gender inequality within top management in the staffing sector and other industries but the debate at Staffing Industry Analysts’ Fringe event at Recruitment Live will be focusing on the solutions that firms can adopt.

Staffing Industry Analysts will bring together a strong panel of speakers, who have themselves challenged the issue and succeeded in building successful businesses while encouraging diversity.

Gary Elden, one of the 100 most influential people in European staffing (SIA Staffing 100), and Natasha Clarke of SThree have both been recognised as champions of gender diversity; while Belinda Brooke is a founder of Michael Page's diversity forum, Open Page, and has been involved in rolling out a variety of diversity initiatives across the Michael Page global network.

Finally, Jane Woodhead as co-founder of Hobson Prior challenged the stereotypical issues affecting women to build a highly successful business.

Increasingly clients of staffing companies, particularly in the public sector, are requiring their suppliers to demonstrate active promotion of diversity policies and a commitment to equality beyond ticking the box with written policies. The panellists will be sharing their insights as to the strategies that successful businesses can employ to encourage diversity within their workforce and the benefits that a real commitment to the issue can bring. 

For more information on Recruitment Live 2014, click here.