Lack of senior women and no flexibility in the work- place to close the gap?

Due to societal, practical and historical reasons, women have a heavier personal/family load and therefore less “give” when it comes to paid work. It is also true that given women have been historically marginalised by traditional businesses who did now allow for flexibility, they will naturally look for flexibility as not only does this meet their needs, it is a strong indicator of progression generally.

I strongly believe however that gender equality can only be achieved if flexible working is available for both men and women. It must become acceptable for ambitious, hard working men to work on their terms too in order for flexible working to become normalised and consequently.

In two ways:

1. We measure how many women we are placing into these exciting flexible roles. Success is between 50-70%. Why? Less than 50% goes against our overall mission and above 70% indicates we aren’t placing enough men which again, goes against our mission!
2. Only work with flexible businesses and opt against working for those who aren’t. Our promise to professionals is very clear and if we go against that, we are not being true to our mission.

Historically “flexible working” has been about part time work but we have found it to be broader than that in the professional workforce at mid-senior level:

1. Part-time: a defined part-time need (often 2-4 days per week)
2. Full-time with flex: a full time need in a highly flexible and autonomous environment
3. Portfolio: a defined part-time/consultancy engagement (often 1-4 days per month)