by Caroline Cookson
I had the privilege to attend the annual Balanced Business Forum earlier this week; a highly thought provoking and forward thinking conference developed by An Inspirational Journey – a market-leading force for change that addresses the current gender and ethnic imbalances of talent that exist from middle management through to the C-suite in corporate UK. This issue is still very current today; with movies like Suffragette and actresses like Jennifer Lawrence once more bringing female inequality to the social conscience of the masses. Yes we’ve come a long way but there is still so much more to do.
I was surprised by some of the statistics that were highlighted at the start of the day:
60% of graduates entering the workforce are female but only 5% of women hold executive positions
Only 14% of CEOs were state educated
62 boards in FTSE 250 companies are all white
One of the powerful messages that reached me during the day was the importance of businesses hiring the best talent – no matter what gender, ethnic origin or social background that talent is from – then developing and retaining that talent. One of the day’s key speakers, Cisco CEO Phil Smith, emphasised that the battle for talent will be the key to Cisco’s continued success in the next 20 years. I dare say it will be everyone’s. It is not enough for companies now to just make money – it is people, clear purpose and strong leadership that result in a profitable organisation.
89% of clients believe a purpose-driven company delivers a higher quality of products/services.
3 x more employees are likely to stay with a purpose-driven company
I was surprised by a poll of delegates during the day which highlighted that 66% were unsure of the ‘purpose’ of their current employer.
f1 has been a strong advocate for change in the marketing and communications industry for the past 11 years – we want to see more women in the executive suite, we want to see young people from different ethnic backgrounds entering careers in marcomms (which is why we have a partnership with a school in Hackney and regularly speak to the pupils about the opportunities available in our sector), we want to see more mum-returners coming back into the industry ensuring valuable talent and knowledge isn’t lost (which is why we helped found the ‘back2businessship’ programme. We have a strong sense of purpose beyond profit that is lacking in many of our competitors.
SO what can you do to ‘be the change’? If you take a look at your business or the company you work for is there a clear purpose beyond profit? What more could you be doing to ensure that your purpose is clear and that your staff are fully engaged? What are your other recruitment providers doing to champion a greater diversity of people to enrich your business? You could offer a work placement to a young person from a different social background. You could offer a returnship placement to a mum-returner and support women coming back into the industry. Start small, think big.
The Balanced Business Forum 2016: http://www.balancedbusinessforum.com/
More on back2businessship: @b2businessship
http://www.inspiringthefuture.org/