The Gender Agenda

Evolve or die: workplace flexibility and the next generation

PwC — Tue, 21 May 2013 09:38:53 +0100

PwC’s NextGen: A global generational study, which was conducted in conjunction with the University of Southern California and the London Business School, represents the most ambitious research into the Millennial generation, or ‘Generation Y’. The study included responses from 44,000 employees throughout PwC’s global network of professional service firms, with almost one quarter of the responses coming from Millennials.

This two-year research undertaking finds that the Millennial generation, those born between 1980 and 1995, seek more workplace flexibility, better balance between their work and home life, and opportunity for overseas assignments as keys to greater job satisfaction.

The research study both confirmed and dispelled stereotypes about Millennials. While younger workers are more tech savvy, globally focused, and willing to share information, the study found they did not feel more entitled or less committed than their older, non-Millennial counterparts, and are willing to work just as hard. The global survey also found that many of the Millennials' attitudes are consistently shared by their more senior colleagues.

The study sought to measure factors relating to workplace retention, loyalty and job satisfaction. It compared responses among Millennials to those of non-Millennials at the same stage of their careers to assess generational differences between the two sets of employees.

There are a number of key lessons at the heart of the PwC NextGen study findings.

Millennial employees want greater flexibility…and so does everyone else.

Millennials and non-Millennials alike want the option to shift their work hours to accommodate their own schedules and are interested in working outside the office where they can stay connected by way of technology. Employees across all generations also say they would be willing to forego some pay and delay promotions in exchange for reducing their hours.

Millennials put a premium on work/life balance.

Unlike past generations, who put an emphasis on their careers and worked well beyond a 40-hour work week in the hope of rising to higher-paying positions later on, Millennials are not convinced that such early career sacrifices are worth the potential rewards. A balance between their personal and work lives is more important to them.

These findings are important for business leaders who need to understand, and diversity practitioners who need to deliver, the business case for diversity. For too long flexibility and work/life balance have been associated with female talent. This NextGen research report does more than dispel stereotypes related to the Millennial generation, it also goes some way towards dispelling some gender stereotypes.

Flexibility is not just about women; for Millennials, it is a talent wide imperative. In fact, the study finds that given the opportunity, 64% of Millennials and 66% of non-Millennials would like to occasionally work from home, and 66% of Millennials and 64% of non-Millennials would like the option to occasionally shift their work hours. 15% of all male employees and 21% of all female employees say they would give up some of their pay and slow the pace of promotion in exchange for working fewer hours. What is critical here is that work/life balance is more important to a much broader subset of Millennials – Millennial women and Millennial men.

Likewise, work/life balance, while more important to the Millennial generation, is valued by non-Millenials as well; in fact, 71% of Millennials vs. 63% of non-Millennials say that their work demands significantly interfere with their personal lives.

When leadership and organisations understand that flexibility and work/life balance are not just Millennial- or women-focused challenges, but are indeed about everyone, and begin to consider them with strategies and policies targeted at the whole talent population, then we will continue to see a shift toward more truly diverse and inclusive work cultures and organisations.

So please, let’s start talk about flexibility and work/life balance as a talent wide proposition! Find out more on the PwC’s NextGen Study at http://www.pwc.com/gx/en/hr-management-services/publications/nextgen-study.jhtml.

Aoife

How the light gets in

PwC — Thu, 09 May 2013 13:49:59 +0100

We had a phone call from The Institute of Arts and Ideas (IAI) recently and we have to admit, they were not a body we would have intuitively linked with our strategic efforts here in PwC on diversity. However, reading their brand statement ‘realising the potential of the 21st century intellectual landscape’ gave us pause for thought; as part of our diversity strategy is undoubtedly about realising the potential of our PwC intellectual and talent landscape.

So it turns out, some of their team are avid readers of our Gender Agenda blog (which is always nice to hear) and they wanted to bring our attention to their upcoming How the Light Gets In festival, which it turns out it is the world's largest philosophy and music festival, and appears to have a wonderfully eclectic programme of thought-provoking debates, music, and comedy.

As diversity practitioners we keep ourselves informed of current research, legislation, best practice and dialogue on all things diversity.

This festival made us think we need to start thinking in more broad and diverse terms as to how we keep abreast of developments in such areas beyond our usual sources. So when Zoe Willox Dunant of the IAI encouraged us to look at the programme for How the Light Gets In festival because she thought some of it may be of interest to us, we couldn’t have agreed more.

The programme includes a number of relevant philosophy sessions: The World after Men, Revolutionary Women, More than Equal, After Feminism, United in Difference. And one that particularly piqued our interest entitled Thinking Differently.

This Thinking Differently debate brings together a diverse mix of experts including Scottish feminist linguist Deborah Cameron, feminist psychologist Carol Gilligan and Cambridge philosopher Simon Blackburn as they embark upon a quest for new ways of thinking.

A rather enticing session description is outlined…

Thinking differently
Have we made a mistake in the way we think? Some believe our very language and thought are inherently male, and that this is a serious shortcoming. Can we create a new way of thinking that is not masculine, and as a consequence create a new world, or is this a misguided fantasy?

…which already has us thinking.

Encouraging new ways of thinking is part of our role. We aim to get leadership, management, the whole talent population of our organisations to think in new and different ways, including thinking about diversity itself differently. To understand that diversity is a business issue with a clear business case, and harness the creativity and innovation of our workforce.

The importance of language and thinking differently was at the crux of Dennis Nally’s recent PwC CEO Insight’s blog entitled Stop talking about diversity. Dennis shares why he believes that discussing diversity implicitly at the global level (as opposed to explicitly) will sustain momentum in the face of uncertain markets and help tap into talent.

One thing is for sure: just thinking about ‘thinking differently’ in itself is a positive step. Be that through broadening the scope of our subject matter sources on diversity, or through evoking new ways of thinking about diversity in our leaders and peers.

We can’t wait to see how these fascinating philosophy sessions take form at How the Light Gets In festival, which runs from 23 May-2 June.

For those who can’t attend, the IAI will make the philosophy sessions available on line at http://iai.tv/ - we’ll be sure to let you know when, so that we can all tune in.

Aoife

Women in work – Nordic countries lead the PwC rankings

PwC — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 09:40:48 +0100

By Yong Jing Teow and John Hawksworth

New PwC research reveals that the Nordic countries lead the OECD countries in advancing equality in gender pay and opportunities in the workplace.

Our new PwC Women in Work Index shows that women in OECD countries are gaining ground in the workplace (see figure below). This is based on a weighted average of five key indicators of female economic empowerment: the equality of earnings with men; the proportion of women in work both in absolute terms and relative to men; the female unemployment rate; and the proportion of women in full-time employment.

The Nordic countries have consistently remained in the lead. In 2011, Norway was in pole position, followed by Sweden, Denmark, New Zealand and Finland. Though Spain’s performance in 2011 remains below the OECD average, its improvement over the years is striking: Spain saw a 15 percentage point increase in female labour force participation rates and a 9 percentage point reduction in the gender wage gap (find out more on Women as Leaders in Spain here).

Women in OECD countries are generally closing the wage gap with their male peers and are more likely to go to work compared to a decade ago. However, the share of women in full-time employment has declined and female unemployment has increased slightly on average.

One striking result from our research is that the overall progress of the average OECD country has slowed since the great recession, but it hasn’t stopped countries like the Netherlands, Germany and Israel, which nevertheless made significant gains between 2007 and 2011.

[Click the image to view a larger version]

Source: PwC analysis of data from the OECD, Eurostat, Australian Bureau of Statistics and Statistics Bureau of Japan

Our index makes clear that though improvements have been made in the past, much more needs to be done. Women account for the majority of university graduates in OECD nations, and yet the transition from education to paid work reveals the inequalities that women face in the labour market. Female labour participation rates have remained 17 percentage points lower compared to men for the average OECD country in 2011. Women still find it challenging to climb the career ladder and this is most apparent in the lack of visible role models: only 10% of board members in the OECD are women, and female top-earners are paid 21% less on average than their male peers.

There is a clear business case for diversity, and perceiving it merely as a moral imperative risks missing the big picture. Research by Catalyst – a diversity think tank – shows that higher levels of female boardroom representation in Fortune 500 companies is associated with better financial performance, as indicated by return on sales, return on invested capital and return on equity. These findings are corroborated by a study by Eversheds, which show that companies with more female directors experienced better performance during the financial crisis.

Businesses and policymakers have a critical role to play in addressing the needs of female employees in areas like flexible working, childcare, female promotion pipelines and diversity goals. Clear targets and goals need to be set, and businesses must monitor and publish their progress. However, it is also important to reflect on the effect of corporate culture and working practices on all employees, not just women. Though family-friendly work practices are often targeted at women, there needs to be a shift away from the notion that women alone are responsible for familial responsibilities. Policies that enable employees to reconcile both work and family commitments will work only if both men and women take advantage of them.

Change will not come easy, but only by putting diversity at the heart of the business and policy agendas can the potential skills and talent of the complete talent pool be harnessed. Dennis Nally, Chairman of PwC International, Ltd. explores how discussing diversity implicitly – as an integral part of business and growth – will sustain momentum in the face of uncertain markets and help us to tap into the talent we desperately need.

For more information on the PwC Women in Work Index, please visit http://www.pwc.co.uk/the-economy/publications/women-in-work-index.jhtml

Yong Jing Teow is an economist in PwC's UK Economics and Policy team, with experience in macroeconomic research and analysis. Find out more about Jing

John Hawksworth is Chief Economist for the UK and editor of the Economic Outlook publication, and many other reports and articles on macroeconomic and fiscal policy issues. Find out more about John

They both contribute to our Economics in Business blog and have previously collaborated on the Women in work – UK slides down PwC rankings article (March 2013).

Leaning In Together

PwC — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 10:15:08 +0100

Hello,

Last week, I attended my first Lean In circle meeting at the British Consulate in San Francisco. Although a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II presiding over us imbued the meeting with a sense of gravitas, the event was full of vibrant, informative, and sometimes humorous stories of leaning in and leaning back. I’ll be writing about that truly unique experience in an upcoming blog, but in the meantime, asked my friend and colleague Jennifer Allyn to express her takeaways from the book.

Jennifer is an avid reader (I love holding impromptu book clubs with her when I’m in our New York office) as well as a leading national expert in diversity whose previous Mad Men piece you all raved about. I was so pleased when she sent me today’s guest blog, which I believe brings new insight to the conversation Lean In has ignited around the world — enjoy.

Dale

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In 2008, PwC hosted a panel discussion about women and ambition in our New York office. We surveyed the audience of 150 partners, staff and guests to understand their perception of the word “ambitious.” While 94 percent of the men said the term was positive, only 57 percent of the women agreed. Instead a quarter of the women—and strikingly, none of the men—felt ambition was a negative word. Fast forward to today: Sheryl Sandberg, the COO of Facebook, has ignited a national debate about why this gender gap exists and what women can do to “lean in” to leadership. It’s an important conversation that I hope will inspire PwC women to aim even higher, but as our panelists demonstrated personal drive is only part of what it takes to have a successful career. The other elements of the equation are opportunity and recognition. That’s why coaches need to lean in too, and use the insights in Sandberg’s book to help close the gender gap in leadership.

The full version of this video appears at the end of this article

An entire chapter of Lean In is devoted to advising women to “sit at the table.” Sandberg tells a story about hosting a meeting where a group of women literally sit in chairs at the back of a conference room instead of joining the men seated at the table. She attributes this behavior to a lack of confidence where women underestimate their abilities and feel they don’t belong.

How can we make sure women sit at the table? It turns out encouragement is critical. In a study about politics, researchers found that female politicians were much more likely to have run for public office because someone encouraged them to do so, while men “self-started” without that support. As Marie Wilson, founder of the White House Project, noted in our panel, “Women don’t run [for office] … unless somebody calls them and says, ‘have you thought about running?’ … so encouragement is huge.” The same dynamic operates in the workplace and here coaches, managers, and engagement partners play a vital role in encouraging women to take on leadership. Instead of waiting for staff to volunteer or promote themselves, leaders can take the following actions:

Randomly assign team members to lead internal meetings
Rotate who attends client meetings and delivers presentations
Explicitly invite women to compete for opportunities and illustrate why you think they are qualified for the role
Don’t assume someone is not interested in an assignment because they didn’t ask for it

These simple steps can make a big difference because true confidence is built through successful performance and you can’t perform without opportunities.

Lean In is full of research findings and one of the most disturbing is the Heidi/Howard experiment. Students were given a Harvard Business School case describing how an entrepreneur named Heidi Roizen used her real-life network to succeed in business. Half the students read the original story about Heidi, while the other half received a version with the protagonist’s name changed to Howard. Although the facts were identical, both male and female students liked Howard better; they didn’t want to work for Heidi because she was considered too self-promoting. The researchers conclude that “success and likeability are positively correlated for men and negatively correlated for women.”

As Anna Fels, author of Necessary Dreams: Ambition in Women’s Changing lives, told our audience, “When women assume leadership positions, unlike men, they get a lot of negative recognition. They get negative feedback about their femininity…about their style.” This double standard in how we recognize achievement is clearly one of the reasons so many women view ambition as a negative word.

Sandberg advises women leaders to let go of wanting to be liked. However, supervisors — male and female — also have a responsibility to question comments like she’s “too aggressive” or has “sharp elbows.” Merely asking whether the same behavior would be described that way if demonstrated by a man sends a powerful signal. The journalist Anna Quindlen once wrote that we want our women leaders to be “tough as nails, and warm as toast.” Naming that double bind, and recognizing the impossibility of displaying both qualities at the same time, is an important step to eliminating it.

The business case for gender diversity is clear for our profession. In the U.S. women earn the majority of college degrees and represent half our new hires each year. Bob Moritz outlines the role CEOs can play, but you don’t need to be a senior leader to create change. Each of us can profoundly influence the aspirations of the people who work with and for us. If we want women to lean in we need to help cultivate those dreams. Treating ambition as a collaboration, where coaches are an integral part of the process, will help PwC maximize the talents of all our people.

Jennifer Allyn is a managing director in PwC’s U.S. Office of Diversity, where she is responsible for designing programs to retain, develop and advance women.

Read about PwC Lean In experiences here: Maria Castañón Moats, Diana Weiss, Carol Sawdye, Terri McClements, Laura Cox Kaplan

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Crafting your career – ten great pieces of advice from mothers all over the world

PwC — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 17:17:24 +0000

Since our last blog post a couple of pivotal things have happened to celebrate women. Of course, there was International Women’s Day (IWD), but also here in Ireland Mothers Day fell on 10 March this year. As shared in our 8 March blog, our firms around the network celebrated IWD in many different ways, while globally we focused our efforts on our own unique theme for the day – Gender, generation and leadership: supporting the millennial woman craft her career.

Thousands of people have already visited the various resources we created to support this theme and foster a broader conversation on gender diversity. There is something for everyone -- whether you’re a millennial woman, a talent leader, a mentor, a parent, or a CEO, so if you haven’t already – why not check it out.

In addition we marked IWD by giving all of our talent the opportunity to take part in a PwC network-wide discussion by posing the question – Crafting your career, what’s the best piece of advice you ever received from a woman?

This proved to be a great exercise, one that certainly exceeded my expectations. I expected great discussion that would help us to better understand the contribution that all of the women in our peoples’ lives have made to both their own success and the success of PwC. But what I hadn’t really appreciated was that in essence this exercise would create what I can only refer to as ‘repository of development advice’ that our talent can take something from, be it IWD, or any other day of the year.

The fact that I celebrated Mothers Day with my mum the Sunday after IWD did not influence how I viewed all the advice shared. Mothers Day or not, a clear theme emerged - nearly half of the great advice our male and female talent received came from women in their family (see poll results below), but in particular from mothers all over the world.

I couldn’t help but feel compelled to let all those mothers out there know how influential they have been to careers, but also, to share some of this great advice further.

So I am very happy to share with you today, ten of the great pieces of advice shared as part of our internal discussion to mark IWD.

Advice from mothers in Australia:

Pictured: Manuela Schmid, PwC Australia and Julia Gillard, Prime Minister, Australia

“Most people say no, and then think about it. We need to say yes, and then think about it.
Have no regrets…..
One day many years ago I was thinking about giving up on something that I thought was impossible to accomplish – my mother simply asked me “Why can’t it be you?” Those wise words have stuck with me forever, and I often ask myself the question in my personal and professional life. Be that when I’ve been pursuing that promotion or buying my first home. I met the Prime Minister of Australia this morning, and while I was sitting there deciding if we should go up and ask for a photo, guess what I said to myself – “Why can’t it be me to have a photo with the PM?”

Advice from a mother in Austria

Sometimes it can be easy to feel nervous or intimated when meeting senior leaders in business. My mom always told me to remember that “everybody puts their pants on one leg at a time”. I always remember this and it helps me have confidence no matter who I am dealing with.

Advice from a mother in China

When I think about some of the most valuable advice I have received throughout my career, I have to pay homage to my mother who always told me “you have the right to voice your opinion, and you have the responsibility to respect the opinion of others”.

Advice from a mother in Hong Kong

Growing up as a child my mother always told me that “we can change our future simply by changing our attitude”. This advice has stood me in good stead over the years. In all careers we face challenges or problems at different times. Instead of letting problems get me down, I see each problem as a hurdle with hidden opportunities. In my career this has led me to embrace change and become a stronger person.

Advice from a mother in India

“Enjoy your journey, don’t worry about your destination”

Advice from mothers in the Middle East

The best career advice I ever received was from my mother who said “Move on, don’t let a set-back dishearten you. Learn from it, and you can forge ahead”.
“Never let anyone decide what you can’t do”

Advice from mothers in the UK

I remember as a small child not wanting to go to a party. My mum told me “it’s often the parties that you don’t want to go to that turn out to be the best, don’t miss out on an opportunity, you’ll never know what you missed”. I have always tried to embrace that idea since, so now if there are things outside my comfort zone that I’m reluctant about, I always think of this advice, take a deep breath and dive in. And my mum was right, many of the best things that have happened in my career are because I did exactly that.
I remember my mum telling me “you don’t need to ask anyone but yourself if you are making the right decision – but bear in mind that every morning when you get up you will have to look at yourself in the mirror and you had better like what you see” which was a nice way of reminding me that I would have to live with my decisions, but perhaps more importantly has been a critical guide as I have shaped my career and helped me become the authentic leader I feel that I am today

My own mum has always told me to make sure I enjoy what I do, and when you are getting to share inspiring advice from women all over the world, well, it is hard not to. I hope this blog inspires you to think about the great advice you have received from women that helped you craft your own career and how you can share it further.

Aoife