What makes a great gender-balanced workplace
I would like to say a massive heartfelt THANK YOU to all of you who completed our survey during the first Covid lockdown on what makes a great gender-balanced workplace. We exceeded our target of over 1,250 responses and are delighted to announce that Macmillan Cancer Support will receive our £1,000 charity donation, voted for by 40% of survey respondents. They are an amazing charity who have worked incredibly hard during these past months to stop cancer becoming the Forgotten 'C' during the pandemic. To read more about their important work, click here. Thank you.
Here are my 3 things to know this month:
Rethinking Leadership through a Gender Lens: New ways of working resulting from Covid. When I launched the survey during the first lockdown, I could not have imagined England would be back in lockdown 2.0 in November! Our survey findings are now even more relevant than ever, and will be published in our new research report in association with Rubica later this month. The findings show that whilst employees’ want the choice to continue working flexibly, organisations and leaders need to do more to learn from the crisis and support their employees. In particular, women reported feeling less valued than men and were more likely to say their job satisfaction had decreased during lockdown. Watch out this week for details of our virtual launch event!
Women’s Career Trajectories Can Be a Model for an Aging Workforce. This interesting article by Avivah Wittenberg-Cox (author of Seven Steps to Leading a Gender-Balanced Business) considers how we are hearing more about careers with two phases: A steady, effortful climb upward towards commercial success, and then a second phase dedicated to service to others. But for many women, the reality is exactly the reverse; many younger women feel trapped while in the first stage and the existence of the second is welcome news. I am thrilled to be interviewing Avivah this week for her insights into our research findings and how organisations need to rethink policies for the benefit of both men and women. Read her full article here.
NEW PROGRAMME LAUNCH! Reconnecting Leadership Virtual Mastermind. I am very excited to launch a brand new Reconnecting Leadership Virtual Mastermind programme. The programme for small cohorts of leaders offers a forum for growth, support and challenge in these changing times, with the mastermind group learning from the key recommendations in our research report. To find out more, click here or send me a message.
Finally, a reminder to look out for details of our exciting virtual research launch event later this week. We are delighted to be hosting the event with the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership and King's College London and have an incredible line-up of panellists to announce. Not one to be missed!
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