Deloitte comments on Hampton-Alexander women on boards review

Emma Codd, Managing Partner for Talent at Deloitte, commenting on the Hampton-Alexander review of the number of female executives at Britain’s 350 biggest public companies, said: “Increasing the number of female executives at Britain’s biggest companies is critical. However, for many companies the change will require targeted action over the long term - including ensuring that the culture and environment supports the development of women from an early stage in their careers. Three years ago we set a target that by 2020 women would comprise 25% of our partners - at that stage they comprised 15%. Today we are at 18% - this is progress, but we still have a long way to go. We know that we are on a journey that requires consistent focus on a combination of culture change and targeted actions, all led by our firm’s senior leadership; to us this is a business critical issue that we can’t get wrong and so our focus is relentless.

“Having set our target, we looked hard at our business and identified the pressure points from a gender diversity perspective - we developed a long term plan with clear actions against which our leadership is measured; this plan and our progress against it is made available to all our people to see. We have focused on providing an agile and inclusive culture, where women are able to balance commitments outside work with a successful career. We have taken steps to ensure that our women are aware of their potential, that they have the right development opportunities and have the sponsorship needed. We have also worked hard to attract senior women back into the workplace following a career break, welcoming 17 women into our firm through our most recent cohort of Return to Work interns; and we have ensured that decisions for senior roles are always challenged from a gender perspective. We believe that we are progressing in the right direction and that meaningful change can be achieved through deliberate focus led from the top.”

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