By Simon Mortlock*
Westpac chief executive Gail Kelly’s push to boost the number of women in senior management roles will be music to the ears of HR professionals at financial institutions.
The sixteen HR people who attended the recent eFinancialCareers roundtable in Melbourne agreed that policies to redress the senior-level shortage of women in finance must be instigated by industry leaders like Kelly.
Announcing the bank’s annual results last week, Kelly said that Westpac had already hit its 2014 target of women making up 40 per cent of management positions. The goal for 2017 is 50 per cent.
This is the kind of quantifiable statement that gives the required clout to gender diversity, an issue that may otherwise slip down the corporate agenda or just be paid lip service to.
“HR and recruitment teams are the final point for diversity, not the ones driving it,” said one roundtable attendee, all of whom asked not to be named in this report. “The message must come from board level if it is to really affect company policy.”
Several delegates pointed out that executives at their banks had openly supported efforts to improve the gender balance in senior positions. A representative of a Big Four bank said his firm had a 35 per cent female-leadership target. “HR, too, needs to actively promote/support this, not just ‘get through it’ as an obligation.”
Although large employers continue to run educational and recruitment events for young women at schools and universities, entry-level gender diversity is not their most critical challenge. “We’ve basically sorted those problems out – now it’s about getting women into senior positions. Promotion and tenure are key,” said an HR person from an accounting firm.
Here’s how they do it
Family responsibilities are one widely-acknowledged reason why some women leave the finance industry as they rise up the ranks. But while flexible working can be a tool to retain middle managers, employers have traditionally been more reluctant to offer it to senior staff.
There are signs that this may be changing. One roundtable attendee, for example, said his accounting firm had recently reformed its policy. “We’ve become more flexible in order to build more female leaders. We even have a partner who works four days a week and received her promotion while still on maternity leave.”
Flexible working isn’t the only strategy to promote managerial gender diversity. HR professionals often educate hiring managers to remove “unconscious bias” in recruitment – ensuring, for example, that there’s always at least one woman on interview panels. “Males still predominate in senior roles, so they often don’t naturally and proactively look to promote women into their ranks,” explained an attendee.
Problems remain
Most large firms also encourage women to take part in leadership programmes. “But these often require overseas postings,” said a representative from a Big Four bank. “As a result, many women, especially those with a family or planning one, don’t put themselves forward.”
Another attended added: “One problem with female leadership is that other female staff see this as a ‘women’s club’ from which they feel excluded. We have to avoid the appearance that we are just recycling the same senior talent.”
Even flexible working can have its downsides, as a delegate from an accounting firm pointed out: “Women are much more active in applying for flexi working, creating the appearance that it’s a gender-specific programme. The feedback we get is that males need to be more included.”
Her counterpart at a regional Australian bank agreed: “Not a single man has asked me about flex working – it’s not the social norm.”
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Simon Mortlock is a senior editor at eFinancialcareers.com where this story first appeared. It is used here with permission. New Zealand banks are generally doing better at promoting women into senior bank positions and have a longer history of doing so. We would be interested in hearing your experience in the comment section below.
2 Comments
Here's BNZ's press release on the recent appointment of its first female CFO:
BNZ announces new CFO
BNZ is pleased to announce the appointment of Adrienne Duarte as its new CFO. She will join the bank in September, and will replace Ken Christie when he leaves to take up a role with NAB at the end of the year.
Ms Duarte will be the bank’s first female CFO with her appointment bringing the gender balance of BNZ’s executive team up to 50% women.
BNZ CEO Andrew Thorburn says, “I am delighted to welcome Adrienne to my executive team. Following a rigorous search, Adrienne was the clear frontrunner for this role.
“Well respected across the NAB group, she is ideally placed to help lead the bank through the challenging economic times ahead and enable us to continue to perform, and invest in New Zealand.
“Adrienne brings to BNZ a wealth of market-leading experience, having been involved in a number of significant NAB initiatives where she helped drive the ROE and capital efficiency agenda for the group, and consistently delivered outstanding results.”
Ms Duarte joins BNZ from 12 years with NAB where she was most recently general manager, group performance and planning with responsibility for providing insights that enable the group executive to set the performance agenda across the group.
Adrienne’s roles at NAB also included general manager performance management, capital insights; general manager, financial strategy and ROE; and general manager group strategic investments. Prior to joining NAB, Adrienne’s career was based in the advisory world both in the UK and Australia – in corporate finance and strategy consulting.
Ms Duarte says, “I’ve long aspired to be CFO of a high performing company like BNZ. I am looking forward to joining the BNZ executive, working with some of the highest performing people in the industry, and leading BNZ’s world-class finance team.”
Ms Duarte has a Masters in Business Administration from Australian Graduate School of Management (AGSM); including completing the AGSM exchange programme with London Business School; holds a Bachelor of Economics from Australian National University and is a chartered accountant. She is also a member of the Institute of Company Directors in Australia.
She has a number of interesting hobbies including a passion for flying and numismatics (the study or collection of currencies).
Ms Duarte's appointment is subject to receipt of the necessary authorisation from the Reserve Bank of New Zealand.
ANZ NZ has also announced that their new CFO is a woman. I think their CRO, Head of HR and the Head of Retail are also woman. Woman are still under represented in most NZ companies but the banks seem to measure up quite well on the diversity score.
By the way diversity is not just about gender, its about background, experiences, race, culture and many other things. Big companies who have diverse customers need to embrace diversity.
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