Lloyds Bank becomes the first major company to set a gender quota, looking to fill forty percent of its top jobs with women by the end of the decade.
The Daily Mail has reported on Lloyds Bank and its new gender targets for filling its top jobs. The employment of women has been making headlines recently, and this unprecedented announcement from the banking giant has only added to the pressure British firms are under to increase the number of females in senior roles. The Daily Mail article states:
• Lloyds will fill 2,000 or its 5,000 most senior roles with women by 2020
• Currently 28% of senior-level roles such as senior managers and HR directors are occupied by women at the company
• Lloyds is the first major company in Britain to do this
• Only 4 FTSE 100 companies have female CEOs
A Balanced Representation
A desire to increase the employment of females in top jobs has not come from out of nowhere. Business secretary Vince Cable is reported as saying in the article: “All the evidence we have suggests that companies which do make use of the female labour force do very well at the top end”.
The argument for this move is predominantly research based, with recent research strongly suggesting that organisations with a diverse workforce at the senior level are more successful financially.
Why Women Don’t Get These Roles Already
British firms have come under fire amid criticism that many women never reach the top once leaving their careers to have children. Critics say this leaves the upper echelons of corporate Britain a male-dominated world.
Government Initiative
The Government recently launched an initiative to get more females employed in senior positions and Britain’s boardrooms, putting pressure on FTSE 100 companies to commit to the idea and give more top jobs to women. So far an increase of 8% has been observed of females in senior management roles; a rise from 12% to its current figure of 20%.
With Government support, it looks like Lloyds may be the first of many to increase its female workforce.
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Jamie Mistlin, RecruitmentRevolution.com – find me on Google+.
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