Talent to the Top
Swedish-Dutch
Conference on Gender Equality and
Labour Participation
21 November 2008
Tweede kamer, The Hague
Contents
TopBrainstorm
Background
Charter Talent to the Top
Supplementary measures
1
TopBrainstorm
2
TopBrainstorm
•
TopBrainstorm was set up in May 2007 as an initiative to get more female talent in the top
management and Board positions.
•
The initiative was unique in that it brought together government officials, corporate business
and top women.
•
On 30 October 2007 at a session at the Social Economic Council the business case for
more women, the analysis as to why Holland currently lags behind plus an action plan on
how to generate change was presented to a diverse group amongst whom the Prime
Minister.
•
Chaired by former Secretary of State Sybilla Dekker and under directorship of Marieke Bax
a number of project teams under the guidance of talented top women got together to work
out the action plan for presentation on 28 May 2008.
•
The project teams developed the Charter ‘Talent to the Top’, HR best practices and
supplementary proposals for a multi-media campaign for improving the image of working
women/mothers, flexible and affordable childcare and schooling and a website for providing
information to companies and women (www.talentnaardetop.nl).
•
The FoundationTopBrainstorm will continue to be financed by government with an aim to
stimulate the more effective use of female talent.
3
Background
4
Background: Analysis
•
As many as 33% of all women would like a career
•
25% of women would under the correct conditions like to work 4 days or more
•
However, reality is that:
•
•
•
•
1
2
Only 5% of Board directors of listed companies are female1
The situation in Executive Boards is worse with 2% women
The percentage in senior positions is not in proportion to the percentage of women
who enter the labour market with a higher or university degree (51%)
Especially the inability to keep women at middle management level prevents
them from climbing to the top2
Dutch Female Board Index; Mijntje Lükerath-Rovers
Diversiteitsladder 2007, Woman Capital
5
Background: Analysis (2)
Successfully
completed
HBO/WO
education
Share of
women
Management
position
~51%
Top
position *
~25%
~49%
~5%
~28%
* Board of top 50 Business in the Netherlands (Source: McKinsey)
6
Share of part time working women is the highest in The Netherlands
Share of part-time workers in total employment, in EU
Member States - 2006
80
60
40
EU25
20
EU25
0
BG SK HU CZ LV RO EL EE LT SI CY PL PT
Men
FI MT ES IT FR DK LU SE AT BE UK DE NL
Women
Source: Eurostat, European Labour Force Survey, Spring results
080425-RB4-TopBrainstorm_PARTI
7
Analysis: the impediments
Focus
Drivers
Bottlenecks
% Women with
satisfactory
qualities
×
% Women who are
acknowledged and
recognised
Impediments to
the number of top
=
×
women
% Women who
dare to take the
step
•
•
•
•
•
Low degree of participating women
Low share of fulltime working women
Career is interrupted
Male criteria for top positions
Nature of women (experience & assigments)
• Women participating in networks
• Dominant workfloor culture
•
•
•
•
Social norms/images
Few positive role models
Lack of positive self image
Lack of mentoring and stimulus from family/friends and social
pressure
• Lack of communication at all levels
×
% Women who are
able to take the
step
•
•
•
•
Financial balance – care
Lack of flexibility in work and career
Lack of infrastructure (both social and technological)
Lack of standards (fiscal, leave, share)
8
The ‘Dutch mindset’ reinforces cultural barriers for women to
be both mothers and executives
A motherhood model restrictive for career…
“The Netherlands is a retarded country when it comes to mothers and their work. When
women work, they often have a double feeling of guilt. They feel they are a bad mum at
the days that they work and a bad employee at the days they don’t work.”
Jeroen Smit, Management Scope 11-01-2007
“Why is it that we in this country hold on so strongly to the idea that only mothers can
raise children? Poor mothers, they have to be half saints and they will never do it right. (…)
Bringing children to childcare is far from a matter of course in Holland 2007, terms like
‘dumping’ are still used.”
Dutch internet forum childcare 16-05-2007
“The parenting model [as in the Netherlands] where women need to spend a lot of time and
attention to their kids is completely ridiculous and unnatural! There is no other culture
where women are expected to seclude themselves from the outside world and only
concentrate on motherhood. In other cultures children are always raised by more people:
elder brothers and sisters, other family members, professional childcare.”
Naomi Wolf, American Feminist 25-05-2002
080425-RB4-TopBrainstorm_PARTI
9
Background: Reasons for change
•
Increased labour participation parries financial ‘grey’ consequences, and provides
more room in a cramped labour market
– More than half of the new generation of talent is female
•
“Diverse’ companies are often recognisable because of improved co-operation of
employers and better development and preservation of talent
Diversity means improved development of talent, more innovation
and creativity, improved governance and higher company results
for Nederland Inc.
10
Approach: an integral approach is needed for a change in attitude
Charter ‘Talent to the Top’
• Public commitment by the government
and corporate business with clear
objectives, criteria for success and
reporting
• Publication of HR Best Practices
Image of the working woman
• Multimedia campaigns
• Attention to role models
Fly wheel
for a change
in attitude
Creation of a website
• Monitoring tool for Charter
• Exchange of HR best practices
• Gathering of information
Measures concerning the
infrastructure
• Recommendations for childcare and
various support at home
• Professionalization of the occupational
group providing childcare at home
11
Charter Talent to the Top
12
Why do we need a Charter? The business case
• To realize more diversity at the top of organizations, we need a culture change.
• Our research, interviews and online survey showed that the following factors are crucial
to achieving such change
- The most important elements are targets/ KPI setting and tracking with clear
accountability, a well communicated business case to which gender diversity goals
are tied.
- All initiatives should be supported by top executives and integrated in company
policies.
- In addition, companies should have HR tools in place for long term tailored career
planning, allowing career breaks and re-entry and talent management for all
employees.
- There should be specific emphasis on successfully managing, developing and
retaining talented women.
- Companies should go beyond flexible work arrangements and focus on enhanced
career support through mentoring, role modelling and creating real gender awareness
(among top 6 tools most important for females)
080425-RB4-TopBrainstorm_PARTI
13
Essential success factors: building blocks of the Charter
Business case
Company vision and
strategy
Involvement and support of senior leaders
Incorporate diversity into company policies
Include diversity in company vision and values
Targets
Organizational
structure
Targets for diversity
Diversity related organizations (Taskforces, councils, coordinators…)
Rewards, sanctions, promotion criteria
Accountability
Responsibility and awareness of managers
Communication
Measurement and
Reporting
Internal and External Communication
Research, measuring progress, reporting
14
Tools for a successful diversity strategy
Career development
Manage career breaks and re-entry
Tailored career
planning
Motivate by talent management
Other specific leadership preparation
Professional
development
Offer special training
Review job functions
Promotion policy
Change selection criteria and committee
Offer job opportunities
Work-life
balance
Support system
Recruitment policy
Attract more women
Mentoring/ coaching
Image
Role modelling
Create gender awareness
Networking
Work schedules
Change “Dutch mindset’’
Build and support networks
Offer flexible work arrangements
Provide facility for childcare
Childcare
Offer financial support for childcare
15
Charter Talent to the Top: introduction
•
The Charter is the result of close cooperation between Confederation of Netherlands Industry
and Employers (VNO-NCW), Dutch Trade Union Federation (FNV), the Social and Economic
Council (SER) and representatives of corporate business, the Ministry of Education, Culture
and Science (OCW) and the Ministry of Economic Affairs (EZ).
•
The Charter focuses on all employers, i.e. listed and unlisted companies, institutions and
public organizations in the Netherlands.
•
Its title (Talent to the Top) acknowledges that diversity encompasses more than only the
talent of women. Diversity focuses on a balanced organizational culture, in which everybody
can develop his or her talents regardless of background, culture, sexual orientation, gender
or age.
•
However, the Charter focuses in the first place on female talent given that Holland trailes
behind in terms of the number of women working in higher management positions, let alone
on Executive and Supervisory Boards.
16
Charter Talent to the Top: important elements
•
•
Every Dutch employer is free to sign or not to sign the Charter.
However, in signing the Charter, the Executive Board commits itself to develop:
•
•
clear objectives (in %) over the next 3 to 5 years and
a strategy as how to employ, develop and keep more female talent.
•
In the first six months after signing, every employer reports its baseline assessment and a
clear management strategy to the Committee Monitoring Talent.
•
Employers develop clear, action-oriented management agreements based on their specific
strategy.
•
Progress as to stated goals is reported annually based on a number of clear key
performance indicators as in the Tool Monitoring Talent.
•
Employers also commit to develop and actively work on specific tools for female career
guidance.
17
Committee Monitoring Talent to the Top
•
The Committee Monitoring Talent under Chairmanship of Aad Veenman (CEO of the Dutch
railways) is responsible for the reporting of results of all parties on the basis of ‘praising
and naming’.
•
The Committee Monitoring Talent to the Top was installed on the 13th of November
2008 by the Minister for Education, Culture and Science and the State Secretary for
Economic Affairs.
•
Over the past months TopBrainstorm developed the Tool Monitoring Talent, which will be
used by signatories to present their baseline and annual assessment to the Committee
Monitoring Talent to the Top.
Tool Monitoring Talent: summary
Tool Monitoring Talent
Quantitative criteria
Qualitative criteria
Strategy
Number of women in top
• Share in the top
Management goals
Progress
• Balance top – subtop
Entry
• Share in entry
• Share in organisation
HR Tools
Exit
• Percentage in exit
Communication
19
Charter: signatories
On the 28th of May 2008, 47 organisations signed the Charter Talent to the Top:
Accenture, Achmea, Aegon, Allen & Overy, Bain & Company, Baker & McKenzie,
Capgemini, Cisco, Clifford Chance, De Nederlansche Bank, Delta Lloyd, DHV, DLA Piper,
Egon Zehnder International, Ernst & Young, Essent, FNV Vakcentrale, Fortis Bank
Nederland, Fortis Verzekeringen Nederland, Gemeente Almere, Gemeente Amsterdam,
Gemeente Den Haag, GGz Eindhoven, IBM, ING, Kadaster, Koninklijke BAM Groep,
Koninklijke Haskoning Groep, KPMG, KPN, Loyens & Loeff, McKinsey & Company,
Mondriaan Stichting, Nauta Dutilh, Nederlandse Spoorwegen, Océ, OVG
Projectontwikkeling, PCM Uitgevers, Politie, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Randstad,
Rijksoverheid, Stibbe, TNO, TomTom, Van Doorne, VNO-NCW
20
More information or contact
•
More (English) information on the Charter and supplementary measures can be found on
www.talenttothetop.nl
•
Contact us at [email protected] or + 31 (0)6 52 61 61 60
21
Final remark
Three sides of the coin to bring Talent to the Top
•
Businesses and Organizations
•
Government
•
Women themselves