Bridging the gender gapAttracting, developing and retaining talent

www.pwc.co.uk/southeast

March 2017

Gender balance in the workplace plays a vital part in creating a rich diversity of talent. As part of our continued research into bringing insight on talent to our clients, regardless of race, gender or social background, we have sought the views of business people across the East.

This research, supported by law firm Birketts, comes at a time when equality in the working environment is headline news. Organisations with at le ast 250 employees are now required by law to publish gender pay information and female workers continue to face pay inequality.

Recent research conducted by PwC in the area of returning to work women identified that addressing the career break ‘penalty’ could deliver gains of £1.7 billion to the UK economy and could boost female earnings by £1.1 billion annually, equivalent to £4,000 per woman.

Solutions with the potential to help overcome the career break ‘penalty’ include increasing the availability of part-time and flexible working opportunities and helping women transition back to work. Highlighted as a possible solution, flexible working is a key topic in our research. In addition, we looked at the impact of role models and mentors as a way of attracting, developing and retaining talent to bridge the gender gap.

Key findingsSince our last survey, conducted in 2015, we have seen the following improvements to helping attract and retain talent:

• More people are working flexibly and the desire to work more flexibly continues to grow, showing that employers need to embrace an agile workforce and consider the non-financial benefits they offer to ensure they attract and retain talent.

• Leadership, support and mentoring is key to driving performance and retaining talent. Role models in senior positions are of huge importance as is mentoring – although the number of mentoring schemes appears to have fallen. Inspiring leaders create success therefore organisations need to consider the role that mentors play in supporting the leadership team and the training and development of mentors to help employees pursue and achieve their full potential.

• Whilst mindsets are changing and there is less of a barrier in terms of career progression than in prior years, research suggests there remains a negative perception of those that work flexibly as they are seen as less committed. One solution may be for employers to consider their culture and look at ways to create a results-orientated environment to help tap into more of the labour market.

To discuss any of the findings in this survey contact:

Bree Sherwood Director T: +44 (0) 1603 883386 E: bree.a.sherwood@pwc.com

Respondent demographics 2

Region 2

Job role 3

Working hours 3

Working flexibly 4

Role models 5

Mentoring 5

Gender balance 6

Contents

Watch our 1-minute video for some practical tips on how to attract, develop and retain talent: www.pwc.co.uk/southeast

Respondent demographics

Region

Age

Hertfordshire

Essex

Su�olk

Norfolk

Cambridgeshire

Bedfordshire

37%12%

10%

4.5%

36%

0.5%

Breakdown of respondents by county

Gender

Half of the respondents were aged 31-5061% female respondents

39% male respondents

This year, two thirds of respondents have children compared to half of respondents in the last survey

This year, a third of respondents have children under the age of seven compared to 19% of respondents from last year

2 | Bridging the gender gap | PwC

Working hours

Job role

Semi-skilled or skilled

professionals

15%

Professional or technical –

mid-level management

25%

Professional or technical –

junior level management

11%

Business owner or partner

8%

Director

15%

Board member

4%

Other

4%

Senior management

18%

There has been an increase in those working more than 48 hours per week

This year, over a quarter of respondents said they worked more than 48 hours per week (55% of these were women), compared to a fifth of respondents in the previous year

81% of respondents work full-time

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Working flexibly

Employers offer a variety of flexible working opportunities. ‘Working from home’ is the most desired flexible benefit and is offered by over half of employers, this closely matches the importance of this benefit to respondents

There is an increased desire to work more flexibly with 82% of respondents answering ‘yes’ or ‘maybe’ to wanting a flexible working arrangement compared to 70% last year

More people work flexibly compared to last year

50%

52%2016

47%2015

82%

Working from home on a regular basis

31%

Flexitime

28%Compressed

hours

14%

The three most important flexible working arrangements to respondents are:

6% Term-time working is important to 6% of respondents but is not offered by any employers

Respondents agree that flexible working is less of a barrier in terms of career progression than it was last year. Last year 5 in 10 women and 4 in 10 men said people who work flexibly are less likely to progress their careers at the same rate as their peers.

Men

41%

28%

Women

52%

37%

2015 2016

4 | Bridging the gender gap | PwC

Role models

Mentoring

Over two thirds of employers offer a mentoring scheme, whether it be formal or informal but only 19% have a mentor. Last year 36% had a mentor

19% of respondents don’t have a mentor but would like one

41%Men and women take inspiration from a variety of role models including peers, managers and mentors. Senior leaders are cited as most inspiring by 41% of respondents

of respondents think role models may help to retain talent

Almost half of all respondents agree that there are few female role models in their organisation. Last year a quarter of respondents said they didn’t see women at senior levels who inspire them within their organisation

of all respondents agree that flexible working is beneficial to the business

68%

of all respondents think that people with no children are expected to work longer hours than those with children

37%

of all respondents agree that in their experience people who work flexibly are regarded as less committed

27%

of respondents agree that flexible working arrangements help businesses retain talent

97%

of respondents think that having a mentor may help to retain talent

99%

97%

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This publication has been prepared for general guidance on matters of interest only, and does not constitute professional advice. You should not act upon the information contained in this publication without obtaining specific professional advice. No representation or warranty (express or implied) is given as to the accuracy or completeness of the information contained in this publication, and, to the extent permitted by law, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, its members, employees and agents do not accept or assume any liability, responsibility or duty of care for any consequences of you or anyone else acting, or refraining to act, in reliance on the information contained in this publication or for any decision based on it.

© 2017 PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. All rights reserved. In this document, “PwC” refers to the UK member firm, and may sometimes refer to the PwC network. Each member firm is a separate legal entity. Please see www.pwc.com/structure for further details.

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Almost a quarter of women don’t believe their employer is gender neutral

20% of women don’t believe they are treated fairly as a result of their gender as opposed to 4% of men

20%

Gender balance

How employees think organisations can improve gender equality

Nothing

18%

Nearly three quarters of all respondents believe people in their organisation see the benefits of gender diversity in the workplace, this has fallen from 88% in 2015

Over a third of all respondents think their organisation needs to do more to facilitate and promote gender diversity in the workplace

¾Nearly Over

⅓¼Almost

Treat staff equally

2%

Train and re-educate

12%

Support returning to work mothers

8%

Reduce expectations of

overtime

2%

Recruit/promote more

women

24%