Search firms should publish figures on gender of placements, says REC
4 March 2014
Search firms should publish the percentage of positions that are ultimately filled by women, and female placements by salary band on their websites and in their annual reports, says the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC).
Tue, 4 Mar 2014Search firms should publish the percentage of positions that are ultimately filled by women, and female placements by salary band on their websites and in their annual reports, says the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC).
The REC’s chief executive Kevin Green says: “The UK has an abysmally low ratio of women to men in board rooms, despite the fact that balanced boards better represent customers and stakeholders, make better decisions and have been proved to deliver better financial results.”
The research published by the REC today suggests that headhunters have a key role in helping businesses source the best candidates for top jobs
“Executive search firms play a vital role helping employers to take a much broader view of what the best candidate for a top job might look like. The best headhunters know it’s their responsibility to challenge employers, probe old assumptions and unconscious biases that can mean some businesses are missing out on top female talent,” says Green.
The suggestions come as the FTSE100 nears the target, set by Davies in his Women on Boards review of 2011, of achieving 25% of women in boardroom positions by 2015.
As Recruiter previously reported, the current figure for the FTSE100 stands at 20.4%.
Meanwhile in another initiative aimed at boosting female representation on boards, business secretary Vince Cable backed recommendations, which could see headhunters draft women-only shortlists for board-level posts, eliminating men entirely from the recruitment process.
Women-only shortlists are not currently used in the private sector due to legal difficulties, which leave companies open to sex discrimination claims from men left out of the hiring process.
The report, produced by former head of diversity and inclusion for Nomura, Charlotte Sweeney, recommends headhunters putting at least one woman on the shortlist submitted to chairmen, making public the male-female candidate ratio during various recruitment stages and creating a database of “board ready” women to hire from.
The REC’s chief executive Kevin Green says: “The UK has an abysmally low ratio of women to men in board rooms, despite the fact that balanced boards better represent customers and stakeholders, make better decisions and have been proved to deliver better financial results.”
The research published by the REC today suggests that headhunters have a key role in helping businesses source the best candidates for top jobs
“Executive search firms play a vital role helping employers to take a much broader view of what the best candidate for a top job might look like. The best headhunters know it’s their responsibility to challenge employers, probe old assumptions and unconscious biases that can mean some businesses are missing out on top female talent,” says Green.
The suggestions come as the FTSE100 nears the target, set by Davies in his Women on Boards review of 2011, of achieving 25% of women in boardroom positions by 2015.
As Recruiter previously reported, the current figure for the FTSE100 stands at 20.4%.
Meanwhile in another initiative aimed at boosting female representation on boards, business secretary Vince Cable backed recommendations, which could see headhunters draft women-only shortlists for board-level posts, eliminating men entirely from the recruitment process.
Women-only shortlists are not currently used in the private sector due to legal difficulties, which leave companies open to sex discrimination claims from men left out of the hiring process.
The report, produced by former head of diversity and inclusion for Nomura, Charlotte Sweeney, recommends headhunters putting at least one woman on the shortlist submitted to chairmen, making public the male-female candidate ratio during various recruitment stages and creating a database of “board ready” women to hire from.
