Congratulations to Jaguar Land Rover for being the only retail motor industry business listed in the Top 50 Employers for Women.
The 2011 ‘Times Top 50 Employers for Women’ have just been announced. The Awards competition is free to enter and candidates need to provide evidence of internal action and external commitment as well as providing two case study stories to show specific areas of truly best practice.
The parallels between being a female friendly employer and a female friendly business are clear. If you get things right for women, chances are you’re going that extra mile for all staff AND all customers. If a business is seen as female friendly you’ll attract more women into roles that women do well such as customer facing and caring roles. Yes of course men can do these too – my point is merely that in a male dominated industry with fewer than 10% females (ie the retail motor industry) the barriers to entry for both staff and customers are often too high to encourage new entrants. Needless to say (but just in case anyone thinks this is a sexist philosophy) any employer who treats women particularly well is going to be one of the best employers for men too.
I was not surprised to see Asda here; the only supermarket listed in the top 50. This is based on their reported efforts to make sure their staff (called colleagues) have the opportunity to develop in their roles and work flexibly so they can fit careers around home lives.
The Awards were judged by Opportunity Now, the workplace gender equality campaign and comments from Director Helen Wells illustrate the significance of the points I’ve just made, using Asda as her case study.
“I firmly believe that creating workplaces which tap into the talents of all is a commercial imperative. At Asda it is clearly seen as a strategic business issue not a women’s issue. Asda should be congratulated for its commitment and tenacity in creating a work culture which is inclusive and diverse. Being one of The Times Top 50 Employers for Women is testament to how seriously the company has looked to address the recruitment, retention and progression of women through its organisation.”
Here are the 2011 winners.
1.Addleshaw Goddard
2.American Express
3.Arup
4.Asda
5.Atkins
6.BAE Systems
7.Bank of America Merrill Lynch
8.Barclays PLC
9.British Sky Broadcasting
10.BT
11.Cisco
12.Citi
13.Credit Suisse
14.Dell
15.Deloitte
16.DHL Supply Chain
17.Enterprise Rent-A-Car
18.Everything Everywhere
19.Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
20.Genesis Housing Group
21.Google
22.Hachette
23.Hogan Lovells
24.Home Office
25.Humberside Fire
26.IBM
27.Jaguar Land Rover
28.KPMG
29.Leicestershire Constabulary
30.Marks & Spencer
31.McDonald’s
32.McKinsey & Company
33.Mercer Limited
34.MITIE
35.Morgan Stanley
36.National Grid
37.Nomura
38.Office of Communications
39.Olympic Delivery Authority
40.Pearson
41.Pepsico
42.Procter & Gamble
43.PricewaterhouseCoopers
44.Queen’s University, Belfast
45.Royal Air Force
46.Royal Bank of Scotland
47.Santander
48.Shell
49.University of Sheffield
50.West Midlands Police
Well done to all.
FOXY