By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)
A new survey released last week by the UK’s Chartered Management Institute shows a significant gap in compensation, advancement prospects, and job security between men and women in the UK.
At the management level, on average, women receive £10,060 a year less than men. That difference, after a lifetime of work, would equal more than £400,000.
CMI explains, “a woman and a man entering executive roles aged 25 and working their way up the career ladder until retiring aged 60 would take home pre-tax totals of £1,092,940 and £1,516,330 respectively, based on today’s levels.”
But the differences didn’t stop at the paycheck. According to CMI, women receive fewer bonuses, fewer promotions, and were even more likely to get laid off during the last year.
Baroness Prosser, Deputy Chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, remarked, “The gender pay and opportunities gaps are intrinsically linked. The opportunities gap leads to the lack of advance for women through the executive pipeline and this in turn provides for the gender pay gap.”
She noted that while employers should take the responsibility for ensuring they have fair compensation and promotion processes, women can also seek out better practical support in order to help them advance.
Voice of Experience: Angela Raitzin, Managing Principal and Head of New York Office, Morton Capital Management
Voices of ExperienceAngela Raitzin, Managing Principal and Head of the New York Office of Morton Capital, says she is dedicated to encouraging women to join and stay in the financial industry.
“I think, particularly as a more senior woman, you have to make time for mentoring. At multiple points in my career, I made it a point to recruit and encourage women to consider financial services and investment banking in particular as a career. Encouraging women to join is the first step but encouraging them to stay, and getting them over the hump from the VP or Director and Managing Director levels is also crucial, “she explained. “Starting over 10 years ago Wall Street made a big push to hire more women and I have seen many positive signs in the past 5 years that they are now making strides to retain these same women.”
She is particularly enthusiastic about the benefits of working in financial advising. As an active recruiter of students from her business school to New York, she says emphasizing the entrepreneurial spirit and the flexible hours associated with financial advising is key. “Both are important to the advancement and retention of women.”
She continued, “For one, you can cast a wide net in terms of your clients. And second, there is much more flexibility to your schedule. In my own case, I didn’t have that degree of flexibility earlier in my career and I think it’s a huge positive.”
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Happy Thanksgiving from The Glass Hammer!
NewsAs we draw closer to the end of another year, The Glass Hammer’s team is taking time off to reflect upon the things we are thankful for.
This has been a big year for us at Evolved People Media. We hosted several successful events for professional women in New York and London, published interesting new research, and launched a new consulting and training division – all while continuing to publish inspirational profiles and practical advice on how to get to your next career level.
Our community of ambitious women is growing, and for that we are thankful. This year we have focused on celebrating the growing power of influential women throughout the financial and professional services. As more women ascend to the top of the ladder, they open new pathways for women at every step along the way. That’s good for women and companies. We believe (and research proves) that a more diverse workforce builds stronger firms.
We’re thankful for the trailblazing women who have made it possible for all of us to climb higher – in that vein, here are a few of our recent posts on the growing power of women to change the world.
What are you thankful for this year? Let us know in the comments section below. We’ll be back next week with more articles designed to inform, inspire, and empower you!
Women Don’t Get as Many Big Jobs that Lead to Promotions
Next LevelAccording to Catalyst’s latest research, women high potentials (in this case, women with MBAs) don’t receive as many career-changing jobs and assignments as men.
The study tracked the careers of 1,660 male and female MBAs, and found that within a few years of graduating, men were more likely to get the kinds of jobs that help propel careers forward: projects with high visibility, jobs that are “mission critical,” and international assignments.
What’s more, participating in a leadership development program had less of an impact on career growth for women than for men.
Anna Beninger, co-author of the study and Senior Associate, Research at Catalyst, said, “This really is about companies not using the talent of high potential women. Women are entered into the same formal leadership programs and they stay in them longer. But they still don’t get the same access to these jobs as men. There seems to be a lack of strategy around how companies develop women.“
She added, “There are a lot of missed opportunities.”
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Voice of Experience: Marcia Wakeman, Partner, Banking, Capco
Voices of ExperienceMarcia Wakeman, Banking Partner at the consulting firm Capco, believes strongly in the power of mentoring. After spending almost two decades in the industry, she has experienced first hand how finding the right mentor can make a difference in someone’s career. Now, she encourages seasoned women to remember to give back.
“My advice is really taking interest in mentoring, especially the junior women. Reach out and share your experiences. We tend to forget that all the things we have learned would be of value to them,” she explained.
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Making History: Celebrating Women in the Media
NewsEarlier this week the Women’s Media Center celebrated the increasing visibility and power of women at its third annual awards dinner. The event honored women working to change the way females are portrayed media. As host Anne Hathaway noted in her opening remarks, the Women’s Media Center works to make sure “neither girls nor boys will grow up to think women can be insulted, demeaned, or sidelined on national TV or radio.”
Women are gaining power and influence, she continued, but the playing field is far from equal. “We might be farther along than we ever have been, but it’s not far enough yet.”
She continued, “To be honest, I’m not sure I want women to be part of the current media fray. I want us to shape it and make it better.”
Women’s Media Center President Julie Burton echoed a similar sentiment. She explained that getting women involved in the making of media is critical to building gender equality. “If we don’t make our own history, it seems we are not going to be in it,” she said.
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Movers and Shakers: Marie Picard, Counsel, ING U.S. Investment Management
Movers and ShakersMarie Picard, Counsel at ING U.S. Investment Management, believes strongly in the value of mentoring.
“I really think it’s important to find people who can mentor and advise you – formally or informally. Find people you know and respect and look up to, who you are able to learn from. Foster those relationships. People have a lot to teach you – sometimes you just have to ask,” she said.
She also advised women to be mentors themselves – the confidence boost, she says, can help propel you forward. “Help younger women and men at the firm who may be more junior and put effort into sharing knowledge. It’s really validating and empowering to share the knowledge you’ve accumulated over time.”
“It makes you realize how much you know, and it helps create that network of relationships that’s so important,” she added.
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Movers and Shakers: Jill Huntley, Senior Director of Corporate Citizenship, Accenture
Movers and Shakers“Seize the opportunities,” says Jill Huntley, Senior Director of Corporate Citizenship at Accenture. “There is luck everywhere. It just depends on whether you’re looking for it, if you can see it, and if you are ready to grab it when it’s there.”
For example, Huntley began her career at Accenture 18 years ago as a business consultant. But when she embarked on an assignment to Africa in 2000, she developed an interest in corporate citizenship, which opened doors and led to a global role at the company.
“You don’t know where your first step is going to lead. Take some chances and stretch your self. Look for challenges,” she said. “There are many different roads that will take you through your career.”
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What if We Gave Ourselves Permission to Fail?
Ask A Career CoachLike the rest of us this week, I was shocked at the recent high level resignations of CIA Chief General Petraeus and President and Chief Operating Officer (and once-presumed CEO) of Lockheed Martin Chris Kubasik, due to sex scandals. How could these intelligent and rational men put their reputations and careers at risk? How could they let themselves fail so publicly? Then an interesting incident happened to me yesterday and it gave me greater perspective on failure. It made me realize that giving ourselves (and others, even leaders and heroes) permission to fail is an important leadership practice.
As an executive coach it’s always interesting to notice when I don’t practice what I preach. Here’s what happened yesterday. I was talking with a friend about a project I am working on. I mentioned how I had hired someone to help me with this project and he suddenly got quite angry. Why hadn’t I considered hiring him? This was yet another example of how I was disloyal as a friend. You see, this had happened one time before and he had had the same reaction.
The truth of the matter was that I had assumed he wouldn’t even be interested.
How did I react? An emotionally intelligent executive coach who preaches this all day would have put into action the 3-step process: 1.) Listened for the underlying emotion he was feeling, 2.) Acknowledged the emotion “I get that you’re feeling frustrated and betrayed,” 3.) Let him know: “My intention was not to hurt you. I may have made the wrong assumption. How can I make this up to you?” As people’s emotions are acknowledged and addressed they are able to get back more quickly into their “reasoning” brain to allow for a good solution to emerge.
Instead I launched into a 3-step (these three steps were quite spontaneous and not pre-meditated, I might add) counter-attack: 1.) I took his words quite personally, 2.) I responded with blaming him: “Why are you always seeing yourself as a victim and blaming everyone else for what happens?” 3.) “You always take everything so personally” (I get the irony of this in retrospect). Needless to say it didn’t end well.
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Crunching Numbers to Smash the Glass Ceiling
Breaking the Glass CeilingA focus on the numbers may be what’s missing from efforts to advance women at corporations, say McKinsey’s Joanna Barsh, Director, New York Office; Sandrine Devillard, Director, Paris Office; and Jin Wang, Principal, Shanghai. Specifically, they should get into the really granular data on gender at every critical career turning-point stage.
In the most recent issue of the McKinsey Quarterly, the three researchers suggest that companies could get more traction out of their women’s initiatives by digging into the data – the same way a competitive company would approach any challenge of strategic importance.
And women leaders are strategically important. Consider, for example, the Credit Suisse study showing that companies with one or more woman on the boardroom performed better than those without women. Or the Catalyst research pointing out that companies with more women board directors meant higher financial performance in terms of return on equity, return on sales, and return on invested capital. Or the Thomson Reuters study that showed increasing the percentage of women in management led to bigger gains during volatile market conditions.
Considering the information that’s out there, companies should be treating gender diversity and the advancement of women as an issue of competitive importance.
“If greater representation of women in the talent pipeline promises a competitive advantage, successful leaders will work hard to include them. If greater female representation better serves the company’s customers, those leaders will make that happen,” say Barsh, Devillard, and Wang. Here, according to McKinsey, are a few ways to help women break through the glass ceiling by crunching the numbers.
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Pay Gap Persists for UK Professionals
Money TalksA new survey released last week by the UK’s Chartered Management Institute shows a significant gap in compensation, advancement prospects, and job security between men and women in the UK.
At the management level, on average, women receive £10,060 a year less than men. That difference, after a lifetime of work, would equal more than £400,000.
CMI explains, “a woman and a man entering executive roles aged 25 and working their way up the career ladder until retiring aged 60 would take home pre-tax totals of £1,092,940 and £1,516,330 respectively, based on today’s levels.”
But the differences didn’t stop at the paycheck. According to CMI, women receive fewer bonuses, fewer promotions, and were even more likely to get laid off during the last year.
Baroness Prosser, Deputy Chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, remarked, “The gender pay and opportunities gaps are intrinsically linked. The opportunities gap leads to the lack of advance for women through the executive pipeline and this in turn provides for the gender pay gap.”
She noted that while employers should take the responsibility for ensuring they have fair compensation and promotion processes, women can also seek out better practical support in order to help them advance.
Read more