The document discusses legislated gender quotas and their impact on increasing women's representation on corporate boards. It provides details on quota laws in various European countries that require a certain percentage of board seats be held by women. The document also summarizes debates around quotas, including their potential pros and cons. Proposed benefits include removing barriers to women's advancement and bringing more diverse perspectives, while potential downsides include appointing underqualified candidates and crowding out other underrepresented groups. The experience of Norway implementing a 40% quota is then examined in more depth.
2. Nicoll Curtin
Equality, Diversity &
Inclusion Report
March 2015
CONTENTS
Contents
Introduction: “Breaking the Glass Ceiling”
Women on Boards: The European Statistics
The Quotas
The Pros and the Cons
Appointment of Women vs. “Crowd-Out” of Others
Promotion of Female Talent vs. Appointment of the Under-qualified
Pipeline: Encouraging Women’s Aspirations vs. Handing Women Opportunities
The Improvement of Financial Performance vs. Unquantifiable Financial Results
Diverse Perspectives vs. Homogenous Group Thinking
The Norway Story
The Resistance
Emergence of the “Golden Skirts”
Looking Beyond Traditional Sources
Developing the Female Talent Pipeline
The Earnings Gender Gap
Board Efficiency
The UK Story
The Emergence of Transparent, Voluntary Targets
Developing the Female Talent Pipeline
Our Progress
Conclusion
From The Author
About us
References
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3. “Breaking the Glass Ceiling” -
an organising thought
amongst both women
attempting to progress their
careers and organisations
attempting to diversify their
leadership. But what is the
glass ceiling?
In 1986 Carol Hymowitz and
Timothy D.Schellardt pub-
lished an article in The Wall
Street Journal entitled “The
Glass Ceiling: Why Women
Can’t Seem to Break the
Invisible Barrier That Blocks
Them from the Top Jobs” both
coining and defining the term.
However, is this definition still
applicable? Is the barrier to
women in advancement of
their careers still invisible,
unseen, and unacknowl-
edged? Is it glass? You
cannot read an article or
book, attend a forum or join a
network, or find any other
reference to women in busi-
ness and leadership without
stumbling upon this phrase.
As such, organisations and
governments globally have
been looking for tools to break
the glass ceiling. These tools
have taken the form of
anti-discriminations laws,
mentoring schemes, leader-
ship skills training for women,
the training of leaders on the
perils of unconscious bias –
the list of recommendations
goes on.
One tool in particular has
been identified as the “sledge
hammer” with which the glass
ceiling is broken: legislated
quotas for gender diversity on
boards. In Norway a 40%
gender quota for boards was
introduced in December
2003. Female representation
then jumped from 15.9% in
2004, to 37.0% in 2007, and
finally reached the 40% target
in 2008. On 20th November
2013, the European parlia-
ment voted in favour of a
proposed draft law that would
require 40% female board
members in 5,000 listed com-
panies in the European Union
by 2020.
Breaking the
glass ceiling
In the UK women’s representation on FTSE 100:
In 2013/14 women
accounted for
28% of board
appointments
accross FTSE 100
There are only 2
remaining all male
boards
Women account
for
20.7% of
overall board
directorships
The FTSE 250 have achieved:
In 2013/14 women
accounted for
33% of board
appointments
accross FTSE 250
There are only 2 remaining
all male boards Women account
for
16.5% of
overall board
directorships
There are 48 remaining
all male boards
Source: Great Britain, Department for Business, Innovation & Skills , “Women on boards Davies Review Annual Report 2014
INTRODUCTION
3
4.
5. Iceland passed a quota law in 2010, which
legislated a minimum representation of
40% from each sex on the boards of
publicly owned and publicly limited compa-
nies with more than 50 employees. There
are no official sanctions for non-compli-
ance.
In February 2002, the Norwegian government
set a deadline of July 2005 for private listed
companies to raise the proportion of women on
their boards to 40%. By July 2005, there was
only 24% female representation. In January
2006 legislation was introduced extending the
final deadline for compliance to January 2008,
after which they would face fines or even
closure. Full compliance was achieved by 2009.
ICELAND
NORWAY
In January 2011, France adopted a quota law
that obliges listed companies and companies
employing at least 500 employees and with
revenues over € 50 million to appoint at least
20% women on their boards within 3 years
and 40% within 6 years. The main penalty of
the law is that an appointment of a board
member that does not meet the criteria in
terms of gender will be rendered invalid.
FRANCE
The “Law of Equality,” was approved in 2007.
The law recommends listed companies
appoint women to up to 40% of all board
seats by 2015. There are no sanctions for
non-compliance, however the Spanish
Government has pointed out that it will take
compliance into consideration when assign-
ing certain public contracts.
SPAIN
THE QUOTAS
5
6. Boards of state-owned companies are
required to have an 'equitable proportion of
women and men'. From 2008, the corporate
governance code requires that every board
should have at least one man and one
woman. Although there are no official sanc-
tions, there is a “comply or explain” code that
requires transparency and explanation of
efforts to achieve board gender diversity.
FINLAND
On 12 August 2011, Law 120 “Gender Balance on the
Boards of Listed Companies,” became effective. The legis-
lation requires at least 20% of board members to be female
by 2015 and 33% to be female by 2018. If a company does
not comply in due time a fine will be applied of a minimum of
100,000 euros to a maximum of 1 million euros for the
board, and a minimum of 20,000 euros to a maximum of
200,000 euros for the board of statutory auditors. If the
failure continues, the board of directors or the board of
statutory auditors will be replaced.
ITALY
In December of 2009 the government
approved a quota which went into effect in
2013. The legislation requires at least 30% of
board members to be male and 30% to be
female by 2016. The appointment of the
remaining 40% will be at the discretion of the
company. Again, there are no official sanc-
tions however the “comply or explain” code
applies.
THE NETHERLANDS
The Belgian law on gender diversity was
approved in 2011 and legislates that all boards
must have a minimum of one-third male direc-
tors and one-third female directors. In the
context that directors’ mandates are usually for
a six-year period (the maximum allowed), the
quota remains in effect from the first day of the
sixth fiscal year following the publication of the
law. Sanctions for non-compliance include the
loss of benefits for board members, or non-com-
pliant appointments being rendered invalid.
BELGIUM
THE QUOTAS
6
7. THE PROS
AND CONS
Appointment of Women vs.
“Crowd-Out” of Others
The Davies Report details the key themes cited by respondents
as barriers causing women to be under-represented in posi-
tions of seniority:
30 30
22
18
2
31
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
Attitudeintheworkplace
Workenvironment
CareerAdvancement
Promotion/HiringRecruit
Compensations/Benefits
Miscellaneous
Quotas can be instrumental in removing barriers and rendering bias or discrimination irrele-
vant, by reserving seats specifically for female appointments.
The flipside to this is that gender quotas may
‘crowd out’ other under-represented groups;
by reserving certain positions for women, there
will be fewer positions open for these candi-
dates. Men may also be negatively affected.
attitude was referred to by 30% with bias, prejudice or stereo-
typical behaviour being the top factor
22% responded that it was the lack of career advancement,
often due to a lack of opportunities
18% of respondents described issues around recruitment
and promotion, including the likelihood of men recruiting men,
or of people recruiting in their own image.
7
8. Pipeline: Encouraging
Women’s Aspirations
vs. Handing Women
Opportunities
THE PROS
AND CONS
The reservation of board posi-
tions for women indeed allows
opportunities for talented,
experienced and qualified
women that may not have
previously had access.
However this is only the case
if there is a qualified woman
available to fill each of these
reserved seats. Those oppos-
ing gender quotas suggest
that this is not the case. If
quotas encourage the promo-
tion of inexperienced women
(and experience, in turn,
predicts performance), there
would certainly be negative
results.
The unavailability of qualified
women for board positions is
certainly unproven. However,
widespread concern regarding
the number of women that are
qualified in the corporate
sphere could have a positive
impact: organisations invest-
ing in the development of
female employees ensuring a
pipeline of experienced future
leaders. A future pipeline is
also improved by gender
equality on boards since it
creates role models for
women in less senior
positions. As Rohini
Pande, noted economist
and Harvard Professor,
writes:
‘Mandated female lead-
ers may serve as role
models for other aspiring
women [...] a female
board director can effec-
tively demonstrate the
payoff of being a female
director to other aspiring
businesswomen and
acquire expertise on
how to effectively
manoeuvre as a female
director in a traditionally
male-dominated envi-
ronment.’
Quotas allow women to
perceive positions of leader-
ship as more realistic and
attainable aspirations, encour-
aging women to invest in
corporate advancement.
It is argued that the reverse
can be true: a quota can
reduce a woman’s incentive to
invest if she believes her path
toward advancement has
been made easier with a
gender quota.
Promotion of
Female Talent vs.
Appointment of the
Under-qualified
8
9. A Catalyst study of over 520 organisations in the Fortune 500 over 4 years found that companies
with more women were found to outperform their rivals with:
42% higher return in sales
66% higher return on invested capital
53% higher return on equity
However it is difficult to prove the economic outcome of gender diversity of boards. As Rohini
writes:
The Improvement of Financial Performance
vs. Unquantifiable Financial Results
It may be that higher performing firms choose to have more
female directors and managers. Much of the empirical litera-
ture on diversity is unable to account for the fact that better
performing companies may also be led by individuals who
favour diversity .
THE PROS
AND CONS
Diverse Perspectives
vs. Homogenous Group Thinking
Homogeneousness in leadership is more likely to promote group thinking. Evidence shows that
companies make stronger decisions where a range of perspectives, drawing on different life
experiences, contribute. That range of perspectives must include those of women. Women bring
different viewpoints and voices to the table, to the debate and to the decisions. This allows organi-
sations to be reflective of and responsive to the market: Women now form 51% of the UK popula-
tion and 46% of the economically active workforce. They are estimated to be responsible for
about 70% of household purchasing decisions and to hold almost half of the UK’s wealth. Having
women [in leadership], who in many cases would represent the users and customers of the com-
panies’ products, could improve understanding of customer needs, leading to more informed
decision making.
9
10. THE NORWAY STORY
Perhaps the most widely know example of a corporate gender
quota is in Norway. Norway is heralded as an exemplar to the
power of gender quotas in successfully diversifying the gender of
corporate boards, having reached their 40% target by 2008.
However, does this statistic alone allow conclusion that the
quotas’ implementation was a success? Were the objectives of
implementing the quota met? What were the knock on impacts of
its implementation?
2003
Female represen-
tation then
jumped to 37.0%
in 2007, and
finally reached
the 40% target in
2008.
2004 2006 2008
In 2004 women
still only repre-
sented 15.9% of
boards. This
increase was not
enough, too few
companies were
in compliance.
In 2006 the law
became compul-
sory and firms
that did not
comply by Janu-
ary 2008 would
be dissolved.
In late 2003,
Norway passed a
law mandating
40% representa-
tion of each
gender on the
board of publicly
limited liability
companies.
10
11. THE NORWAY STORY
There were a number of
reasons companies were not
complying prior to the 2006
sanctions. One concern which
was most vocalised by oppo-
nents to the legislation was
that there were not enough
qualified women in Norway to
fill 40% of board seats.
As a result, and to illustrate
their objection, organisations
decided to feign compliance
by appointing women to their
board without relevant qualifi-
cations, experience or compe-
tencies in the expectation they
would have minimal input and
therefore impact on board
decisions.
As Marianne Bertrand, Profes-
sor of Economics at the Uni-
versity of Chicago and
Research Fellow at the
National Bureau of Economic
Research writes:
If high quality women cannot
be found, the quotas may
backfire and reinforce nega-
tive stereotypes, resulting in a
“patronizing equilibrium” with
fewer women investing further
in their careers as they see
that it does not “take much” to
become a board member.’
Indeed if unqualified women
are appointed then the bene-
fits of legislated gender quotas
may be hugely reduced; the
appointed women would not
have the experience to
improve efficiency or profit,
they would not be viewed as
role models for success by
women, and they would not
reduce any biases against
women in the corporate
sphere. In practice, in Norway:
‘the average observable quali-
fications of the women
appointed to the boards of
publicly limited companies
significantly improved after the
reform. While there is a sub-
stantial gap in observable
qualifications between male
and female board members
both before and after the
reform, this gap is substantial-
ly smaller after the reform.’
Many argue that the concerns
regarding a lack of qualified
women in Norway are not
negated by this statistic, as
the reform resulted in a small
number of qualified women
holding multiple directorships
simultaneously.
As Harriet Alexander writes for
The Times:
This created the phenomenon
of the so-called "golden
skirts," a group of around 70
women who hold multiple
directorships, allegedly
because there is not enough
female business talent to go
around.
The Resistance
Emergence of the
“Golden Skirts”
11
12. This perspective is supported
by a few highly publicised,
key examples from within the
industry. Richard Milne writes
in the Financial Times:
‘Shortly after Norway
proposed a law forcing listed
companies to have women as
40 per cent of their directors,
Mimi Berdal's telephone
started ringing off the hook.
The former corporate lawyer
was contacted by many of the
500 or so companies that
were scrambling to fill their
boards with the requisite
number of women. She now
sits on 12 boards and regular-
ly tops newspaper lists of the
most prominent business-
women. But Ms Berdal is just
one of what have become
known as the "golden skirts",
a group of Norwegian women
who have become full-time
non-executive directors on
the back of the law.’
However, ‘it seems there are
more "golden trousers" than
"golden skirts": according to
the Centre for Corporate
Diversity in Oslo, only two in
10 women hold more than
one board position while four
in 10 men have multiple
directorships.’
In order to ensure that the
appointment of under quali-
fied, ‘token’ women did not
occur, the government creat-
ed a database of women
interested in being appointed
to boards to make women’s
competence more visible.
There was an upswing in the
number of women-focused
executive search firms and
networking organisations.
THE NORWAY STORY
Looking Beyond
Traditional Sources
12
13. THE NORWAY STORY
Developing the
Female Talent Pipeline
Example Case Study:
The Confederation of
Norwegian Enterprise (NHO)
The Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise (NHO), con-
ceived programme by the name of ‘Female Future follow-
ing the legislation of gender quotas.
‘Female Future is a leadership and boardroom competence
development programme for the enterprise’s own talents.
Female Future is the NHO’s effort to recruit more women to
senior executive positions and to the boardroom. The
enterprises nominate their talents to the programme.’
By 2010, 1250 women have been nominated by their enter-
prise to complete the Female Future Programme and 62%
of these participants have been promoted to a senior exec-
utive position/board position or both.
The NHO now acknowledges “that it is only because of the
law and the public debate it provoked that real change has
happened.”
Businesses have not only had
to look beyond traditional
sources for qualified female
candidates, but develop the
women within their organisa-
tions for future directorships to
ensure a strong pipeline of
female leadership. Indeed,
this development led to main-
tain future compliance to the
quota.
Indeed, following the quotas
resulting focus on building
female leadership within busi-
nesses ‘Career expectations
of young women in business
went up, with many viewing
the reform as improving their
future earnings or increasing
the likelihood of making it to
the very top corporate eche-
lons. It is possible that the
positive mindset the reforms
induced among young women
in business will ultimately
encourage them to stay on the
fast track for longer.’
13
14. A focus on the development
of female staff combined with
the influence of appointed
women on boards is expected
to yield an increase in women
occupying managerial posi-
tions through all levels of the
company. As of yet, there is no
quantitative evidence to sug-
gest this has been the case.
This is reflective of the
observable changes in earn-
ings gender gap. There is
evidence suggestive of a
growing representation of
female employees at the very
top of the earnings distribu-
tion. However, the representa-
tion of women does not
improve anywhere else in the
firms’ income distribution (top
95th percentile, top 90th
percentile, top 75th percen-
tile).
To date, the evidence on the
stock market response to the
quota remains inconclusive
and contradictory. However
qualitative assessments of
board efficiency have found
that: ‘Among male board
members – those who
presumably would be nega-
tively affected – 12 percent
express that the
quality of board work has
increased, and 11 percent that
it has deteriorated. In other
words four out of five perceive
no difference. Among the
group of men experiencing
positive changes, the majority
point to women contributing
different perspectives and
bringing about more discus-
sion.’
THE NORWAY STORY
The Earnings
Gender Gap
Board
Efficiency
14
15. THE UK STORY
The Davies report, published in February of 2011 called for action within UK companies to address
gender imbalance. The Davies report has set targets for UK companies which call for voluntary but
strongly concerted action:
‘All Chairmen of FTSE 350 companies should set out the percentage of women they aim to have on
their boards in 2013 and 2015. FTSE 100 boards should aim for a minimum of 25% female repre-
sentation by 2015 and we expect that many will achieve a higher figure. Chairmen should announce
their aspirational goals within the next six months (by September 2011). Also we expect all Chief
Executives to review the percentage of women they aim to have on their Executive Committees in
2013 and 2015.’
Women’s representation on FTSE 100 boards now stands at 20.7%, up from 12.5% in 2011, with
only two all male boards remaining. The FTSE 250 have achieved 15.6%, up from 7.8% in 2011 -
with 83 of the FTSE 250 all male boards in 2011 now having recruited one or more women onto their
boards.
Lord Davies writes that: ‘At the start of our review, we were overwhelmed by voices from Chairmen,
companies and others asking for a business led voluntary framework, as opposed to legislative
quotas or EU intervention. British business said they could fix this on their own. The world is now
watching with real interest to see if they can. We need to turn these words into action, to raise the
bar and to prove it.’
In 2012 women made up only 12.5% of the mem-
bers of the corporate boards of FTSE 100 compa-
nies. This was up from 9.4% in 2004, but this rate of
increase was undeniably
slow.
15
16. THE UK STORY
Although the UK have set no
legislated quotas, organisa-
tions are autonomously diver-
sifying the gender of their
boards transparently and
determinedly by setting their
own voluntary targets and
publishing their progress in
annual and transparency
reports across the FTSE 100,
for example:
EY has committed to targets
of 30% female and 10% BME
representation in their new
partner intake (comprising
both internal promotes and
external hires), measured
on a 3-year rolling period.
In 2014, 26% of their new
partner promotions were
women.
Companies are certainly
being more transparent about
gender equality. This is
demonstrated by the number
of companies who have
signed up to the Government
initiative Think, Act, Report, a
simple step-by-step frame-
work to help companies think
about gender equality in their
workforces, particularly in
relation to recruitment, reten-
tion, promotion and pay. Over
250 companies have volun-
tarily signed up.
The supporting of senior
women through their career
progression has come to
prominence in the corporate
sphere:
A whole new industry has
developed since the publica-
tion of the Davies Review in
2011[...] thriving new compa-
nies offer valuable services,
including the mentoring and
coaching of capable and
younger aspiring women, and
diagnostics and route maps to
help organisations effect real
change.
The Emergence of
Transparent,
Voluntary Targets
16
17. THE UK STORY
UK businesses are taking time
and initiative in developing
their pipeline of female talent,
perhaps due to the voluntary
nature of UK gender targets
allowing a focus on long term
and organic improvement in
diversity. Across the FTSE
100, the UK is witnessing
internal schemes, networks
and initiatives launching and
successfully developing
women. Key examples of suc-
cessful schemes include:
Developing The
Female Talent Pipeline Asda’s ‘Women in Leadership’ Programme
This programme is aimed specifically at female workers in
roles below senior management. Workers who have strong
leadership potential are referred to the programme by their
managers or identified through talent planning tools. The
two year programme addresses key barriers for female
workers and concludes with a legacy project that enables
them to pass on their learning to others and ‘pay it forward’,
both to women in the business and in the community as well.
So far over 530 women have taken part.
The RBS Focused Women’s Network (FWN)
The Network was launched in 2007 to support the group in
actively attracting, developing and retaining talented women
at RBS. In 2012 a dedicated FWN coordinator was appoint-
ed and a significant budget for the network was established.
FWN runs workshops on subjects including: confidence
building, leadership skills, internal interview skills, network-
ing skills, creating a personal brand, transitioning to flexible
working, managing promotion/career change, preparing for
redundancy. In the last 3 years, the FWN has grown from
2,000 to 6,000 members across 31 countries.
17
18. THE UK STORY
Our Progress
Although we have come a very long way since 2011, continued and concerted action is still needed
to reach the 25% target in 2015.
The graph above shows that in the last year we have recovered from previous underperformance
and are getting closer to the necessary trajectory. In 2011-2012 27% of FTSE 100 board appoint-
ments were women, 34% in 2012-2103 and 28% in 2013-2014. If we have continued to increase
at the same trajectory the 25% target will be met or exceeded. If we have slowed down to the rate
of progress achieved before 2013, it will be missed.
Source: Women on boards Davies Review Annual Report 2014
18
19. CONCLUSION
According to the 2014 International Business Report, the percentage of world business leaders in
favour of gender quotas has increased from 37% in 2013 to 45% in 2014. However the UK govern-
ment is resolutely opposed to their implementation.
They have the backing of some senior figures. In reference to the European parliament vote in
favour of a proposed draft law that would require 40% female board members, Helena Morrissey
(CEO, Newton Investment Management and 30% Club founder) said
Indeed, as of yet, there is no quantitative evidence from Norway to suggest an increase in women
occupying managerial positions since the implementation of the legislated quota. Equally the
evidence on the stock market response to the quota remains inconclusive and contradictory. Only
12 % of male board members express that the quality of board work has increased and 11% that
it has deteriorated.
This could perhaps be attributed to the appointment or promotion of under-qualified or inexperi-
enced women in order to meet a legislated quota within a defined time frame. Therefore it could be
argued that voluntary targets would instead allow a more organic growth, the development of a
wider talent pool of qualified and experienced women and therefore result in a more demonstrable
business impact.
This is disappointing, unhelpful and unnecessary […] Appointing women to
boards on anything other than merit only creates an optical solution and does
nothing to improve gender balance at management levels.
19
20. ‘France, Holland, Spain and Italy – as well as
most of Scandinavia – already endorse
quotas[…] With Germany, our biggest busi-
ness competitor, this week deciding to join
them, the centre of gravity is moving decisive-
ly. If Britain continues to block gender parity
across the EU, then we will not only penalise
women but also lose credibility as the Europe-
an financial capital.’
Mary Honeyball, a Labour MEP, cautioned that it would be a “pyrrhic victory” if the UK government
successfully opposed the proposals, elaborating that:
However, as the graph on page 18 demonstrates, if the UK continue to increase the number of
women on boards at the same trajectory the 25% voluntary target set by the Davies Report will be
met or exceeded.
Although this is far from achieving 40% representation, it demonstrates the power of concerted
action and desire for change in organically and sustainably achieving diverse UK workforces; with-
out the need for legislative quotas and the possible negative consequences they can entail.
CONCLUSION
20
21. FROM THE AUTHOR
This debate is one of many Equality and Diversity issues which are highly discussed currently, and the first
of many such topics we will be providing research on in 2015.
As search consultants, we discuss diversity (specifically though not exclusively in relation to female leader-
ship) with senior business stakeholders on a continuing basis.
A typical discussion of a mandate will encompass a number of required attributes, categorised as “essen-
tial” and “nice to have”. These essential skills are frequently found to automatically narrow the long-list to
predominantly male. Why? What are often considered essential skills by employers are in fact examples of
directly parallel experience, in what have been traditionally male industries.
Therefore it is at this point in the discussion we seek to broaden what are considered “essential skills”. We
determine the appetite to hire from outside the industry - to look for equally valid and translatable experi-
ence, increasing the chances of securing female talent.
Too often, as the process evolves, favour belongs to the applicant who will offer the least management
during transition; the applicant with the most direct and parallel experience, often the male applicant. A
female applicant, equally as qualified, equally as able, with valuable and translatable skills garnered in a
different industry is overlooked.
Could legislated gender quotas be the key to removing this frustration? Could they be key to redefining what
essential skills are, by forcing employers to cast their nets wider? Forcing employers to see the value in
different, non-conventional career paths?
Indeed, legislated gender quotas have been shown to rapidly and successfully increase the number of
women on boards; however is this rapid change sustainable? Or does this allow the promotion of under
qualified women at the detriment of business? Or over-stretch those women who are qualified and end up
holding multiple directorships?
Voluntary quotas are showing a slower, but notable increase in gender equality in multiple countries. This
growth could perhaps be considered more sustainable; organically growing and developing female talent.
However, without sanctions for non-compliance will this continue? Will the desire for change be enough to
demolish that glass ceiling? Will that be achieved before the damningly distant prediction of gender equality
achieved in 2095?
This paper cannot be concluded one way or the other in regards to what methods the UK should take in
diversifying our boards. Whether we elect to use legislated or voluntary gender quotas – there are advan-
tages and pitfalls. The debate is a complex one which will not find a definitive resolution without the passing
of time to provide quantifiable evidence of the on-going and knock-on effects of legislated gender quotas.
Ashleigh Clowes
Co-Head of Diversity
Head of Research Senior Appointments
ashleigh.clowes@nicollcurtin.com
21
22. INDUCTION
OUR STORY
Nicoll Curtin Senior Appointments was conceived and developed by Cian Loughnane (Head of
Senior Appointments, Co-Head of Diversity), following a central role in the business since 2004.
He was tasked with spearheading Nicoll Curtin’s Senior Appointments offering in 2011, in
response to client demand for a service that reflected our successes in contingency. He is pas-
sionate about Equality and Diversity and its role in the corporate sphere.
Cian is ably supported by Ashleigh Clowes (Senior Appointments Researcher and Co-Head of
Diversity). Ashleigh takes ownership of research functions, producing tailored research docu-
ments on topical issues of interest for clients.
OUR COMMITMENT TO EQUALITY & DIVERSITY
We fully acknowledge that an optimal business environment is a diverse one. We are committed
to helping our clients improve their business performance by providing them with the diverse talent
required to constitute effective leadership.
We will challenge doubts and reinforce the attributes of non-traditional career pathways, broaden-
ing your definition of a “successful profile” and providing appropriate weight to intrinsic competen-
cies and capabilities. This process is instrumental in facilitating equal opportunities for diverse and
talented individuals.
Even when this takes the form of a difficult or ‘loaded’ conversation, we will probe, question and
challenge often long-held assumptions, revealing unconscious biases that may exist in specifica-
tions or selection processes.
We will engage candidates in the application process from under-represented characteristic
groups by demonstrating your commitment to diversity and your organisation’s mechanisms to
help them succeed.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Cian Loughnane
020 7397 0197
cian.loughnane@nciollcurtin.com
Ashleigh Clowes
020 7397 0145
ashleigh.clowes@nicollcurtin.com
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