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No 4

NEWS & ACTIVITIES UP CLOSEWHAT’S NEWON THEEVERYWOMANNETWORK

LATEST THINKINGHOW CAN WE KEEPDRIVING SUSTAINABLEPERFORMANCE?

SPOTLIGHT ONCREATIVE INITIATIVES HELPING TO UNBLOCK THE FEMALE TALENT PIPELINE

UPCOMING EVENTSDON’T MISS OURUPCOMING EVENTS AND AWARDS

Hello and Happy New Year

Welcome to UPDATE.This is where we feature our Partners’ views and activity, thought provoking articles and the key things happening at everywoman.

If you would like to contribute to future editions of UPDATE we’d love to hear from you; please contact [email protected].

We want to extend a very warm welcome to our new everywomanNetwork Partners: Equiniti, Selex, Southern Water and Worldplay, and their members.

We hope you enjoy this edition and wish you the very best for 2015.

Karen and Max

WHAT’SNEW

Earlier this year we surveyed over 10,000 everywomanNetwork members, all women who want to progress their careers.

www.everywoman.com Page 1

COMING UP ON THEEVERYWOMANNETWORK

It’s set to be an exciting year and we’ll be sending alerts to our Corporate Partners highlighting what’s coming up each month. Please do share this information with your internal networks.

We asked them to tell us which topics they wanted to learn more about. From the feedback, we have created our workbook schedule for this year.

Running alongside the workbooks will be a full schedule of webinars and articles, as well as videos and interviews featuring insight and advice from everywomanClub members, all senior level women in business.

had called in sick with stress in the last year, at a daily cost of almost £690m in wasted wages.

So stress is a serious issue. ‘We see many leaders who are suffering constant long-term stress,’ says neuroscientist Dr Tara Swart. Stress can be measured by monitoring levels of cortisol, a steroid hormone secreted by the adrenal gland. After a sharp spike just before we wake, cortisol settles at low levels unless the brain detects danger, which triggers a cortisol surge. Constant stress leads to persistently high levels of cortisol which suppresses the immune system.High cortisol also affects

behaviour. When blood cortisol levels are high for extended periods, blood supply to the brain areas essential to survival are prioritised, thus starving the cortex and pre-frontal cortex of precious resources such as oxygen and glucose. These are involved in higher functions such as solving complex problems, multi-tasking and creative thinking — that are all essential to leaders.

In our ever-evolving, fast-paced world it is unlikely that the flux will change, making resilience an increasingly important employee attribute, so much so, that 91 per cent of HR decision makers think it is likely that within

CAN BUSINESS LEADERS BE PSYCHOPATHS?


People will be recruited for their ability to deal with change and uncertainty

DRIVING SUSTAINABLE PERFORMANCE

In business today the only constant is change. The ability to embrace change and ambiguity is an important survival factor, for both leaders and their teams.

Right Management’s Flux Report points out that 74 per cent of organisations (93 per cent in the public sector) have undergone restructuring in the last five years. Leaders and employees are forced to deal with the resulting pressures and stresses of constant flux — and many don’t fare well. Around 45 per cent of HR decision makers report increased worker fatigue and disengagement as staff work longer hours and become exhausted and inefficient.

Life insurance and pension company, Friends Life, reported in November 2014 that almost a quarter of UK workers surveyed

LATESTTHINKING

SLEEP WELLOn the subject of sleep, Dr Swart says: ‘Most people need six to eight hours sleep and anything less can impact your IQ. Sleep disturbance can lead to a five to eight point loss in IQ. Most people can still function in that situation but an entire night’s sleep lost on, for instance, a red eye flight, can lead to a drop in operating IQ that means they are unable to function normally and may show symptoms such as irritability, confusion and memory loss.’If executives have disturbed sleep, napping is a good solution. Dr Swart says: ‘A 20 minute nap gives you a power boost, a 30 minute nap improves learning and memory and a 90 minute nap improves learning, memory and new connections which can unleash creativity.’

of stress, and Simon Shepard uses wearable technology to measure an individual’s heart rate variability for over 72 hours while they also keep an online log of their actions and perceptions. The monitoring also shows which activities promote recovery - as important

in stress management as reducing stress. ‘Once the balance between stress load and recovery is clear, it’s easier to provide individual, personalised coaching to help people manage it,’ says Shepard. Management is based

around individually-tailored programmes designed to aid effective recovery. This includes physical exercise, sleep, relaxation (perhaps involving meditation), healthy diet and ensuring that the brain and body are sufficiently hydrated by drinking water.

Dr Swart says — ‘Factors such as sleep, hydration, exercise and nutrition are typically viewed as hygiene factors but what we know now from neuroscience is so compelling that it really makes it more frightening not to do those things properly. I am passionate that physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health are key to peak performance in the workplace’.

STAY HYDRATED Hydration is important because it impacts on the brain. Researchers at the Universities of East London and Westminster found that study participants who drank 775ml of water just before completing tests had a 14 per cent increased reaction time compared with those who drank none. It also showed that when dehydrated, participants were more tense, sad and confused. Dr Swart recommends drinking half a litre of water per 15kg of our own weight daily.

five years, people will be recruited for their ability to deal with change and uncertainty.

Simon Shepard, Chief Executive of Optima-life, works with organisations to reduce stress and improve employee performance. He says: ‘Patterns of variation in the heart rate show stress levels. A regular, metronome-like heart beat indicates the stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol are high. When the heart rate speeds up and slows down, called a sinusoidal rhythm, it indicates lower stress and recovery, which mainly occurs during sleep, or while engaged in activities in which we are competent, confident about and enjoy.’ Heart rate monitoring can reveal unsuspected causes


SO WHAT CAN BE DONE TO BOOST RESILIENCE AND DRIVE SUSTAINABLE PERFORMANCE?

‘I am passionatethat physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health are key to peakperformance in theworkplace’.

TAKE AEROBIC EXERCISEResearchers have found that the hippocampus, an area of the brain that is associated with memory and learning, is stimulated through exercise. Continuous aerobic exercise such as running, cycling or swimming, stimulates the production of the protein FNDC5 that stimulates the production of another protein in the brain called Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF). That in turn stimulates neurogenesis (the growth of new nerves and synapses — the connection points between nerves) and also preserves the survival of existing brain cells.(1) Factors that increase neurogenesis include improved oxygenation and nutrient delivery.(2)

CLEAR YOUR MINDOn meditation Dr Swart says: ‘Science has legitimised meditation. Meditation creates both a short-term state change and a longer-term trait change with sustained and regular practice. Meditation three times a week, for three months, changes the structure of your brain.’

Scientific American (Nov 2014) reports that research at several universities has shown that meditation results in structural changes in brain tissue. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed experienced practitioners of one type of Buddhist meditation had greater volumes of brain tissue in the pre-frontal cortex and the insula than the control

groups. These regions are involved in processing attention, sensory information and internal bodily sensations. More work is needed to confirm the findings.(3)

‘Presented with a personal recipe to tackle stress we find that leaders take it more seriously and the positive effect cascades down to their teams,’ Shepard says. The effects of the programme can be judged by re-monitoring individuals after changes have been made.A member of a London investment bank leadership team was fitted with a monitor. It generated charts which showed the participant was struggling

to gain any recovery during sleep, so their balance of resources (battery levels) were seriously depleted. The data was used to help the client understand more about themselves, motivate them to make changes and re-energise their life.

Re-measurement seven weeks later showed far greater levels of recovery during sleep, in fact, the quality of recuperative sleep had moved from a score of minus 82 to plus 83. Positive changes to metabolic rate were also detected. Subjectively, they felt more energised at work and at leisure, and, they were also more attuned to how to manage fatigue and felt much more productive and focussed at work.

The Flux Report concludes that early intervention focussed on wellbeing and resilience can see an 80 per cent improvement in performance so it is very likely the growing trend for organisations to promote employee health and wellbeing will continue to rise.

1. Exercise Induces Hippocampal BDNF through a PGC-1α/FNDC5 Pathway, Wrann, White et al, Cell Metabolism, Vol 18, issue 5, Nov 5, 2013.2. Cotman, C, Berchtold, N (2002), Exercise: a behavioural intervention to enhance brain health and plasticity. Trends in Neuroscience. 295–301.3. Mental training enhances attentional stability: neural and behavioural evidence, Lutz et al, Journal of Neuroscience, vol 29, no 42 pp13, 414-13,427; Oct 21 2009.


THE RESULTS

80%

best practice. We’ve spoken to these partners and Sodexo who are also aligned with Think, Act, Report about initiatives.

RBS emphasise the importance of gender diversity in all their people plans. Marjorie Strachan RBS’s Head of Inclusion, says, ‘Throughout the employee lifecycle: from work design and recruitment through performance development and career management we’re making sure we have the right approach in place to support gender diversity.’ The results are encouraging, for example, female

third incorporate gender balance into these. As the number of organisations signing up to the UK Government’s ‘Think, Act, Report’ initiative continues to rise, many — (including our partners ASDA, Berendsen, Enterprise Rent-a-Car and RBS) — are increasingly taking out corporate everywomanNetwork memberships, gifting the learning and development resource to their junior and middle managers. We’ve spoken to these and more key partners, to discover what other initiatives they’re taking to align themselves with ‘Think, Act, Report’s advice on

In a vast improvement on the previous year, in 2014 52 of the top 100 companies demonstrated clear policies aimed at increasing the number of women in senior management positions (up from 30 in 2013). Great news, and Cranfield University’s ‘Women On Boards’ report identifies many more green shoots. There are, however, still areas of concern. One being that of those 52, only just over half had any form of measurable objectives to work towards; another, that while the vast majority of top companies engage in succession planning, fewer than a

THE CREATIVE INITIATIVES HELPING TO UNBLOCK THE FEMALE TALENT PIPELINE

New measures introduced in October 2013, called on FTSE companies to include gender breakdowns in their annual reports. This welcome development enables a far greater understanding of the progress being made in unblocking the female talent pipeline, as well as those areas that still need to be urgently addressed.


representation at executive level has increased by 5 per cent in recent years, they have almost achieved a 50/50 balance at graduate levels and their employee-led women’s networks have nearly 12,000 members in 32 locations across the globe. RBS also recognises the importance of gender in their customer proposition. They have over 200 Women in Business Specialists who are accredited by the Chartered Banker Institute and certified by everywoman.

These specialists offer mentoring, networking and professional business advice to women owned

small and medium-sized enterprises. Marjorie Strachan says, ‘To date, our Women in Enterprise initiative has invested in the region of £1.5m to help over 12,000 female customers gain skills and confidence to set up their own business.’ RBS are also rolling out unconscious bias support to all employees so they become more aware of the impact of bias on customers and colleagues.

Taking a similar view of the impact of gender balance on its customers’ perceptions and experiences, is retailer ASDA. ‘In our business,’ says Gabrielle McBride,


Diversity Manager, ‘around 80 per cent of purchasing decisions are made by women, so gender equality is an imperative for us’. A strong female talent pipeline enables ASDA to share experiences and ideas, creating an unrivalled level of customer service. Their “Women In Leadership”, programme is aimed specifically at colleagues in management roles, but below senior management level, who have been identified as having strong leadership potential. Gabrielle McBride says ‘We’re supporting these individuals to move up the talent pipeline, helping

us to achieve gender parity at higher levels. This year alone we have over 200 female colleagues who are at the start of this programme, following a framework of targeted modules and mentoring. In addition, a further 300 women are embarking on their second, ‘Pay it Forward’ phase, pursuing legacy projects to inspire new female leaders’. Attributable to the success of the programme, 53 per cent of colleagues now classed as “ready for promotion” are female.

For Enterprise Rent-A-Car, encouraging more women into the business has involved going back to the recruitment

process, examining how the organisation can be represented as an attractive one for female candidates. HR Manager for East Midlands and East Anglia, Steve Boswell works with universities to promote Enterprise as an organisation in which ‘there are no glass ceilings and the next promotion is just around the corner’ as a result, female applicants have increased from 21 to 34 per cent in one year.

Industries and organisations with a legacy of male-domination in their workforces can have a tougher challenge unblocking the female talent pipeline. ‘We are an industrial firm with a high engineering

‘There are no glass ceilings and the next promotion is just around the corner’ Enterprise Rent-A-Car, HR Manager for East Midlands and East Anglia, Steve Boswell

content, so what works in an accountancy practice will not necessarily work for us,’ says Chris Thrush, Group Director for Human Resources at Berendsen, a FTSE 250 company that provides laundry and hygiene services to the private and public sectors. Despite the on-going shortage of women entering STEM subjects and careers, Berendsen has taken steps, which have resulted in an equal gender split among those entering its graduate training programme.

Once in place, they are placed in middle management roles and Berendsen carefully monitors each graduate’s progress. Junior managers at Berendsen are supported by

a network of senior women and this resulted in five women mentees achieving promotion in the first year. This year, the network has grown six-fold to also include male mentors. Chris Thrush says, ‘These initiatives provide us with a clear understanding of where women are in our management pipeline and how close they are to developing into candidates for executive board positions.’

In January, Berendsen’s mentoring group will meet to consider myths surrounding women in management. Through discussion, they will create a “Berendsen view” about it and identify the aspirations and needs of women in management. Chris Thrush says: ‘One of the most important factors when

building a female talent pipeline is to include women in the solution. By taking this approach the Board have created and implemented practical and impactful initiatives that deliver results.’

Facilities managerment company Sodexo, is another example of an organisation reaching out to its female workforce to involve them in the “how” of its ambition to “attract and retain the best female talent.”

UK and Ireland Chief Executive, Debbie White, told us how Sodexo’s policies around succession, remuneration and retention are thoroughly tested on the women they will impact via employee engagement

surveys. ‘The average engagement rate of women in our 100-strong leadership team has increased from 70 to 86 per cent over the last two years.

‘We know that higher engagement drives better performance, better client and customer satisfaction and financial results’, says Debbie White. ‘Not only that, but when I go out into the business I can feel that increased level of engagement [resulting from our global mentoring network and the stretch assignments’ we offer junior talent] and I know it’s correlating with business performance.’


To find out how everywoman is working with the Government Equalities Office to support Think, Act, Report go to www.everywoman.com/equalpay

‘The average engagement rate of women in our 100-strong leadership team has increased from 70 to 86 per cent over the last two years’ Debbie White, Sodexo

everywoman’s Forum 2015, on 17 March 2015, is for women who are aspiring to become the next leaders in technology. It will feature industry leaders and everywoman experts who will provide insight, thought-leadership and skills to support and motivate attendees to drive their tech careers forward.

Delegate packages include ten delegate places and company profiling at the event. Many of our Partners invite clients and employees to share the day, demonstrating their organisation’s commitment to developing future female leaders.

To find out more about how your organisation can get involved contact Joyce on 0207 981 2579 or [email protected]

WHO DESERVES A THANK YOU?It’s time to reward a woman working in Transport and Logistics for a great job done! Nominations for the 2015 FTA everywoman in Transport & Logistics Awards are open.

Being selected as a finalist, or winning an Award, will attract

attention and support from the business world, government, industry and the press. It also recognises the nominee as an inspirational role model who will inspire more women to consider a career in Transport and Logistics.To find out more and get involved contact Joyce on 0207 981 2579 or [email protected]

Over the past 13 years we have developed a portfolio of tried and tested programmes designed to develop female leadership and build the female talent pipeline.

Contact us to find out how we can help you develop:

• Your female leaders - emerging or mid-level

• Strong ambassadors and role models for women across your organisation

• Leaders who understand what it takes to successfully manage a diverse team regardless of gender

Contact [email protected] or

0207 981 2574 to find out more.

LEADERSHIP & DEVELOPMENT

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The UK’s largest forum for women working in technology

We’ll be announcing more Club events soon and full details can be found at www.everywoman.com/club

For further details contact Clarice on 0207 981 2583 or [email protected]

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