HR ‘has key role’ in meeting target of 30 per cent women on boards by 2030
With energy security high on the political agenda, a report has said that recruiting and retaining more women in senior energy industry roles would improve future decision making, bring fresh perspectives, and strengthen the whole industry.
The report, PwC and industry body POWERful Women (PfW), called for leaders and HR to help increase the proportion of female executives to 30 per cent and middle management to 40 per cent by 2030. And it said that HR has a key role to play in achieving this target.
But there is a lot of work to do as research in the report ‘Igniting Change: building the pipeline of female leaders in energy’, showed. Only 5 per cent of executive board seats are currently held by women and the majority (61 per cent) of leadership boards have no female representation at all.
Women account for just 9 per cent of all board seats in the top 100 UK- headquartered energy firms compared to 21 per cent across all UK FTSE 100 firms. This means that the energy sector is nowhere near meeting Lord Davies target of 25 per cent female representation on boards by 2015.
However, the PwC/PfW research also revealed that 61 per cent of those surveyed believe the most compelling commercial reason for increased gender diversity is “better decision making”.
Laura Manson-Smith, PwC energy partner and report co-author, said: “While writing this report we unearthed some great examples of women who have carved out fantastic careers in energy. While these stories are thought-provoking and inspiring, they are not by any means standard or every day. Much more needs to be done if we are to normalise women’s ambitions for a rewarding career path.”
Manson-Smith highlighted encouraging findings that of the men and women surveyed for the report, 91 per cent said they would recommend a career in energy to their daughters.
In addition to its call for action, the report also identifies barriers and sets out practical recommendations for increasing female representation. It urged chief executives and senior leadership teams to lead by example, by setting and delivering targets, and actively promoting diversity by creating a diverse leadership team and challenging bias.
It also called on HR professionals to re-examine their talent management, recruitment and reporting processes to ensure they aren’t disadvantaging women and said the function should demand diverse short-lists across the organisation.
Baroness Verma, co-founder of POWERful Women and minister at the Department of Energy and Climate Change, said: “This report comes at an important moment for the country’s energy sector. As we transform the way we generate and use energy, we must also transform the disparity of representation of women at the top table. Indeed, a more diverse pool of talent will be crucial to maintaining the UK’s position in the global market and addressing a loss of consumer trust in the sector.
“Igniting Change clearly shows that everyone has a role to play – from CEOs and senior management to HR departments and individuals themselves.”