July 2022
Price: £95 PLUS VAT
Format: DOWNLOADABLE PDF
This conference looked at latest thinking on policy and best practice relating to women's employment and careers.
Areas for discussion included next steps for improving recruitment, progression, and the experience and safeguards within the workplace.
It followed the announcement of the FTSE Women Leaders Review, the five-year successor to the earlier Hampton Alexander Review.
The conference was an opportunity to consider key priorities and ambitions for the Review as it continues, and the way forward following recommendations set out in the Review’s first report Achieving Gender Balance.
We were very pleased to be able to include keynote sessions with Rosie Gloster, Principal Research Fellow, Institute for Employment Studies; and Ishbel Maclean, Programme Manager, FTSE Women Leaders Review, on the progress of the review so far. There were also contributions from Alex Hall-Chen, Senior Policy Advisor, Institute of Directors; Joeli Brearley, Founder, Pregnant Then Screwed; Haitham Hamoda, Clinical Lead, Menopause Service, Kings College Hospital; and Chairman, British Menopause Society; and Michelle Last, Partner, Keystone Law.
Overall, the agenda brought out latest thinking on implications of current trends, development of best practice and priorities moving forwards for:
- organisational leadership - improving female representation at all levels of business - building on the UK’s high ranking for women on FTSE 100 boards - challenges for smaller companies
- career development - provision of routes to progression - professional training and CPD - mentoring - targets and monitoring progress - support into leadership - gender-neutral role descriptions
- pay - closing the gender pay gap - tackling disparities moving forward - reporting
- the pandemic - redressing the disproportionate impact on women’s employment and livelihoods - support and careers guidance for unemployed women - supporting the return to work
- workplace misconduct - tackling harassment - strategies and early intervention - reporting and disciplinary processes - support for victims - tacking root causes - improving organisational culture
- wellbeing - assisting with health-related issues in the workplace - support through changing circumstances - encouraging open discussion
- factors outside work - improving accessibility to childcare for women - the impact of flexible and hybrid working on women’s employment prospects
The conference was an opportunity for stakeholders to consider the issues alongside key policy officials who attended from BEIS; DfE; DIT; Department for the Economy, NI; DfT; DWP; Food Standards Scotland; GLD; the Home Office; the MOJ and the NAO - as well as parliamentary pass-holders from the House of Lords.
