Matt Scott

Professional Manager • 12th January 2017

Are men the key to achieving gender diversity? Have your say in our latest survey

The UK will need two million new managers to meet predicted growth, according to the latest research from CMI, but hundreds of thousands (possibly 500,000) of female managers are disappearing from the workforce. And with male managers still 40% more likely to be promoted than women, the opportunities for women to succeed in management are often limited compared to those afforded to their male counterparts. CMI’s own research has revealed that for managers who have stayed with the same employer

Professional Manager • 26th August 2016

Tackling the gender pay gap and the new reporting requirements

British businesses have failed to make any progress on closing the gender pay over the last 12 months, with the 2016 Gender Salary Survey from CMI and XpertHR revealing that on average men are paid 23.1% more than women, compared to 22.8% in 2015. “Forty years after the Equal Pay Act, how can that be the case?,” CMI chief executive Ann Francke asked. “The answer lies in the fact that the gap, in most cases, is not the result of unequal pay. Instead, it reflects the failure to achieve a balance

Professional Manager • 23rd August 2016

Lack of promotions for women fuelling the gender pay gap

Men are 40% more likely than women to be promoted into management roles, according to the latest research from CMI. The 2016 Gender Salary Survey from CMI and XpertHR, which analysed more than 60,000 UK employees’ salary data, found that 14% of men in management roles were promoted into higher positions over the past 12 months, compared to just 10% of women. But this trend is not a new phenomenon, with the CMI research finding that for managers who have stayed with the same employer for the la

Professional Manager • 7th July 2016

Rallying call for FTSE bosses to push for gender equality at work

Top executives from leading FTSE companies are set to meet in London to launch a fresh review aimed at improving female representation in leadership positions of British business. Lead by Sir Philip Hampton, chair of GlaxoSmithKline, and Dame Helen Alexander, Chair of UBM, the review will plot a path for getting more women through the executive talent pipeline and has set itself the target of all boards being at least 33% women by 2020. Its main focus will be on ensuring the very best of femal

Professional Manager • 6th June 2016

Lord Browne: Inclusion is the ‘single most important’ aspect of leadership

In 2007, John Browne, The Lord Browne of Madingley, walked out the front doors of BP having resigned as CEO after more than 40 years at the company. His resignation came after he admitted to having lied in a witness statement about the details of how he met his boyfriend during an injunction hearing aimed at stopping the press revealing Lord Browne’s sexuality, something he had kept secret his entire life. Reflecting on his time at BP as part of CMI’s Bouncing Back series of events, Lord Brown

Professional Manager • 29th April 2016

New research ranks major European nations on boardroom gender diversity

The proportion of women on European boards has increased significantly since 2011, according to the latest research from European Women on Boards (EWoB) in partnership with governance firm ISS. The study of companies making up the STOXX 600 found that women now make up 25% of board members across Europe, up from 14% in 2011. The number of boards with no women has fallen from 21% in 2011 to 5% in 2015. The largest reason for this improvement, however, has been as a result of an increasing numb

Professional Manager • 23rd March 2016

FTSE gender diversity ‘inexcusable and unacceptable’

Individual FTSE companies are failing to meet their targets on gender diversity despite headline reports of progress among the UK’s biggest companies. A report from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) found that 61% of FTSE 350 and 45% of FTSE 100 companies failed to hit their targets of having 25% female representation at board level. The EHRC labelled the variation in individual company performance on this measure as ‘inexcusable and inacceptable’ and says ‘too few companies are

Professional Manager • 22nd March 2016

How flexible working can abolish the gender pay gap

“Flexible working for all lies at the heart of addressing the gender pay gap.” That’s the key message from a Women and Equalities Committee report investigating the gender pay gap in British businesses. The report found that women in the UK are currently paid an average of 19.2% less than their male counterparts, despite women being ‘better educated and better qualified than ever before’. A lack of flexible working opportunities and a high concentration of women in part-time work was identifie

Professional Manager • 12th February 2016

Gender parity could boost global GDP by $28 trillion

Closing the gender pay gap could boost global GDP by $28 trillion over the next 10 years, according to estimates from McKinsey, a 28% increase on current GDP levels. In the UK, the effect of gender parity could improve the country’s GDP by as much as £0.6 trillion. Vivian Hunt, McKinsey & Company managing partner for UK & Ireland, said: “Women make up 50% of the global working-age population but contribute about 37% of the world’s GDP – we estimate that fully bridging the gender gap could prod

Professional Manager • 12th February 2016

Government to publish gender pay gap league tables

Employers performing poorly on gender parity will be highlighted in sector-based league tables under new reforms announced today by the government minister for women and equalities, Nicky Morgan. The announcement builds on plans first revealed by the Prime Minister last year to force companies with over 250 employees to publish their gender pay gap and bonus pay gap details. The new reforms will also require companies to publish how many women and men are in each pay range. To highlight where

Professional Manager • 1st February 2016

Black graduates earn 25% less than white colleagues

Black workers with degrees earn an average of 23.1% less than white workers with degrees, new figures from the TUC reveal. The research found that a degree-educated black worker earns an average of £11.73 an hour, compared to £18.63 an hour for white workers with degrees. Overall, the pay gap between white and black workers stands at 12.8% – or £1.72 – with the gap at its widest for those with a degree qualification (see chart). For all black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) workers, the gap

Professional Manager • 13th January 2016

The ‘barrier bosses’ standing in the way of gender equality

A small but powerful group of "barrier bosses" are halting progress towards gender equality, according to new research from the Fawcett Society. The survey of more than 1,400 recruitment managers found that they were more than twice as likely to be against equality of opportunity than the general population, and one in seven believed they would lose out if men and women were more equal. 25% of the men and women questioned said they believed a more equal society would not be better for the UK e

Professional Manager • 17th December 2015

How BBC News is supporting women in the workplace

The Davies Review found in October that the number of women serving on FTSE 100 boards had more than doubled in just five years, meaning that women now take up over a quarter of seats at the UK’s leading companies. Despite this, true gender equality is still some way off and Lord Davies has now recommended a new target for 33% of directorships to be held by women, across the entire FTSE 350, by 2020. At BBC News, a group of women news workers have already taken matters into their own hands and

Professional Manager • 11th December 2015

Disabled employees are being let down by poor management

Managers are failing disabled employees by not providing enough information regarding adjustments that could be made to make the workplace environment easier to work in. A report from the Business Disability Forum (BDF), A State of the Nation Report: Retaining and Developing Employees with Disabilities, found that less than a third (32%) of employees were confident they could find advice on adjustments. This compares to 83% of employers saying they felt that their employees could easily find a

Professional Manager • 30th November 2015

Inspiring Women: how you can break the ‘glass pyramid’

The glass ceiling is an all too common concept when it comes to gender equality in the workplace, but CMI chief executive Ann Francke has a new notion – the glass pyramid. Chairing a panel discussion at the 2015 Inspiring Women in Business Conference in London, Francke described her glass pyramid and how it represented the challenges facing women in business. “The majority of university leavers and junior managers are female, and that’s true in most professions,” she said. “When we get to the

Professional Manager • 10th November 2015

Quarter of employers say staff not happy working with colleagues who have learning disabilities

Mencap and Inclusive Employers have launched the third Learning Disability Work Experience Week to raise awareness and break down the barriers facing people with learning disabilities who are looking for work

Professional Manager • 30th October 2015

Workplace discrimination: women and refugees most seriously disadvantaged

Prime Minister David Cameron has announced changes to use name-blind CVs in graduate job applications in an effort to reduce discrimination. But with gender inequality an enduring problem and refugees still pouring into Western Europe, does more need to be done to stop discrimination in the workplace?

Professional Manager • 30th October 2015

Women make up 25% of FTSE boards: so what comes next?

The findings of The Davies Review are welcome, but they raise just as many questions as they answer...

Professional Manager • 8th October 2015

Tattoos in the workplace: is the taboo fading?

New research has found that the majority of UK workers think people with tattoos or piercings will face discrimination in the workplace. But with nearly half of workers having already gone under the needle, could ink soon become a more common sight in the office?

Professional Manager • 25th August 2015

Women work unpaid for 2 hours each day

The latest research from CMI reveals the extent to which British women are being underpaid