When it comes to delivering more women in the workplace, too many companies tend to focus on diversity rather than inclusion. That is the prevailing view of Raconteur’s all-female panel of business leaders, who agree that it is not enough to simply boost raw recruitment figures; it is important for women to feel seen, supported and equally as encouraged as men.
Jennie Child, the director and founder of Balance, a hiring consultancy firm, says that companies need to exercise greater introspection about their workplace culture and processes. “Companies often start with the ‘what’,” she says. “They say, ‘we’re going to hire lots more women’, but don’t examine the ‘why’. Why are there not more women here in the first place?”