Global Compact International Yearbook Ausgabe 2013

Manpower Group
WHEN WOMEN DO BETTER,
ECONOMIES TO DO BETTER
Few companies have helped empower women like ManpowerGroup – both inside and outside
our organization. As the world leader in innovative workforce solutions for 65 years,
ManpowerGroup was one of the first employers to bring women into the workforce decades
ago and remains a pioneer for women today. We not only provide experience and employment
opportunities to women that they previously may not have had access to, but equally
important, we nurture a culture that respects how diversity of thought inspires the productivity,
innovation, and collaboration companies need in the Human Age – an era of certain
uncertainty requiring flexibility and new approaches to work.
By Mara Swan, ManpowerGroup
Every March, the world celebrates International
Women’s Day to honor the
economic, political, and social achievements
of women. While much progress
has been made – for example, I am
writing this piece the day after the passing
of Margaret Thatcher, a woman who
certainly made her mark on the world
as the first female prime minister of the
United Kingdom – many barriers still
exist. Women are still grossly underrepresented
both in the workforce as a whole
and, particularly, in leadership positions.
According to the International Labor
Organization, nearly half of working
age women are not currently active in
the formal global economy. Grant Thornton’s
2012 International Business Report
revealed that barely one in five senior
management positions globally are held
by women. Among Fortune 500 companies,
only 15.7 percent of board seats are
held by women. The issue of women in
the workforce is not about fairness or
merely achieving gender parity, it is a
critical economic issue.
Women account for 70 percent of global
consumer spending, which means that
when we do better, economies do better.
Women also make up half of the global
talent pool, yet they are being underleveraged
at a time when businesses across the
globe cannot find the talent they need to
drive future growth – ManpowerGroup’s
2013 survey shows 35 percent of employers
report talent shortages. This situation
is not sustainable.
Accelerating demographic shifts in many
countries, particularly developed markets,
are shrinking traditional talent pools.
As world economic growth continues to
shift south and east, emerging markets
have plenty of people, but not necessarily
the required qualified talent. In a world
where uncertainty is the one certainty,
diversity of thought is required to remain
agile and adaptable in the face of an
unpredictable business environment.
The modern issue of women in work is
not necessarily one of deliberate exclusion;
companies on the whole desire an
inclusive workforce because they recognize
there is no substitute for diversity of
thought and perspective. The issue now is
this – what companies are offering is not
what women want. The barriers placed
in front of working women are social,
cultural, and structural, and there needs
to be a shift toward contemporary work
models that better provide them with the
flexibility they seek so that the percentage
of women in the workforce does not drop
off with every sorting of talent.
There also needs to be greater focus on
strategic ways to reintegrate women who
temporarily leave the workforce to raise
a family. Skills lifecycles are now so short
that being out of the workforce for a period
of time makes it extremely difficult
to return because skills have atrophied
in the interim. This requires flexible
work models and people practices so
that women are not forced to choose
between a career and children. Evolving
technology makes flexible working
feasible, where it was simply not possible
in the past – now we can work from
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Global Compact International Yearbook 2013