Employers risk losing out on the “skills, energy and passion” of top female talent if they do not make a greater effort to offer them suitable work incentives.
That is according to the latest report by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), which shows that many firms are failing to implement flexible or innovative approaches to working that may help them to retain and attract female employees.
Its Inspiring Female Entrepreneurs study said that “urgent action” was needed to stem the leaky female talent pipeline, or the UK’s economy may be affected as a result.
According to the organisation, the country’s GDP could be boosted by as much as ten per cent by 2030 if there were as many female employees as their male counterparts in each firm. However, as it stands, there are more than 2.4 million unemployed women who would like to be given the opportunity to work.
Females have a lot to offer businesses, CIPD notes, but because of a lack of support in the workplace, many are now choosing to start their own company and the key drivers behind this growing trend include more autonomy and greater work/life balance than those in shared office spaces.
But if firms made a greater effort to offer these initiatives to women, they would stand a better chance of retaining and attracting female talent to their company, CIPD states.
Dianah Worman OBE, public policy adviser at CIPD, explained: “Employers need to act out of self interest to broaden the pools of talent available to them and ensure they do not lose out on the skills, energy and passion women can bring to their workplaces if they were allowed to work more autonomously and flexibly.”
However, Ms Worman praised the government for actively encouraging businesses to implement flexible working policies, as well as for supporting women in their entrepreneurial endeavours. She said: “It makes perfect sense to find ways of helping them to do this in order to build economic growth.”
