Five years ago, the female consultants at BTS USA were a woeful 16 per cent of its total team, despite the fact North American business schools were churning out talented female graduates aiming for that field. Even clients of the strategy and leadership development firm were remarking on the fact they rarely saw female consultants. A decision was made to seek gender parity and these days female representation has just nudged above 50 per cent, achieving the goal.
The first key decision was to make business leaders own the gender metrics and responsibility for improvement rather than HR or some other staff function. “People who expect the chief diversity officer will solve the diversity issue never get anywhere,” she notes.
"If women candidates could talk with other women or even just see more women in the interview rooms, they would more naturally feel like they would belong at BTS,” Ms. Parisi wrote on. They could also ask questions about the environment they might be entering – notably, if they were to have a child, how the company would handle the situation.