A Deloitte Access Economics report for Westpac that has broadened the research and conversation about the importance of women in leadership.

The report has broadened the research and conversation about the importance of women in leadership in four ways:

It focuses on all managers rather than just executives and boards.

It estimates the size of the lift in economic and business dividends from gender diversity, through new economic modelling.

It conducts a national survey of 500 business leaders, providing new analysis of key data.

It also considers the importance of inclusion in harnessing the benefits of diversity.

The report found having more women in leadership could create more role models and increase the availability of flexible working arrangements. In turn, this could create economic dividends for New Zealand, by supporting greater labour force participation. The reports estimates if New Zealand firms were to achieve gender parity in leadership, the resulting participation benefits would lead to the economy being around $881 million larger, equivalent to 0.33% of gross domestic product (GDP).

Deloitte is also actively involved in Global Women. In fact, we’ve recently teamed up to run a ‘Deloitte-Global Women Inclusion Survey’. We had over 700 responses and uncovered some valuable insights about inclusion in NZ workplaces. For example:

Inclusion scores were 45% higher in organisations with merit-based processes for performance management, promotion and pay

Inclusion scores were 34% higher in organisations where senior leaders speak up and challenge the status quo

Inclusion is 30% and 29% higher in organisations where senior leaders and managers (respectively) hold others to account if what they say or do is not inclusive

Survey findings will be published in the Inclusive Workplace report, featuring inclusion success stories, in league with Global Women, mid-August. An update will be provided shortly after publication – watch this space!