High Heels in High Finance

Written by Jan Jaben-Eilon Wednesday, October 26 2011

Studies show that companies with higher percentages of women in top management report higher return on equity and higher total return to shareholders. Yet the glass ceiling still blocks many women from top slots, particularly in financial companies such as retail and investment banks.

“There is a dearth of women in the upper parts of the organizations of financial companies,” says Sarah Meyerrose, who worked for a financial company for 27 years and now has her own consulting firm, SMSS LLC and is chairman elect of InterOrganizationNetwork (ION), which consists of 14 regional organizations in the United States representing more than 10,000 women in business across a wide range of industries. “This is not a supply problem; it’s a demand problem.”

As always, there are exceptions to this rule. Deloitte LLP is recognized as a leader in advancing women as a result of its launching the Initiative for the Retention and Advancement of Women, or Women’s Initiative, (WIN), in 1993. Barbara Adachi, who has been heading WIN for Deloitte for four years, reports that there’s been a “big culture shift since 1993. Women are considered for all leadership roles. This isn’t a check-the-box exercise, but it’s imbedded in our processes.” This is reflected in the fact that when WIN was launched, Deloitte had fewer than 100 women partners; now there are 1,000. In the United States, 23 percent of Deloitte’s partners and directors and half of its work force are women.

“We were among the first professional services firms to launch a women’s initiative,” Adachi adds. “We’ve evolved the Women’s Initiative over the 18 years. We try to refresh it every year; we never declare victory.” As part of that “refreshing,” the WIN head only has a three- or four-year term. Adachi’s term will soon end.

Noting the quota system in many countries that requires companies to hire a specific percentage of women for top positions, Adachi says, “We toyed with that idea, but we’ve decided against it. We’re trying to level the playing field. Women would think they got a position because of a quota.” In contrast, Deloitte has “aspirational goals.”

For instance when Deloitte promotes someone, that person is asked specifically what they’ve done to advance gender diversity. “We have places on the review forms,” she says.

While Deloitte has been named as a top place to work by several women’s magazines, it is not the only example of financial companies placing women above the glass ceiling. At American Express, women represent more than 60 percent of its work force and 30 percent of its top executives, according to its new chief diversity officer, Jennifer Christie.

“We are proud of our gender-balanced culture, and we are continuing to develop programs that enable women to advance their careers, especially at the most senior levels of the organization,” Christie says. “American Express has launched Women in the Pipeline and at the TOP initiative, which is designed to encourage sponsorship opportunities with senior leaders in our organization and create a community for women to network and share their experiences.

“We recognize that fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace enhances our bottom line,” adds Christie, whose global diversity & inclusion team is part of American Express’s human resources organization.

Likewise Capitol One, which launched a formal diversity strategy in 2004, has a chief diversity officer under human resources. This person oversees the overall direction of its diversity strategy, but Capitol One also has diversity councils in each business, led by executives from the various lines of business, explains Donna Schaar, senior director of human resources, who reports to the vice president of diversity.

“This enables our businesses to focus on diversity in a way that is real for them,” Schaar says. One policy that grew out of feedback from Capitol One’s Women’s Network, one of five associate diversity networks, is a flexible work solution, she says, which allows all associates to leverage work-life integration. This is one of the policies that has earned Capitol One recognition from women’s magazines.

“We are proud to have appeared on Working Mother’s ‘100 Best’ list for many years and were recently named to Working Mother’s ‘Best’ employers for hourly workers, too,” Schaar notes.

Morgan Stanley is another financial company that prioritizes advancing and retaining talented women. According to Jeff Siminoff, global head of diversity & inclusion, “At Morgan Stanley, we are committed to attracting, retaining, and developing the finest women leaders. Not only do women comprise more than half of the talent graduating from universities around the world, but they are increasingly an important segment of our client base.”

To achieve this goal, Morgan Stanley holds a Women’s Business Exchange conference to enhance development, retention, and selection of a diverse workplace, while focusing on ways to better serve clients and increase market share. In addition, there’s an annual Executive Women’s Conference hosted by Morgan Stanley’s investment banking division (IBD). This event brings its senior women in IBD together with senior female executive clients. The company also holds leadership development programs for women managing directors. These programs provide additional opportunities for female managing directors to deepen relationships across the firm, share ideas and experiences, as well as identify ways to take their businesses to the next level.

Sara Meyer-Davis, managing partner of Strategic Diversity Advisors, formerly diversity director for Credit Suisse, says financial companies are concerned about gender diversity but “they are still not there. Their primary concern is staying in business. When profits are volatile, there’s a move to austerity.”

But she argues that much of the profitability at Credit Suisse was due to diversity. Meyer-Davis, also part of the ION organization, believes in commercializing diversity; in other words, leveraging diversity programs to the purposes of profitability. Studies have supported this view, she stresses. And, despite the poor economy, despite a faltering emphasis on diversity, there are still “huge investments in research projects” about diversity.

Jan Jaben-Eilon was a founding staff writer of the Atlanta Business Chronicle. Since then, she has been the international editor of Advertising Age magazine and has written for such publications as The New York Times, International Herald Tribune, Washington Journalism Review, and Consumer Reports. She is the author of soon-to-be-published (There is) Life After Cancer. Jan and her husband have homes in Atlanta and Jerusalem.