Study launched to explore gender equality across recruitment profession

Women in Recruitment is launching a comprehensive examination in an attempt to understand and combat gender disparity across the recruitment profession.

It will study the sector and its approaches to female talent, allowing them to benchmark their strategies against the overall market.

The initiative, founded by the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo) and supported by stakeholders across the sector is the first of its kind to conduct such a study.

With recent APSCo research showing that just 23% of firms offer flexible working and just 9% provide enhanced maternity benefits, the survey will enable firms to challenge and rethink long-standing assumptions, practices, re-align out-of-date strategies and identify opportunities for change.

Ann Swain, Director at Women in Recruitment, CEO of APSCo, commented, “While research shows that females account for 41% of the recruitment workforce at recruiter level, this falls to just 25% board level. However, despite this, just 31% of companies have initiatives in place to retain women.

“With this disparity, we hope that our benchmarking survey can work as a catalyst for change. For firms working to improve equality, measuring progress is crucial and benchmarking your success against contemporaries can play a large role in driving change.

“I’m proud to announce the launch of this project, and hope that together we can build an accurate picture of what our workforces look like today, and track progress within our own organisations and across the entire sector.”

To find out more about contracting please contact Jaime on 01442 795 100 or email jaime.thorpe@dolanaccountancy.com.