Impact assessment

PwC Accelerating the development of high profile female leaders

Impacts of the company's new female partner sponsorship programme

• From: Government Equalities Office and Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport
• Published: 13 March 2012

This was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

Details

Action

The programme aimed to increase the number of visible female role models, who could in turn inspire, motivate and help retain talented young women in the firm. It included:

• Each board member taking responsibility for the development and career planning of two or three female partners. This included identifying opportunities for their partner to raise their profile and expand their network, introducing them to influential and relevant contacts, involving them in high profile projects and regular meetings to monitor their development and progress.
• Preparing women for board level positions by helping them cultivate the qualities essential for leadership appointments: visibility, profile, image, presence and an appreciation of the unwritten rules of the boardroom and leadership.
• Bringing female partners together to work with the board on a specific current business challenge.
• Supporting the internal programme with involvement in external networks, this includes becoming a founder partner of Women on Boards, our Chairman becoming a member of the 30% club and being part of the cross corporate mentoring programme with the Mentoring Foundation.

Result

Since the introduction of the programme:

• Two of the 26 females who originally joined the programme have joined PwC’s executive board. Two have joined their line of service leadership teams and one has been promoted to a business unit leader. Seven new partners have also joined the programme.
• The success of the programme means it has now been cascaded to the next level.

Further information

PricewaterhouseCoopers: making anything possible - diversity

Published 13 March 2012