Gender balanced workforces 'more productive'

Date: 11th May 2009

Workforces which contain a balanced mix of male and female employees are more financially productive, it has been claimed.

An expert from everywoman, a provider of training and resources, suggests that greater equality can provide a number of benefits for small firms, including partnerships and limited companies.

Karen Gill, director of the group, believes that inequality is at its most obvious in the upper tiers of business organisations.

She said: "Many companies appear to have gender balance, but the higher up you go, the less visible women are, with very few occupying senior management or board-level positions."

Ms Gill added that it was "essential" companies focused on "encouraging and supporting their female staff in higher management" and invested in their training and development.

Research published by HireScores in March showed that four-fifths of managers would ask female applicants if they were pregnant or planned on having children, if they were permitted.