EXTENDED ESSAY: Business & Management

Why has CMBX had to spend time and resources on investigating female management
retention and how can they improve the situation?

Isobel Morrice
003257-71

Word Count: 3963

1
ABSTRACT:

The aim of this investigation was to identify why CMBX was having difficulty retaining
female employees and what they could do to amend this. If female employees aren’t
involved in the world of business, the talent pool available is essentially cut in half,
halving the skills, experience, creativity and social/business connections that can be
utilized by CMBX. It is also key to retain their female staff as it causes problems within
the business, which may lead to further female employees leaving the firm. Through
intensive research it was discovered that it was the company culture of the bank itself
was often to blame for the losses in CMBX’s female executives.

Research was conducted within CMBX. A survey was used to interview leaving female
staff to discover why exactly they were leaving. The analytical tools used were SWOT and
PESTLE analysis. Also, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, Hertzberg two-factor theory and
Mayo’s theories were consulted. Finally Handy and Drucker’s theories were relevant in
examining CMBX’s retention policies.

As a result, it was concluded that female staff are leaving at a faster rate than they were
joining at the levels of Analyst, AVP, VP, Director and MD in the year 2009, with the
highest % of leavers being at the Analyst level. 40% of Analysts left in 2009, and only 38%
joined; therefore the most female employees were leaving at the lower levels of CMBX,
and faster than they were joining. From the exit survey, the top rated reasons for
women leaving CMBX were: Gender norms and cultural practices, Masculine corporate
culture, lack of mentors and flexible work hours. After identifying this, top management
in CMBX can now take these key points into consideration and hopefully increase
retention of female employees at all levels at CMBX.

Word Count: 296

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CONTENTS PAGE:
INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..4
INVESTIGATION…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..5
KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE TOPIC………………………………………………….11
SUGGESTED IMPROVEMENTS……………………………………………………………………………………24
CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….25
BIBLIOGRAPHY…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..27
APPENDIX………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….28

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INTRODUCTION:

The Capital Markets arm of CMBX has found that female management employees are
willing to join and work in the company. It is seen by graduates and others in the
industry as a leading big name corporation to work for. The problem from a corporate
point of view in Asia Pacific is that these female employees are just not staying within
the company. Top management at regional head office in Hong Kong is highly concerned
because it takes years of training and the build up of experience necessary to develop a
good bank management executive. Initially, it was thought that female employees were
simply moving to new firms or considering lifestyle changes. Even female executives
promoted to a higher level have been leaving, meaning there is a disproportionately low
level of female executives, particularly near the top of CMBX or, the Capital Markets arm
of CMBX. From 2008 – 2010, CBMX grew by an impressive 75%. Yet, overall female
representation within the firm dropped from 30.4% to 28.8%. Although the company is
growing, the percentage of female employees is not keeping up with this.

CMBX’s management have clearly stated that their aims are to 1: run and develop as a
well known business, build close relationships with customers and to build for the future
and to spread in each existing capital market and regionally. As such, reversing the
female management losses and ensuring their retention has now become a key strategic
initiative. Therefore, CMBX has decided to invest in piloting its female management
retention strategies in the Hong Kong office as a forerunner for implementation into the
other regional offices.

INVESTIGATION:
1
From formal interview with CEO in Asia Pacific of CMBX

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The Asia Pacific executive board of CBMX in Hong Kong realizes that it will have to work
with a variety of departments including Human Resources Management, each of the
individual capital markets departments and management within these departments and
existing female management at all levels. All appropriate sources need to be consulted,
and primary and secondary data gathered as necessary. The investigation has to be well-
planned and relevant material carefully selected. All this is to ensure that the executive
board is given valid information with which it can make good decisions that will have a
long lasting positive impact on female retention.

CBMX initiated a lot of primary research into exactly how much female executive
representation there was at each level and to what degree of female executive retention
existed. The results of the research are in Appendix 1.

The HRM department provided female executive numbers in relation to seniority and
rank. The figure below shows the female executive numbers throughout the Asia Pacific
region.2

Numbers are women as % of total, per title level

Aggregate MD representation of 8%, range is 5–24%
Largest drop-off from Analyst to AVP
Front Office Director pipeline to MD only 18% globally

The above data shows that globally women are represented mainly in the lower levels of
the business, and many are not moving up the corporate ladder. The percentage of
women drops off rapidly at each level. Most women, close to 50%, do not advance above
the Analyst level. Less than 20% of the Directors are women and the number becomes
even worse at MD level with less than 10% of the MDs being women. In other words,

2
Diversity & Inclusion Workstream: Pre-read Document, Global Partnership Committee, March 15, 2010

5
only 4 in 10 Analysts are women, falling to 1 in 4 Vice Presidents being women, and
finally dropping to even less than 1 in 10 MDs being female. All this indicates an inverse
relationship between seniority and female representation. The more senior the position,
the fewer females are represented.

The HR department also collated and provided the following information 3:

The figure above compares the number of females in each executive position in 2008
and compares it with the female joiners and leavers in 2009. The figures show that the
female joiners at each position of seniority were an almost identical percentage to the
female leavers. This is worrying as it shows a revolving door; women represent more

3
Diversity & Inclusion Workstream: Update and Proposal, Global Partnership Committee, June 17, 2010

6
leavers than joiners. In fact, although the female joiners are only slightly less than the
leavers, if this trend continues, this could lead to a gradual yet large decrease in women
at all levels of CBMX.

2010 Female Promotion vs. 2009 Representation4

The figure above shows promotions still remain static in relation to female
representation, so at each level female representation is the roughly the same % as

Diversity & Inclusion Workstream: Update and Proposal, Global Partnership Committee, June 17, 2010

7
female promotions. At Director and VP level, current female promotions are more than
the females represented at those levels. So, only 17% of Directors are women, but 20%
of promotions to Director level were women.

Surveys were sent to female executives by the bank about what they felt were barriers
to their advancement within CMBX. The results were collated and the tope ten barriers
to the advancement of women across the company’s regional offices were noted. A scale
of 1 to 5 was used, with 1 being the least problematic and 5 being the most
problematic.5

5
Diversity & Inclusion Workstream: Interview Results, Global Partnership Committee, June 17, 2010

8
The main 4 problems globally that restrict women from advancing are Gender norms and
cultural practices, Masculine corporate culture, Lack of role models and Lack of flexible
work solutions/work-life balance. In order to improve retention and advancement of
women within companies like CMBX, these need to be addressed.

The above was all secondary, non-financial data. Even though the employee
questionnaire used numerical rankings, it is still classed as qualitative because it involved
individual opinions.

Below is information gathered from an formal (oral) interview with the CEO of Asia
Pacific of CMBX. This classifies it as primary, non-financial data.

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It was noticed that the complaints could be categorized into four main groups: Company
culture, role models, work practices and leadership commitment to female employees.
Further internal research was conducted to see exactly why these were a problem.

1. Company culture:
Most female executives felt that CMBX gender norms and cultural practices prevented
women from advancing within the company. They felt that the culture of the company
from top leadership downwards was overwhelmingly masculine. To succeed in this
culture women were expected to make sacrifices in the form of longer work hours,
shorter holidays and more travel.

2. Role models:
As women in CMBX are leaving before they advance, or are staying at lower levels,
female employees are lacking role models. Role models are an important non-financial
motivator for female employees to have as it shows them that they can advance.

3. Work practices:
Many women often feel limited in their career trajectory due to demands outside the
workplace, resulting in reduced ambition to achieve senior titles. These external factors
often come down to the desire to want to start/maintain a family.

In a survey conducted by CMBX for leaving employees, women ranked work-life balance
as the 2nd most important reason why they left (versus 5th for men). Also, 39% of
women responded negatively (versus 32% for men) about maintaining work-life balance
during their time at CMBX. 6 This is therefore a area that needs to be addressed in order
to aid female advancement within CMBX.

4. Leadership commitment:
According to the employee opinion survey, women are significantly less favorable than
men in belief that their job provides a chance for their ideas to be adopted, to do

6
According to 2009 Exit Survey published by CMBX
1
0
challenging and interesting work, authority to make decisions, personal accomplishment
and a chance to learn new skills and develop talents. CBMX also needs to have a
stronger leadership to diversity and quantify/target set what it aims to achieve, such as a
20% female MD employee rate in the next 2 years, rising to 30% in the next 5 years.

KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE TOPIC:

SWOT analysis is a strategic planning method used to evaluate the Strengths,

Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats involved in a business. It is particularly helpful
in identifying areas for development and further strategies.
Internal factors are the strengths and weaknesses internal to the company. External
factors are those opportunities and threats to the organization due to the external
environment it works in

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STRENGTHS:
- Established brand in the market
- Core group of loyal customers
- Strong profitability
- Regional and multinational
presence.
- High technology used to execute
and record trades and for
communication.
OPPORTUNITIES:
- Can expand into other equity
markets
- Can strengthen its product line
particularly in areas like
commodities and prime services.
- Can take over other companies and
reduce competition
WEAKNESSES:
- Not enough females at the top of
the company, meaning there are
few mentors for female employees
further down.
- There is a revolving door of female
employment; similar numbers of
joiners and leavers exist.
- The large number of female leavers
mean there is a constant
institutional memory loss, as they
take their knowledge and
experience with them.
- Lack of flexible work
solutions/work-life balance for
employees
- Lack of leadership commitment to
diversity.
THREATS:
- Strong competitors are always head
hunting staff and offering higher
salaries.
- The boom and slump of equity
markets mean that in a slump
employees are fired, but in boom
times, it is very difficult to hire
employees.
- Government regulations threaten
to curb the activities of the business
1
2
From this, it can be seen that CBMX has a lot of strengths and opportunities but these
are overshadowed by the list of weaknesses. Examining the weaknesses show that a
disproportionate amount relates to employee retention and a negative perception of the
company’s corporate culture amongst women.

PESTLE:

Description of what PESTLE Analysis is and an analysis of CBMX are in Appendix 2

Social factors seem to outweigh the other factors and indicate that CBMX may need to
adjust its culture to accommodate societies changing demographics and social attitudes.
The increase in female participation in the work force and the legal implications of
increase anti-discrimination laws make it vital for CBMX to accommodate these changes.

Porter’s 5 Forces Model 7in relation to CBMX:

7
http://www.quickmba.com/strategy/porter.shtml

13
pplier Power, eg: Barriers to entry/exit, eg:

MX,
end as
to abebank, does not Strong
institutional. have retail suppliers.
barriers Itsdue
to entry main
tosuppliers are through the labour market like headhunters and other recru
capital requirements
her
e, suppliers
this include
can affect technology
the profitability suppliers
of the such
business. as Thompson, Reuters
Strong brand identity takes a long time and huge and Bloomberg
sums of moneyinformation
to achieve. feeds
CBMXand
hasterminals.
achieved this.
t smaller customers canGeographical
search for alternatives
factors meanto CBMX easily.
that the business is becoming increasingly multinational, so CBMX will have to
only high for institutionalnew customers. Individual
entrant strategy customers
to opening neware a lot more
markets dispersed.
possible for CBMX, such as trading on lesser known marke
CBMX has achieved significant economies of scale and has been able to price its services competitively.
Its employees act as a barrier to entry as it is difficult for a competitor to get the same level of good emplo

etitive
nologyRivalry,
Development,
eg: eg:

ons can cause a are

’S competitors security threattrying
constantly like viruses
to take its customers away.
cause the whole industry to fundamentally
’S competitors are always trying to head hunt alter
itse.g. fund managers can use laptops to execute trades without needing t
employees.
is coming
hing costs along
mean all ofCBMX’s
that the timecustomers
so customers canoften
do not use this instead of CBMX.
change.

This shows the degree of rivalry in the industry that CBMX operates in. It is clear that
employees act as both a barrier to entry to new competitors and the biggest threat to
CBMX is from its competitors. The problem with too many women leaving is that CBMX’s
barriers to entry to new competitors are lowered and the strength of its competitors
significantly increased. Both these factors negatively affect CBMX in the long run as it
loses its competitive strength.

1
4
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs8:

Abraham Maslow devised a pyramid of needs consisting

of 5 levels shown below. He argued that one of these
needs have to be met by the employee in order for that
member of staff can proceed to the next higher level of
needs. This suggests that employers should recognize
that employees have a range of needs, which need to be
fulfilled, and plan work that meets those needs.

QUESTIONNAIRE FEEDBACK:
Maslow’s needs not being Reason
8
http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/maslow.htm

15

COMPANY CULTURE
Gender norms
Cultural practices &
Masculine Corporate
culture
ROLE MODELS
Lack of role models
Lack of mentors and
networking
WORK PRACTICES
Lack of flexible work
solutions
Lack of work-life balance
Lack of adequate re-entry
procedures
LEADERSHIP COMMITMENT
Lack of opportunities for
critical work experience and
responsibility
Lack of company leadership
commitment to diversity
Lack of target-setting for
participation of women
met.
Social/Belonging Women feel excluded
Social/Belonging “ “
Social/Belonging Female managers and
executives have no one to
emulate.
Social/Belonging “ “
Social/Belonging “ “
Social/Belonging “ “
Safety If an executive leaves the
company (s)he cannot
come back.
Self-actualization As goals are not clearly
stated, and opportunities
for critical work experience
are not clearly given out,
the employee feels that she
is not developing her career
sufficiently.
Social/Belonging Female executives feel that
their needs are not being
met.
Self-actualization As there is a lack of target
setting, the employees
often feel that they are not
working and achieving as
much as they could be.
1
6
From Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, it would appear that female employees needs are
not being met. Physiological needs are being met. However, other needs are not, such as
safety and security. From the employee survey women executives appear to think that
there is a threat of discrimination and that their needs are not being taken too seriously.
Self-actualization needs are also not addressed as the survey shows that there is a strong
feeling of lack of opportunities for critical work experience and responsibility. It is clear
from the survey results that the social and belonging needs of the female employees are
not being met. To retain the female employees, CBMX will have to start meeting their
social needs.

Herzberg’s general Hygiene-Motivator theory9

Frederick Irving Herzberg10 is known for introducing job enrichment and Hygiene-
Motivator theory, called the “Two-factor Theory”. He published a book called “How do
you motivate employees” which was profitable and successful.

Below I have shown Herzberg’s general Hygiene-Motivator theory

Hygiene Factors According to the Employee If these factors are not

Survey, are these factors being met, what are the
being met? implications?
Pay and Benefits Yes, there are good salaries
and bonuses
Company Policy and Mostly, except for a lack of
Administration clarity on gender diversity

Relationships with co- No, there could be more As relationships are not
workers peer groups and also developed, employees do
mentoring initiatives not have as strong an
affiliation with the company
9
http://www.netmba.com/mgmt/ob/motivation/herzberg/
10
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Hertzberg
17
 as they should have.
Safe Working No, there is an all or This does not meet
Environment nothing environment of employee needs of safety
either all work and no play or security, as there is the
or choosing not to work for implied threat of dismissal
the company. if one is not seen working
all the time.
Supervision Not really, supervision and This means that goals are
goal setting is not as clear not always being met.
as it should be, where goals
are not always explicitly
stated.
Status No, status is according to As few women reach the
seniority. top they invariably have a
lower status overall.
Job Security No, there is a revolving There is not much feeling of
door of recruitment, where job security as a lot of
there are roughly the same women feel they will not
numbers of joiners as stay at the company a long
leavers. time.

These Hygiene factors must be present to help avoid employees being demotivated at
work and are required as an absolute minimum for employees to work. However, on
their own Hygiene factors will not necessarily motivate employees. As an example, they
can still have Hygiene factors such as high pay and good benefits, but still lack
motivation. What encourages employees are the motivators listed below, which also
correspond with Maslow’s higher order needs.

From a manager’s point of view, they need to provide not just Hygiene factors, but also
motivators in the form of satisfying work.

Motivator Factors According to the Employee If these factors are not

Survey, are these factors being met, what are the

1
8
 being met? implications?
Recognition No, women executives do Female employees do not
not really feel that they are feel appreciated enough by
being recognized for the top management. So they
work they but in and the will leave the organization
sacrifice they make in their to find things to do where
social life. they are more appreciated.
Work Itself Yes, the work is challenging
and satisfying.
Responsibility Yes, as responsibility is
given.
Promotion Yes, promotion prospects
exist. But this is hampered
by the number of women
wishing to leave.
Growth No, as women executives CBMX has not really
feel that growth is at the addressed the social needs
expense of other aspects of of its female employees
their life. Female employees do not
feel top management have
got the balance right
between work and a social
life.

It is obvious from an examination of Herzberg’s theory, when applied to CMBX that even
the hygiene factors are not being met. For instance, lack of supervision and clear goal
setting means goals are not always being met. The analysis shows that key hygiene
factors of security and working conditions are weak. Herzberg felt that hygiene factors
need to be present in work and are important in their own way as motivators. Even if
these hygiene factors are met, it is not enough as motivators are required. At CMBX,

19
motivators such as recognition and growth also need to be strengthened for employees
to increase their motivation.

Mayo’s Motivational theory, sometimes called the Hawthorne effect 11

Factors Is this being met by CMBX? Implications

Effective communication
Existence of teamwork
Level of interest shown in
their staff by managers
Communication tends to be
top down, in other words,
in the form of directives
from top management
down to the staff below
them.
There is more emphasis on
individual performance
than teamwork due to the
nature of the job. There are
no support networks for
female executives.
Managers are interested in
performance and results.
Female executives felt that
their needs, including social
needs, were largely being
ignored.
As communication tends to
be one way, there is a
feeling that employee
interests and concerns are
not being met.
There is a feeling of
alienation, as women
executives do not feel that
they are a valued part of a
team. There is less incentive
to contribute.
The perceived lack of
management interest in
female executives means
they think their interests
are not being considered
and secondary. This
reduces motivation.

Mayo noticed that employees improve productivity when they felt that they were being
appreciated from the management attention they were receiving. Their self-esteem rose
11
http://www.envisionsoftware.com/articles/Hawthorne_Effect.html
2
0
and their output increased. The implications are that staff do not feel their interests are
being met and they do not feel appreciated. According to Mayo’s theory, employees
who feel appreciated have higher self-esteem and productivity. This means that CMBX’s
female executives feeling of lack of appreciation could also be reducing their
productivity. This, in turn, can affect their bi-annual performance appraisals negatively
and could explain part of the outward migration.

Drucker12
Drucker’s role of managers. In addition to Fayol’s 5 key management functions of
planning, controlling, organizing, commanding and coordinating, Drucker suggested
other manager roles.

Drucker’s additional roles of managers Has CMBX been doing this?

Motivating staff From an examination of Maslow and
Herzberg’s motivational theories, female
executives do not feel that they are
motivated by their superiors. There needs
to be more motivation that takes into
account the needs of female executives
such as the feeling of esteem and
belonging.
Developing staff CMBX does have rigorous training for its
staff, but there does not seem to be a long-
run plan to fully develop and therefore
integrate female staff into the very top
echelons of CMBX.
Setting up good communication systems CMBX’s communication systems with its
female staff are weak with CMBX’s
directors having little understanding of
their needs.

Henry Fayol identified key management roles including: Planning, Controlling,

12
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Drucker

21
Organizing, Commanding and Coordinating. These are still regarded as important
activities for managers. Peter Drucker argued other important management skills were
motivating and developing staff as well as setting up good communication systems. It
shows that female executives do not feel that they are motivated by their superiors,
there is no in-depth staff development to ensure a steady progression of female
executives that want to stay in top jobs and CMBX’s communication systems with it’s
female staff are weak with CMBX’s directors having little understanding of their needs.

Handy13

Charles Handy suggests that modern businesses need to stay competitive with their
managers involved in developing the Triple I.

CMBX’s top management has an excellent grasp on external market intelligence,

information and ideas. Paradoxically, it seems that it does not have the same quality
with regards to its own female executives.

Handy’s Triple I Is CMBX doing this in relation to its female

executives?
Intelligence As CMBX has only just commissioned a
regional survey on female executives, its
intelligence on its own female executives
have been limited to HR statistics and exit
interviews.
Information CMBX has only just commissioned a survey
on female executives, so their information
on female executives has recently been
expanded. Before this, information tended
to be fragmented and not subject to a
systematic collection and analysis.
Ideas There is no two-way flow of ideas, as

13
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Handy
2
2
 female executives tend to respond to top
management directives. There is not really
much room for discussion so females do
not feel that their ideas are being listened
to. Manager development in this area
needs to be strengthened.

Charles Handy suggests that for modern businesses to stay competitive, they require
managers with the Triple I: Intelligence, Information and Ideas.
From the analysis above, we can see that perhaps proactive decision-making by top
management about female staff is not being made. The implication of this is that CMBX’s
management style is reactive, rather than being proactive. For CMBX’s leadership and
management style to improve, it is going to have to absorb the Triple I in respect of not
just external market information but also internally with its own female executives, so
that there is an improvement in leadership.

23
SUGGESTED IMPROVEMENTS:

In Appendix 3 are CMBX’s management proposals to retain female executives.

They realize that they must start addressing the issue by retaining women they already
have: ‘Retention begets recruitment; therefore we will prioritize retention efforts’.

Immediate recommendations include: an annual advancement review process with

tracking, workplace flexibility, education, and improve exit data collection process and
systems. These are the most straight forward to implement. The tracking and exit data
collection process points to stronger intelligence gathering favoured by Charles Handy.
Workplace flexibility meet Herzberg’s hygiene factors and Maslow’s lower order needs.
Diversity education provides information for management that is suggested in both
Drucker and Handy’s management theories.

Recently, CMBX developed its own Women’s Internal Network to develop, encourage
and motivate its female employees. “We have women working within CMBX at all levels
and so we wanted to form a group that could represent them on a local level and ensure
that their needs are being met.14” This is a positive step that CMBX has taken within the
last year, yet female employees are still leaving much faster than joining, therefore
further action should be taken.

14
From formal interview with CEO in Asia Pacific of CMBX
2
4
CONCLUSION:

What has been achieved?

There has been a more systematic gathering of information than the previous ways. This
has allowed a more proactive future policy on female executive recruitment to be
implemented.

More importantly, it has allowed top management an ability to put forward into practice
a key series of management proposals that are quantifiable and can be analyzed in the
future. Before hand there had been no such policies and suggestions in the entire area
were either weak or not as informed as they could have been.

What are the implications of the EE research?

The implications have been significant. It is the first time top management has realized
that female executives are leaving due to the culture of the firm. The lack of
inclusiveness, sense that female executives felt that they were not being listened to and
the complete lack of workplace flexibility were key factors in women leaving, and yet,
from a management point of view some of the more straight forward, least costly ways
of ensuring female retention.

What limitations need to be noted?

The survey was on a regional basis and does not necessarily reflect each individual. Also,
individual departments in different countries may already have a more inclusive style of
management than suggested by CMBX’s research.

What further questions now need to be answered?

The research has been considered successful as it has given top management an insight
into their own competitive environment that Porter’s five forces indicates as highly

25
important. Further questions from the research are retention of all executives, including
male executives. If female executives can be retained with appropriate policies, can male
executives be retained with either similar or near similar policies?

A systematic gathering of information is required to follow up on the original short and

medium term proposals. As in this EE, they need to be rigorously analyzed.

2
6
BIBLIOGRAPHY:

WEBSITES:
http://www.businessknowhow.com/marketing/viralmark.htm
http://www.quickmba.com/strategy/porter.shtml
http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/masl
ow.htm
http://askjason.blogspot.com/2008/06/question-what-is-maslows-hierarchy-of.html
http://www.netmba.com/mgmt/ob/motivation/herzberg.html
http://www.envisionsoftware.com/articles/Hawthorne_Effect.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Drucker
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Handy

BOOKS:
Lloyd Gutteridge, 2009, IB Study Guide Business and Management, Oxford University
Press

COMPANY MATERIAL:
Diversity & Inclusion Workstream: Pre-read Document, Global Partnership
Committee, March 15, 2010
Diversity & Inclusion Workstream: Update and Proposal, Global Partnership
Committee, June 17, 2010
Diversity & Inclusion Workstream: Interview Results, Global Partnership Committee,
June 17, 2010
CBMX Handbook on Employee Practice

27
APPPENDIX 1

Summary of CBMX Management Report

 We are growing headcount rapidly, but representation of women is stagnant

 We have not moved the needle on female representation – across all levels and
regions
 The pipeline between titled levels is leaky – percentage of women dropping off
rapidly at each level
 Promotion of women is passive – proportionate to their representation
 Female representation suffers from a revolving door – women are higher
among leavers than among joiners

 Women leave or don’t advance because they:

- Lack role models and mentors
- Don’t believe they have an equal opportunity
- Lack opportunities for critical work experience and responsibility
- Lack adequate work-life balance

2
8
APPENDIX 2:

PESTLE analysis describes a framework of macro-environmental factors used to

identify a company’s market positioning and strengths. It stands for: Political, Economic,
Social, Technological, Legal and Environmental. The model has recently been further
extended to STEEPLE and STEEPLED, adding education and demographic factors. It helps
in strategic analysis and allows companies to make clearer strategic decisions to aid their
growth.

PESTLE Analysis of CBMX:

POLITICAL: ECONOMIC:
- Governments have threatened to - Competitors can take over the
curb the activities of merchant company
banks since the global credit crisis. - Clients can lose trust in banks
-
SOCIAL: TECHNOLOGICAL:
- More women are entering the - Internet security improvements for
workforce customer security
- More women want a work-life - New technology has allowed faster
balance execution of trades and the trading
- It is becoming increasingly of derivatives and exotic
acceptable to do flexi-time work. instruments
- There are more one-parent families
- Demographics show there is an
ageing population due to a falling
birthrate.
- More women need to take care of
elderly people, which is often a
reason for leaving a company, as
taking care children and elderly
dependents is time consuming.

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 LEGAL: ENVIRONMENTAL:
- Countries like Norway have now - Listed companies will often list their
mandated that at Boards of listed environmental obligations such as
companies must have at least 40% recycling and reducing wastage.
women since August 2009 or face
closure15. This has been called the
‘glass hammer’ and as CBMX is a
multinational it may face this
position in the future.
- There are increasing anti-
discrimination laws

APPENDIX 3

CMBX’s management proposals to retain female executives.

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2008/mar/06/women.discriminationatwork
3
0
We must start addressing the issue by retaining women we already have
Retention begets recruitment; therefore we will prioritize retention efforts

Immediate recommendations include:

 An annual advancement review process with tracking,
 Workplace flexibility,
 Education, and
 Improve exit data collection process and systems

Medium term recommendations include:

 Host 2 female client events sponsored by Banking or Sales and co-brand with
employee networks
 Require and track female representation from the business at recruiting events

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