QA with Tina Ling, CEO Hays France and Benelux - Viewpoint - careers advice blog Viewpoint careers advice blog

QA with Tina Ling, CEO Hays France and Benelux - Viewpoint - careers advice blog In this interview, Tina Ling, CEO Hays France Benelux, shares her experience of gender diversity in the workplace, her progression into a leadership role and provides insight into our survey results. Tina Ling, CEO, France Benelux, was interviewed in last year’s gender diversity report and  since then a lot has changed. Tina has been promoted from MD of Hays France to CEO, Hays France Benelux. Hays France’s flagship office in Paris has moved locations to allow for exciting business development and an expanding team. Here we speak to Tina about her new role and the results of our 2016 gender diversity survey. Congratulations on your new role. Can you explain what your role was before and how it’s changed? Have you come across any challenges? I was MD of the French and Luxembourg business and now I am also MD of Belgium and the Netherlands, as well as the Hays International team based in London. It is very much the same role but across different territories. The main challenge has been getting to know the new teams and understanding their business processes. This role is about how I can bring my experience and what I’ve learned from developing the French business and sharing my best practices. My focus is on providing support to the teams and further developing their businesses in the future. You expect idiosyncrasies culture by culture and this is something I thought I would see in my new businesses. The big advantage is that Hays Belgium and the Netherlands have ‘Hays DNA’, so the building blocks were there, which makes it similar to leading the French business. There are obviously culture differences but that is an aspect of this role that I enjoy. Our survey revealed that globally 12% of women feel that to be successful they would need to reach an MD/CEO position, compared to 18% of men. Does this surprise you? These numbers don’t surprise me. I’d have expected there to be a difference between genders but I think it’s positive that the difference is only six per cent. The countries in your remit rank much lower with only 8% of women in France stating they would need to reach MD/CEO level to feel successful, 5% in Belgium and 4% in the Netherlands. What do you think about this? These figures are rather low, especially compared to the global percentages above. I think this shows that females do not base their feeling of career success purely on their job title. This isn’t necessarily a negative thing. There are so many other aspects of a role that can provide job satisfaction and a feeling of success i.e. having a role that challenges you, feeling passionate about the work you do and believing that the work you and your company does is important and makes a difference. Have you noticed any differences between France, Belgium and the Netherlands that could explain these results? I haven’t noticed any differences between France, Belgium and the Netherlands. It is the same in all of these countries â€" there aren’t enough women in senior positions. However I believe this is a global trend and not specific to Europe even when taking into account these percentages. However, it is also hard for me to comment on gender diversity in other companies because I have been at Hays from the beginning of my career. We promote based on performance and not on gender so this is all I’ve ever known in business. We have a very gender balanced workforce. Here in France around 64% of my staff are female and there is a 50/50 split in middle management. When I look at Belgium around 80% of the business are women and in the Netherlands it is a 50/50 split again. In France 53% of women feel they have the opportunity in their current role to sufficiently promote themselves and communicate their ambitions, compared to 46% of men. This is higher than the global average of 47% for women and 53% for men. Does this instil confidence in France and its gender diversity progress? There is more talk about gender diversity in the press compared to last year, so perhaps this is giving women more confidence in that their voice is heard, that things are changing. It is important for women and men to be able to talk openly about their ambitions. At Hays we have regular career review meetings where consultants and managers at every level are able to discuss their achievements, go through their objectives and talk about where they want their career to go. It is designed to be an open conversation with their line managers. It is important that all employees regardless of gender are able to do this. In your opinion is there a difference between how men and women plan to progress in their careers? In reality of course there’s a difference. I can’t speak too generally because not every woman wants to have children but if she does she will have to take some time out of work. This will have to be taken into account in her career plan and may slow down her progression in the short term. Similarly, if a man wants to start a family he may want to change his career plan and be able to spend more time at home but this is not a mandatory change. A woman will have to take time out of her career to start a family whereas a man can choose to. Apart from this I don’t think there should be a difference in male or female career planning in regards to ambition and objectives. You have been working at Hays since you graduated from University, which is quite rare these days. Do you think staying with the same company is beneficial, or do you wish you had moved around? I think there are benefits to both. If you stay with one company you have to be sure that there are opportunities for you to develop and take on new challenges. Hays is the market leader in specialist recruitment and has continued to provide me with progression, so I have never felt like leaving would have enhanced my career. January 2001 I left Hays UK to set up Hays France. It was a huge challenge as I went from working in an established business in the UK to starting a new business from scratch â€" we literally had nothing in our database! I was also working in an unfamiliar culture too. I felt daunted but also excited to have the opportunity to grow something out of nothing. I look back now, 15 years later and see what I’ve achieved here in France and it makes me proud. My advice would be that if the company you are working for continues to support and encourage your progression, and you can gain additional experience in-house, then staying will be beneficial for your career. Globally, only 28% of respondents said that their organisation has formal gender policies in place, this has decreased from 32% last year. Are you surprised by this? Have you seen any changes in gender policies in France in this past year? Not much has changed since the quota law was introduced in 2013 to increase the number of women on the boards of the top 17 French companies. There has been no continued push for further improvements and gender diversity doesn’t seem to be at the top of companies’ agendas. I believe that gender policies are important and that every company should have one but at the moment there is no huge demand for it her in France. Globally, 45% of women do not think they have the same career opportunities as men. What do you think about this? I don’t think my response has changed much compared to last year. At Hays an individual progresses based on performance and gender has no impact on progression and career opportunities. This makes it hard for me to imagine working in an organisation or sector where career opportunities are not based on the work you put in and the results you generate. I would say that if you feel like there are no career opportunities available to you then you should assess your career plan and potentially look to move to a company where you will be able to progress and realise your ambitions. Globally, respondents (both male and female) believe that the following initiatives will have the biggest impact on gender diversity in the workplace: flexible working practices and education across the organisation to change workplace culture. What do you think about this? Flexible practices are important for working parents, both male and female. They allow parents to come in early and leave earlier so they can pick their children up for school for example. I am not too sure about the importance of education across the organisation to change workplace culture. If the mind-set of a company needs to change because women are not given equal opportunities or are regarded as equally competent compared to their male counterparts then this will be important. However, this initiative is not something we have a demand for at Hays. At Hays France we have a Christmas family day which is a really fun initiative. For the last six to seven years we have organised a ‘Santa’s Grotto’ in our Paris office where the children of our employees are invited to come to the office. One of our directors dresses up as Santa and gives the children presents. He also has a photo with each child (this year 97 children attended the event!). Our employees really enjoy this family day and appreciate their children being able to see where they work. The children love it too! Globally, 64% of respondents, both male and female, think there is equal pay between genders. This is the same percentage compared to last year. Is it a surprise that this hasn’t changed? I think there should be equal pay between genders, which goes without saying. It is good to see the percentage is consistent year-on-year and it’s the highest percentage we’ve seen so far throughout the interview, which is good! This shows that the perception is stable and hopefully means that woman are being paid equally. The gender pay gap is a hot topic at the moment. In the UK there are plans to bring forward rules to make firms with more than 250 workers reveal whether they pay men more than women. What impact do you think this will have on gender diversity in the workplace? It can only be good. It is important to reveal if organisations don’t pay the same salaries for the same job as employers will be forced to address this issue. Do you have any advice for female professionals who are in, or are looking to work in, a management or leadership role? From my experience I would advise women to be confident in their abilities and take on new challenges. You should always accept opportunities if they are right for you and keep your career moving in the right direction. If an opportunity seems daunting then that means it will challenge you and you will learn new skills and develop as a professional. Hays Global Gender Diversity Report 2016 from Hays