Gender Balance Listening Events

This document captures the themes and actions arising from the series of gender balance listening events that were held internally at BDO. They were hosted by Managing Partner, Paul Eagland, and LT member Wendy Walton to hear directly from female colleagues about their career aspirations and what the firm could do to better support female progression at BDO.

BE YOURSELF 2021

WHAT DIDWE HEAR? GENDER BALANCE LISTENING EVENTS

GENDER BALANCE LISTENING EVENTS | BDO

SUMMARY

Our Be Yourself strategy forms a key pillar of the U in our BUILD strategy. As part of Be Yourself, we’ve been working on our BE INSPIRED plan for a number of years: setting out specific ways through which we address and support female career development. Female partner ratios have started to increase and gender pay gaps started to decrease. But our data tells us that our female representation still drops after manager level – where it is at 50% - upwards. Our Leadership Team wanted to explore why. At the start of 2021, Paul Eagland and Wendy Walton held a series of listening events with female colleagues from each part of our business, from senior manager to director, to listen. Not listening to reply, but listening to really understand. Over eight Listening Events, we heard from 160 of our BDO women. Each personal story and experience was different. It was clear: if we want to help each person succeed, we need to first understand what success means to them.

Four common areas emerged in determining the success of an individual’s progression:

The support of your people manager and your team

Your ability to access professional development – particularly coaching, learning opportunities and mentoring

The support structures around you in your work/life set up

Your own desire for progression at a given time.

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It’s like cycling: in order to balance, you need to k ep moving. ...That’s certainly our experience on working towards Gender Balance at BDO; we need to keep actively addressing where we are and acting on our plans.

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STRATEGIC ATTENTION ON GENDER BALANCE

The U in our BUILD strategy stands for Unifying Culture, where we are encouraged to be ourselves, inspired and challenged, collaborative and successful. One of our three cultural priorities is ‘ Be Yourself ’, through which we tackle equality, diversity and inclusion matters across the firm. Gender balance is one such area. Wendy Walton on our Leadership Team is the partner sponsor for Gender Balance and Paul Eagland is the signatory on our Women In Finance Charter commitments. They are supported by our Diversity & Inclusion Senior Manager, Helen Church, our Head of HR Generalists, Rashpal Virdee, and our Director of Communications, Nicola Lally. They work closely with our women’s network, BDO Inspire, and have the full support of the U Board and Leadership Team in their BE INSPIRED action plan.

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BACKGROUND TO EVENTS

At BDO, we’ve been working on gender balance and our efforts to improve gender diversity throughout our organisation for a number of years. Our BE INSPIRED plan sets our specific and targeted ways that we aim to address and support female career development.

When we signed the Women in Finance charter in 2018, we committed to a target of 20% female Partners by July 2021. Whilst we have made progress towards this – we’re now at 18% - and our future pipeline looks strong, the C-19 promotion freeze in 2020 meant we had to extend our target deadline to 2022. Our demographic data helps us understand where we next need to focus our efforts. It shows us that our female representation drops after manager level, where it is 50%, upwards.

We’re not alone in this challenge: it’s seen across the industry and something that, despite firms focusing on female progression for a number of years, continues to be a challenge. There are many well‑researched and documented reasons for this. Indeed, our recent listening events reminded us that every women has their own unique circumstance and experience.

2020 and the global pandemic have in particular highlighted the additional pressures faced by women. McKinsey research shows that women have been disproportionally impacted due to existing societal inequalities. Their research confirmed that women were naturally taking on more of the childcare responsibilities and housework. It also revealed that, in some sectors, women held roles that were less secure and therefore more likely to have been made redundant. Whilst these issues have become particularly acute during the past 12 months, many women would recognise that these are additional pressures that they have always faced.

As we move through 2021 and switch to a hybrid way of working between office, client and home working environments, this is something we must keep front of mind. We need to continue to understand barriers to female progression and be aware of unconscious bias. Greater agility in working patterns can have hugely positive effects for everyone. But – if women choose to remain working more flexibly for a greater portion of their working time - we must not allow this to subsequently impact their working enjoyment or career progression, and must support them – and their managers and teams – in the right way. For all these reasons, the time was right for us to hold a series of listening events with our mid-level female colleagues.

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GENDER BALANCE LISTENING EVENTS JANUARY AND FEBRUARY 2021

“ “

The event was so inspiring… I hope there will be more.

Just before Christmas 2020, invitations landed in the inbox of our manager, senior manager and associate director female population across the firm to meet with our Managing Partner, Paul Eagland and Leadership Team member, Wendy Walton. The purpose of the events was to hear directly from colleagues about their career experiences and aspirations, understand what success looked liked to them and how the firm could better support their career development.

- AD, Advisory

The response was overwhelmingly positive, with the majority of the spaces filled in the seven events within hours. Demand was so high that Paul and Wendy put on an additional date to accommodate the waiting list. In the end we had 160 attendees across eight events. The sessions ran throughout January and February 2021. At two hours each, we allowed time for really in-depth, robust discussions. Everyone came with a story to tell, a perspective to share and ideas to discuss.

The discussions gave Paul and Wendy first-hand feedback about what we could do to better support women at BDO in achieving their career aspirations. Feedback from the delegates was also very positive, with participants clearly appreciating the opportunity to hear from others and share their thoughts with senior leaders of the firm.

Hearing people’s

experiences was quite moving and really valuable.

- AD, Advisory

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ONE OF THE GROUPS IN ‘TOGETHER MODE’

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PAUL’S PERSPECTIVE

The events kicked off with Paul sharing why this is such an important topic for him, both personally and in his role as Managing Partner. He shared his own experiences joining the firm as a school leaver and some of the ‘clumsy’ biases and perceptions he encountered.

In his role as Managing Partner, he recognises his responsibility to ensure there is a level playing field for all in the firm and discussed his personal commitment in signing his name to support the Women in Finance Charter. Although seemingly rare at BDO, Paul was also passionate about stamping out those comments experienced by some people - which are at best clumsy but fundamentally undermine confidence and trust. If someone had lashed out physically at work, we would discipline them, but verbal assaults aren’t always so easy to spot and deal with. He was also very hopeful about the opportunity we have now to re-set the dial on working life as a result of the past 12 months, with everyone working remotely. We need to be able to have honest conversations about what success looks like for us , and what pressures we are facing inside of work and outside to ensure we are all truly set up for success.

He went on to share his personal interest in external research on the subject of business behavioural economics, particularly citing the work of Harvard professor Iris Bohnet and her work on de-biasing organisations. Paul was unequivocal in his view that he wants BDO to be a place where colleagues can do their best work, and also a place that we can all thrive as human beings more broadly. Paul highlighted that we won’t achieve this by pushing colleagues to work more and more hours. If there was a choice to be made, he would rather we did not chase down more work if we don’t have the capacity to deliver it in a comfortable way for our teams.

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WENDY’S CAREER STORY

Wendy shared her career story – from school leaver to Leadership Team - and top tips for success. She was very candid about the challenges she has faced along the way and how she overcame them. Her experiences clearly had a big impact on the audience, and were very relatable . They included returning from maternity leave into a new role as a Partner, balancing home and work and not always getting that balance right, and realising that just because hers wasn’t the loudest voice in the room, it didn’t mean she didn’t have something valuable to say. It was really interesting, particularly hearing Wendy’s story as I’ve had very similar comments about being quiet and making more of an impact. - AD, Tax “

HER TOP TIPS INCLUDED: X Ask for help!

X Get a sponsor, a mentor and a coach X Look after yourself – work out your non‑negotiables; it might be exercise, family time or a hobby X Push yourself out of your comfort zone every now and then X Focus your efforts. What do you really want to be known for? This may evolve over time X Team – the value that comes from being part of a team X And finally, don’t forget to have some fun.

Your career is a marathon, not a sprint. You will have different priorities at different times. - Wendy “

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REAL STORIES

A recent promote to Director who was terrified to receive her feedback. Received the highest marks on her panel. Blowing her Imposter Syndrome out of the water.

A recent promote to AD, who found her 30% club mentoring relationship truly transformational. Despite being initially sceptical about being matched with a senior male, from a completely different industry.

Another attendee took a career break and on her return was looking to reduce her hours on a regular basis. Her Manager was absolutely open to considering her flexible working request so they formalised a new working pattern which worked for them both and she hasn’t looked back.

An attendee was contemplating leaving BDO, but through mentoring realised that she was in the wrong role, not the wrong firm. She has transitioned to a new role and is very happy to still be with the firm.

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MENTORING, COACHING & SPONSORSHIP

Mentoring was an overwhelmingly consistent theme across the events. For those who’d been involved in the

We heard from many delegates who had accessed mentoring, both internally within BDO through mentoring circles, or on a one‑to-one basis and externally through the 30% Club. They shared their perspectives and insights on how valuable those relationships had been in challenging them, and getting them to think differently, and approach a situation from a different perspective. Attendees asked for greater transparency around how to access mentoring and the different options available at BDO. They also talked about setting the expectations up front to ensure success, asking for more trained mentors at BDO. get out of the relationship, but it’s transformed my thinking. - SM, Tax “ I initially wondered what I would

ACTION FOR BDO X Upgrade of our mentoring pages, actively recruit more mentors across the firm to enable more one-to-one, mentoring circles and reverse mentoring X Increased promotion of the 30% club, more transparency about the timings and process X Improved coaching provision for key career points X Review the firm’s approach to sponsorship. Encourage, and reassure in terms of readiness for the next step. FOR COLLEAGUES X Actively seek out the mentoring or coaching relationship that is right for you X Also consider who can you mentor yourself.

30% Club, it was recommended that this is particularly useful at SM grade, and we need greater transparency about how to take part. From a coaching perspective, there are certain times when it would be really beneficial, for example in preparation for promotion, or when taking an extended break (for example parental leave). Sponsorship is something we need to train our leaders in, to ensure all have access to a sponsor and therefore a ‘voice in the room’, championing us.

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ROLE MODELS & LEADERSHIP BEHAVIOUR

Our colleagues spoke about the impact visible role models can have. Not only do they inspire others and make them see what is possible, but within the firm, they open the door for others to follow them.

ACTION

FOR BDO X Identify and call out positive role models. Tell the stories of our leaders and our Partners. Get personal, talk about the difficulties as well as the successes X Speak out more publicly about behaviour that’s not acceptable and what we can all do to eradicate this from the firm X Build on the D&I e-learning for those in leadership positions (not just Partners but also People Managers). FOR COLLEAGUES X Look outside of your team, look across the firm and beyond if needed for your role models X Take some time to think about people you admire and why. What are they doing differently? X Consider your role as an ally, and what you can do to challenge poor behaviour if you see it.

There was a feeling that things have improved during the past 12 months – seeing the more human side of people as we work from home - and that open discussions have become more common place; however there were still comments that some female Partners can be seen as ‘ice queens’ who are unapproachable. There was also a discussion about the need for all those in leadership positions to role model good behaviour and actions. Although not common, a few of the delegates had examples of comments and actions that had left them feeling undermined or doubting their ability. It was disappointing to hear that instances of this sort continue to occur and Paul was clear in his support that this is something we need to stamp out.

A role model doesn’t have to be in the same team, they could be across the firm, or external. This is particularly important when it’s in a part of the business that doesn’t yet have any diverse senior role models. Attendees spoke about how powerful it is when our leaders are honest and share their vulnerability and the challenges and struggles they may have faced through their career (or even now) and how they overcame them or what they learned from them. Honesty is so important in a role model. We only see them coping, we don’t see the challenges. - SM, Audit “

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PERFORMANCE CONVERSATIONS

This came up in many different guises, but overall the sentiment was that we need to be having more holistic performance conversations. We need to ask: what does success look like for you now? We also spoke extensively about the careers

ACTION

FOR BDO X Investment in People Manager training to ensure quality conversations are happening. Upskill People Managers on how to discuss non-linear careers and support colleagues who want to take a different route X Ensure that the conversation isn’t just focused on work, but takes into account what else is happening in a person’s life – helping carve out the non-negotiables X Anchor job performance in AMP helping ensure we’re not including bias in the conversations X Continue the work we’re doing on ‘Potential’ tools, which will shift the conversation to a future focus, rather than backward looking X Review PMD career progression opportunities. FOR COLLEAGUES X Use the tools available: start with AMP X Be prepared to be honest about what you really need and what success looks like. Don’t be passive – you need to set your own clear boundaries and stick to them.

The answer may be more than just success at work; we need to think about it in terms of life overall. From a work perspective, it also needs to be ok to discuss a desire for experiences and opportunities outside of your team. Managers and Partners should be comfortable with letting good people explore new experiences elsewhere in the firm, if that’s the right thing for them. When we recruit externally do we take more of a risk than looking internally? Let’s review those opportunity-led situations and ask ourselves if there’s someone internally who we could develop, even if it means up- skilling and fast-tracking them. I want this to be an organisation that gets the best out of people, and to do that, you have to magnify what you do well. - SM, Tax “

of those in PMDs, who felt they didn’t necessarily have the same opportunity to planned progression. There’s still opportunity to try new things, and we heard fantastic examples from colleagues who’d made lateral moves that had transformed their career. We did hear we need to look at the structure of PMDs and ask ourselves how we can create more opportunity for progression. Finally, there was a perceived lack of support for those who may not be interested in the conventional career trajectory with Partner as the end goal, some felt written off, and that their career was no longer important, or they couldn’t be thought of as high potential, because they didn’t want a traditional career within the firm. We need to focus on strengths and support and develop people accordingly, rather than spending a long time telling them what they don’t do well.

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PERSONAL STYLE

In her introduction, Wendy spoke candidly of certain moments in her career, which had been pivotal in building confidence and encouraging her to have a voice in the room. Many delegates picked up on this and shared their own experiences, particularly around imposter syndrome.

ACTION

FOR BDO X Review the curriculum and identify what we already have in place that supports personal brand, style and confidence X Consider introducing a recommended amount of learning each year X Access to coaching and/or mentoring as well as honest conversations with role models. FOR COLLEAGUES X Invest time in understanding your personal style and reflect on your relative strengths and areas where you might need coaching. Gather feedback. Also understand the styles of those around you X Review internal training options open to you.

We also had discussions with women who said they’d been labelled as aggressive, problematic and emotional when trying to be more forthright (not necessarily at BDO). We had great discussions about introverted and extroverted personalities, for men and women. Paul was particularly interested in what we can do as an organisation to ensure that those of us who are introverted in style are not drowned out by the extroverts. We discussed how working remotely more has really helped here, and has levelled the playing field, but that as we adopt more of an agile approach to work, we don’t lose out on the voices of those who may prefer to work remotely more frequently uncover what makes you unique, so that you can build on that brand.

There was a perception that learning around soft skills slows down at Manager/Senior Manager level. Could we introduce a learning quota? E.g. three days each year could be allocated to soft skill training The role of a great coach was flagged here, in terms of encouraging that self-exploration to uncover what makes you unique, so that you can build on that brand.

more like a man to progress? - Advisory, Delegate “

Do I really still need to behave

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WORKING FAMILIES & CAREER BREAKS

Juggling work and caring responsibilities of any sort undoubtedly adds pressure - often at an important point in a woman’s career.

ACTION

Every experience was different, there were some were brilliant stories of people being promoted whilst off on parental leave, and coming back to a truly agile role, with a supportive team and People Manager. However, many women had also had tricky experiences, sometimes related to the changing logistics and life pressures and how this was no longer compatible with the job they had been doing before. Being clear on boundaries is very important, and some of that definitely has to come from the individual, but having a supportive team and People Manager was undoubtedly seen as a key to success. There is different support needed at different stages. When thinking about starting a family – some are put off progression because they can’t see it could possibly work being senior with children. We need to hear more stories about the reality and what works/ helps you to succeed (e.g. Wendy “work out what you need to stop doing”)

We also discussed ensuring that those who’d been out for any period of time could access training to bring them back up to speed should there have been any changes, e.g. changes in accounting standards. There was also an important point raised about those without families, feeling that they had to pick up the late deadlines, as they didn’t have the same ‘non-negotiables’ as those with a family. Mutual support and respect was key here. There were a couple of inspirational stories shared from women who had taken extended career breaks before joining BDO. Their experiences of joining the firm, and the thought that had gone into the recruitment process and flexibility that had been shown, were some of the highlights of the events. We should think about how we can encourage more career break returners to the firm. Coming back from maternity leave it feels like the last few years of work have gone out of the window and I have to prove myself all over again. - SM, Delegate “

For BDO X Ensure support and coaching available at different stages. Not just around maternity leave. A network, Buddy programme and /or coaching could help the individual settle back into work – including looking at training required X Role models who talk about working with balancing a family, working part time at a senior level X Review career break options that we offer as a firm X Invest in a Return to Work programme – leverage the BDO Alumni network to commence this? FOR COLLEAGUES X Engage with the resources that are there. Seek out those who you perceive are making things work and talk to them X Find a network to share experiences and ask for advice X Think about who in our networks: do we know who may want to return to work?

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PART-TIME WORKING

Many of the attendees had previously amended their working patterns or were currently working formal flexible working arrangements.

ACTION

There was a genuine conflict with not wanting to let the team down, but also needing to keep the boundaries that are so critical in making part-time working work. People don’t want to work five days and get paid for four. We discussed the impact due to covid of working from home for the past year, and the hope that with a shift to Agile Working, we can transform to becoming more outputs focused. Hopefully those perceptions of ‘leaving early’ or being ‘only’ part-time will be changing. However with that, the difficulty of boundaries becomes more important, as working remotely makes it easier to ‘just’ do an hour or two here and there. I couldn’t believe the flexibility and the openness of the Partner when I explained how I really wanted to work, but I wonder if this open to everyone or was I just lucky? - AD, Delegate “

We talked about good ways of saying ‘no’, but recognising this is really hard. Some delegates have sought a part-time arrangement but haven’t been able to obtain this – it seems dependent on the part of the business you’re in. This view is something that needs to be understood in further detail. We discussed progressing your career whilst working part-time. Many said that, although their ambition hadn’t gone away , there was a concern that it’s hard to see how you could take on a more senior role, with the additional pressures it brings, when you can barely make your current role work. Wendy had some great advice here, asking delegates to focus on what you can do differently? What can you let go? You aren’t expected to keep doing everything you were doing before, and take on extra – a promotion is a new role, with a new focus. Ask yourself - What do you really want to be known for and famous for. Get rid of the rest. There are a number of part-time Partners and Directors, so it is possible at BDO.

FOR BDO X Ensuring that the agile working policy means that the flexible mindset is here to stay, evolving as needed. Focus on outputs not time in office X Making sure team leaders are not just looking at who is in the office when they staff jobs X Networking events staying remote/ online; opens them up for all X Storytelling about part-time working at senior levels X Ensuring People Managers understand how to use AMP and focus on potential for progression, not just hours. FOR COLLEAGUES X Be honest about what you really need to do, and what you can delegate.

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WHATS NEXT?

THEME

STRUCTURAL ACTIONS

The role of a People Manager (PM) and team

X Investment in PM training to ensure quality career conversations are happening. Upskill PMs on how to discuss agile working, non-linear careers and support colleagues who want to take a different route. X Internally – improve the access to mentoring across the firm, creating a true mentoring culture X Externally – improving transparency of the 30% club, who is eligible, timings and process X Structured learning available – linked to AMP, particularly after leave of absence X Improve coaching provision for key career points. X Ensuring that the agile working policy means that the agile mindset is here to stay, focusing on outputs not time in the hub. Including team leaders are not just looking at who is in the hub when they staff jobs X Networking events staying remote/online opens them up for all X Story telling about part-time working at senior levels. X Review the curriculum and identify what we already have in place that supports personal brand, style and confidence X Review the need for a specific course around understanding your style/developing confidence X Review the firm’s approach to sponsorship. Encourage, and reassure in terms of readiness for the next step X Consider introducing a recommended amount of learning each year.

The ability to access professional development (i.e. coaching, learning opportunities, mentoring)

The support structures and work life set up

Individual’s own desire for progression at a given time

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CULTURAL ACTIONS

X Colleagues: Be honest about what success looks like for you, what your boundaries are, when you can flex and when you can’t X PMs: Ensure that the conversation isn’t just focused on work, but takes into account what else is happening in a person’s life – helping carve out the non-negotiables.

X Actively seek out the mentoring relationship that is right for you X Look outside of your team, look across the firm and beyond if needed for your role models X Take some time to think about people you admire and why. What are they doing differently? X Also consider who you can mentor yourself. X Be honest about what you really need to do, and what you can delegate X Find a network to share experiences and ask for advice X Seek out those who you perceive are making things work and talk to them X Consider your role as an ally, and what you can do to challenge poor behaviour if you see it.

X Invest time in understanding your personal style and reflect on your relative strengths and areas where you might need coaching X Gather feedback X Review internal training options open to you and discuss options with your mentor and PM.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

The proposals contained in this document are made by BDO LLP and are in all respects subject to the negotiation, agreement and signing of a specific contract. This document contains information that is commercially sensitive to BDO LLP, which is being disclosed to you in confidence to facilitate your consideration of whether or not to engage BDO LLP. It is not to be disclosed to any third party without the written consent of BDO LLP, or without consulting BDO LLP if public freedom of information legislation applies and might compel disclosure. Any client names and statistics quoted in this document include clients of BDO LLP and may include clients of the international BDO network of independent member firms. BDO LLP, a UK limited liability partnership registered in England and Wales under number OC305127, is a member of BDO International Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, and forms part of the international BDO network of independent member firms. A list of members’ names is open to inspection at our registered office, 55 Baker Street, London W1U 7EU. BDO LLP is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority to conduct investment business. BDO is the brand name of the BDO network and for each of the BDO member firms. BDO Northern Ireland, a partnership formed in and under the laws of Northern Ireland, is licensed to operate

HELEN CHURCH +44 (0)797 197 0623 helen.x.church@bdo.co.uk

www.bdo.co.uk

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