The commercial interiors company which has women “chomping at the bit” to progress
First Women Exclusives · November 24, 2015
Surrey-based commercial interior specialist Fourfront is leading the charge towards greater gender diversity within its own business and male dominated industry.
Spurred on by the government and the updated 2015 Lord Davies review on gender diversity, there has been a huge push towards increasing female representation on the boards of leading British businesses.
It is paying off, with 26.1 per cent female representation on FTSE 100 boards – double the figure in 2011. Fourfront, however, believes there is much work still to do.
The company believes the construction industry, and in particular the fit-out sector, has only 24 per cent of women on FTSE 100 boards and that smaller companies in general are even less diverse – with only 19.1 per cent representation in the FTSE 250.
Around 12 months ago Fourfront, which includes furniture firm Sketch, fit out firms Cube and Area Sq and design consultancy 360, was in a similar position with no female board members and a 74 to 26 per cent split in favour of men amongst its 250 strong staff.
But it also, in the form of chairman Aki Stamatis and head of HR Pippa Savory, had a determination to make a positive change and redress some of the balance.
“It all began with a conversation. Myself and Aki sat down and had a chat about what difference having more females in our organisation would make in terms of ideas, perspectives, decisions and performance. We felt that our female staff had lots more to give to the business,” Savory recalled.
“We also knew that we had a lack of female representation within the company and we had to get more numbers in by being far more aware of this issue when it came to recruitment. This is a very male-dominated industry, but we wanted to break the mould.”
The company’s answer was to create an original scheme entitled Women in Fourfront. Part of the £130m turnover group’s Fourfront Academy, it also runs mentoring schemes for all staff, a NextGen programme for younger employees and a Graduate scheme.
Women in Fourfront was launched in May 2014 comprising a 10-month programme of group workshops and individual coaching. It was run by third party training provider Career Savvy Women.
The workshops centred on developing the five main “C’s” amongst its female staff – confidence, communication, contribution, credibility and career success.
The programme included personal psychometric profiling using Myers-Briggs indicators, individual coaching sessions, tailored development plans and regular feedback.
“We had 14 female staff members in the first scheme, mainly those in their 30s or 40s in senior positions and some who had returned to work after having children,” Savory stated.
“They were selected from across the business and were the ones we thought showed ambition and had potential. We thought let’s support them through this programme and see where it takes us.”
She added that the results have been extremely encouraging, with two of the 14 attendees promoted to more senior positions and the appointment of Savory to a board member position as group HR director.
“We’ve also had some great feedback from our attendees’ peers and managers that they are much more confident in their work, interact more with others and are contributing more ideas in the business. We are also seeing more rounded views in previously male dominated meetings. They are bringing that different perspective we were looking for,” she added. “Now more women in our business are asking ‘What can I do to get on the scheme?’.”
Another fourteen female members of staff have already signed up to the second installment. “We intend to keep Women in Fourfront as an annual programme, there is also potential to open it out to juniors; those at entry level or even second jobbers but there are no plans for that now.”
Savory went on to say the original 14 scheme members are still meeting up every quarter as part of Action Learning groups to discuss what they learned, the ongoing challenges and how they can improve communications and solve problems within the business. They do this by “building on their learning from their first programme”.
Regarding recruitment, Savory says the prospect of joining a company with such a progressive women-centred scheme has been used as a selling point to attract the best new female talent.
“It is something we have talked about in recruitment interviews and even in pitches to suppliers or clients that we know have shown support to women in business in the past,” she said. “Since the programme launched, and we have become much more diverse aware, the percentage of women in the business has now increased to 30 per cent. It is likely that it will take many more years to change the gender balance in this industry, but we will still only recruit women who we feel have the right skills and potential for the business, and who we feel represent our values.”
Retention will also be a key focus perhaps as a direct result of the success of its Women in Fourfront scheme. “One of the main challenges emerging from the scheme is that our women are chomping at the bit to move on in the business. We’d rather have that problem than not, of course, but we have to ensure that we keep those women with us. There is a risk that improving their confidence may see them leave – but the goal is for them to grow with us.”
What advice then would she give to other SMEs wanting to boost gender diversity? “It is important to think beforehand what you are trying to achieve. There is no point doing it just because you think it is the right thing to do,” she answered. “Do it because it will mean something positive for your company. Ask yourself why you are doing it, how it will help your business, how it is going to be structured and how you are going to manage the expectations of the women after you have boosted their career prospects, skills and confidence? Do that and it can be a positive change. It is always better to make people better.”
