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Bank boss wants to see more women in management roles

Encouraging women to climb the ranks: Bank of Bermuda CEO Phillip Butterfield and head of professional development Dawnnelle Walker.

Almost three-quarters of the Bank of Bermuda's employees are women — and chief executive officer Philip Butterfield wants to see more female representation in the upper echelons of management.

The bank has introduced several means of encouraging its women staff to fully realise their potential, particularly by giving them help in terms of fitting work around parenthood.

"At the management table now, there are three females out of 11," Mr. Butterfield said. "In 12 months' time I would expect that number will be augmented."

And next week, the bank is staging a conference dedicated to the bank's female staff, which will feature American author, educator and political activist Donna Brazile as an evening guest speaker. Ms Brazile has been involved at various levels with organising Democratic Party presidential campaigns since 1976.

Conference organiser and the bank's head of professional development, Dawnnelle Walker, said the all-day event on Friday of next week would feature half-hour workshops for the bank's female staff between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Topics will include work-life balance, communication and finance.

"Donna Brazile will give a keynote address on breaking the glass ceiling in politics, as well as the business world," Ms Walker said. "It will be open to staff, customers and guests."

Mr. Butterfield said 74 percent of Bank of Bermuda's workforce is comprised of women — a proportion that he believed was not untypical among companies in the Island's financial services sector. "But in the managerial ranks, females are clearly under-represented," he added.

The bank was addressing the issue systematically with a three-tier talent management plan.

Firstly, to attract young Bermudians fresh out of college by offering a programme that would "position them for management responsibility".

The next level was to identify the "next generation", high-performing employees who show promise. "We challenge them to do things outside their responsibilities," Mr. Butterfield said.

The third tier is the talent pool, comprising employees with real management potential, who are pushed harder to maximise their professional development.

The bank has recognised that women often have maternal responsibilities that could interrupt their careers and it has provided help to minimise the impact.

Mr. Butterfield became acutely aware of the need for such moves after a presentation to staff in which he said that working nine to five was necessary for survival — while working before nine and after five was necessary for success.

A female staff member told the CEO that if he wanted that from her, she would need help with her family responsibilities.

In response, about 18 months ago the bank set up an after-school care programme, on which around 50 children of staff members are now enrolled, allowing mothers to stay at work while a bus picks up their children from school. Then the youngsters are supervised in the bank's childcare facilities.

Additionally, the bank allows some staff to access its computer system from home, allowing parents more flexibility in fitting work around their family lives.

"The bank has set an example to the community of what a business can do to support its staff," Ms Walker said.

In an increasingly competitive workplace, demanding a progressively more sophisticated workforce, education was the key to professional development — for both females and males, Mr. Butterfield added.

"I still think that education is the single most important passport to a better life," Mr. Butterfield said.