I. Opportunity in Bedrijf

9. APPENDICES

I. Opportunity in Bedrijf

‘Opportunity in Bedrijf’ is a Dutch consulting and network organization and was founded in 1996 due to the lack of female employees in higher management. Opportunity has several companies, Dutch ministries and institutions as their members. Opportunity offers their members a broad base of knowledge on diversity management and specifically the advancement of women to senior management positions. They not only offer the knowledge of diversity management but also help organizations in changing their culture. The goal of the organization is to work on an innovative policy focused on equal management and on increased inflow and flow through of women in senior management positions. Next to Opportunity in Bedrijf, Opportunity in Advies is the consulting section of Opportunity.

Opportunity in Bedrijf is therefore a national network of companies and institutions who work on an equally balanced workforce and an increased advancement of women to senior management and top executive positions. Moreover, Opportunity is an expertise centre that collects relevant information on this subject and makes this generally known to the members that are connected to Opportunity. The strength of Opportunity in Bedrijf is linking theoretical information to practical experience with the network.

Opportunity in Bedrijf is a foundation that is controlled by a Board. The board consists of four persons. The Chairman of the Board is Ms. Trude Maas – de Brouwer. Treasurer is Ms. Gillis- Burleson, director of Legato Education. Mr. van Dorenmalen, Country General Manager IBM Nederland and Mr. Meeuwis, SEVP Global Clients Netherlands are both members of the Board.

At the moment, Opportunity is runned by an experienced team of five people lead by Lizzy

Venekamp. Ms Venekamp joined Opportunity in 2001 as director. Besides managing Opportunity she

is responsible for keeping up Opportunity’s business relations, she provides diversity trainings and

directs cultural change processes. Ms. Doelman and Ms. van Berkel are both senior consultants and

accountmanagers of Opportunity. Ms. Oude Groen-van Rijswijk is accountmanager of Opportunity

and consultant of several Mixed-Equal projects. Mr. Hamaker is accountmanager and consultant

specialized in organizational cultures. For this research, Ms Venekamp and Mr. Hamaker were the

contact persons and fully supported the research.

Although Opportunity has a lot of knowledge available on how organizations are to increase the

representation of women in the higher ranks of the organization, there is a continuous demand for new

insights on diversity management. With this research Opportunity can offer their members new proof

of how to fill in the diversity programme in such a way organizations can sustain female employees

and also advance more women to senior management and top executive positions.

II. Interview questionnaire

1. The initiative

1.1 When did the attention to diversity management/glass ceiling phenomenon start?

1.2 What was the business rationale that motivated this initiative? / What were the underlying thoughts for paying attention to diversity management/ the glass ceiling phenomenon?

1.3 What was included in this diversity initiative? And how did the diversity initiative develop overtime?

2. Leadership commitment

2.1 Who initiated the diversity initiative?

2.2 What was and is the role of the leader in the initiating phase and the diversity initiative as a whole?

2.3 Who are the key persons in this initiative and what are their roles?

2.4 How do the leader and top management communicate their commitment to this initiative?

2.5 How has the business rationale / diversity initiative been communicated to management?

3. Diversity as part of strategic plan

3.1 How is diversity institutionalized into the strategic plan?

3.2 Is the diversity initiative linked to strategies, action plans and results?

3.3 To what extent is the connection between diversity and business success communicated throughout the organization?

3.4 In what ways does the corporate culture support women’s advancement?

4. Employee involvement

4.1 How has the diversity initiative been communicated to employees? What was the main message? And what is the frequency of this communication?

4.2 Does the company provide diversity training to its employees? If yes, what kind of training exactly? And company wide or management only?

5. Accountability

5.1 Does the company hold managers accountable for diversity goals? If yes, how are managers held accountable for results?

5.2 How are results monitored and measured?

6. Women in the organization

6.1 What is the percentage of women in the organization? And how about the percentage of women in senior management?

6.2 What was the situation five years ago? Number of women in organization and number of

women in senior management?

6.3 Did the percentage of women increase/decrease? What was the role of diversity management in this decrease/increase?

7. Recruitment and hiring

7.1 What are the current strategies for the recruitment of women?

7.2 What is the recruitment strategy for senior/top management? Does did differ from the recruitment strategies for lower level employees?

7.3 Which steps are included in the selection process? And how is the objectivity of the selection process guaranteed?

7.4 What key factors do women cite for their choices?

8. Advancement

8.1 What is the typical career path to senior management or partnership?

8.2 What differences, if any, are there in typical male and female career paths?

8.3 What are the explicit criteria for advancement? What are the implicit criteria?

8.4 Where in the career progression ladder do women face the greatest challenge?

8.5 To what extent is there a glass ceiling or a set of glass walls?

8.6 How do opportunities for women in senior management differ across business units or functional areas (line management)? Why do the differences exist?

8.7 Are any issues related to flexibility and work-life balance?

9. Retention

9.1 What are the current turnover levels for women? For men?

9.2 At what stage in career development does turnover most frequently occur for women? For men? Why the differences?

9.3 Why do women leave? Where do they go?

10. Women development initiatives

10.1 What role does the company play in career development?

10.2 What elements of existing career planning practices are successful? Where is attention needed?

10.3 How does career development differ for men and women?

10.4 Why does the difference exist?

10.5 Does the company make use of succession planning? Is this also available for women?

10.6 Are there special training programmes for female employees? If yes, which ones?

10.7 Do employees have mentors? Is there a difference between men and women? If yes, how come?

10.8 Are there role models in the organization? If yes, are there any female role models?

10.9 Are there any flexible work place policies? If yes, what kind of policies? (part-time

work options, working at home, parental leave, childcare facilities?)

11. Evaluation and measurement

11.1 Is there an evaluation / measurement system for the diversity initiative?

11.2 If yes, at what way does company X measure the progress of the diversity initiative?

12. Initiative and the company

12.1 If you look at the diversity initiative of the company, what factors of the initiative have been the most successful in advancing women to the top?

12.2 What factors of the initiative have been the least successful in advancing women to the top?

12.3 What do you think the company can improve in its diversity initiative to advance more women to the top?

12.4 What do you think other companies can learn from your company’s diversity initiative?

12.5 To conclude, you told me the history of diversity management, the number of women

in the organization and how this developed. If you look at the current situation and the

company goals, how do you think the company will have progressed in 5 years from now on

diversity? What will be the situation then?

III. Percentages of women in the organizations

Delta Lloyd

12/1995 12/1996

Percentage female team leaders 25 25

Percentage female managers 23 21

Percentage female directors 11 16

Percentage women board of directors 0

(Annual report Delta Lloyd 2006)

Glass ceiling index between team leaders and manager 16 Glass ceiling index between managers and directors 23.8 Glass ceiling index between directors and board of directors 100

According to Bob Gerrisen Delta Lloyd has no glass ceiling, he even believes being a women has a positive impact on advancing within Delta Lloyd.

DSM

Percentage women junior management 30

Percentage women middle management 20

Percentage women senior management 7/10 = 8.5

Percentage women executives 4

Percentage women board of directors 0

(Marina Wielders; Vera Aarts)

Glass ceiling index between junior and middle management 33.3 Glass ceiling index between middle and senior management 57.5 Glass ceiling index between senior management and executive 52.9 Glass ceiling index between executives and board of directors 100

IBM

2002 2004

Percentage female inflow 17 22.5

Percentage female managers 14 17

Percentage women in management team 0 20

(VNO-NCW)

Exact numbers were not provided. However, the IMT leadership team consist of 15 people from whom 5 (33.3) are women, according to John Post.

Nuon

Percentage women in organisation 23

Percentage women management teams 16

Percentage women direct reports 6.6

Percentage women board of directors 0

(Max Vermeer; Annual report Nuon 2006)

Glass ceiling index between management teams and directors 58.8 Glass ceiling index between directors and board of directors 100

PwC

Percentage female senior managers 22

Percentage female directors 12

Percentage female partners 4

Percentage women board of directors 0

(Astrid Tebberman)

Glass ceiling index between senior managers and directors 45.5

Glass ceiling index between directors and partners 66.7

Glass ceiling index between partners and board of directors 100