The findings from Credit Suisse Research Institute report today that companies with female board members report better share performance than those without. Gender diversity clearly has a role to play in ensuring the future growth and productivity of our organisations. The key is ensuring the right culture and environment is created to attract the best talent and encourage females as well as males.
Nowhere has this been more apparant to me than at Bupa Arabia. Its dynamic CEO, Tal Nazer, is driven by his belief that people are the key source of differentiation. His relentless focus on attracting and retaining the right talent has resulted in huge performance increases. The resulting culture and environment enables employees to do their best work for their customers and has been incredibly successfuly in attracting female employees, who represent 30% of the Bupa Arabia workforce compared to about 4% in its competitors. As testamount to this, Bupa Arabia has been ranked third in the Best Company To Work For in the Saudi Arabia Financial Industry.
At a time when many UK organisations are looking to find new ways to grow, considering how to create the right culture to attract the best talent is critical. Managing those people by knowing what really matters to them is then the key to sustaining performance. We would do well to recognise the proven successes of organisations like Bupa Arabia who have shown that the right strategy and approach to creating a diverse and flexible culture can have the most rewarding outcomes for employees and the organisation alike.
