One of the activities on our journey towards better diversity was to find out whether our people experience having equal development and career opportunities across genders. The purpose of the survey was to explore possible structural or cultural barriers people might experience and identify areas that should be further developed. First of all, we were delighted to learn that gender equality is an important priority for both women and men at BearingPoint. For the most part, there weren’t significant differences between the perceptions of women and men in terms of development and career opportunities, but there were some areas that needed addressing as well. Those topics were discussed together with our people.
Last year our internal Women@BearingPoint network organized two events focusing on our women's personal development and career progression. The events were facilitated by our Partner Katja Mäkelä and Head of People & Culture Leena Venermo. In the first meetup, women were engaged in group discussions and shared experiences of three different themes that are crucial for career progression: how to get key assignments and stepping-stone experiences, how to build key relationships and networks, and how to gain confidence and credibility. We also discussed how BearingPoint provides support in these areas.
The second meetup was dedicated to further exploring the survey results with the goal of gathering actionable insights from group discussions. These conversations dived deeper into the themes from the first event, exploring, for example, inclusive sales work practices, relationship building in different settings, and how to make entering new situations a more comfortable experience. Despite the challenging topics, the atmosphere of the meet was relaxed and group discussions lively as the participants shared both their experiences as well as power music recommendations. This was a great opportunity to learn from one another and build on each other's ideas.
Our training curriculum includes a female training program, where women get support in developing skills that help them grow towards future leadership roles.
Our Female Leadership program was a 3-day training organized by European Business School ESCP. The training focused on helping our female consultants to raise awareness on gender differences, increase self-awareness of own leadership style, and build their professional network. I appreciated all aspects of this training, but especially the networking part of the training stood out. We got concrete examples on how to build one's own network and why your professional network truly matters within our industry.
Sini Fröblom, Senior Business Consultant
Developing female talent remains a strategic priority for BearingPoint also going forward. We are currently updating our gender equality plan, and looking into creating learning paths that promote female acceleration. We strongly believe in the intrinsic value of gender diversity and are committed to working towards our diversity goals.
Leena Venermo
Head of People & Culture
BearingPoint Finland
Elli-Maija Virtanen
Technology Consultant, EPM team
BearingPoint Finland