#buysidewomen
Shared parental leave Scandinavian style
Some of the greatest success stories we have heard
regarding gender diversity at the trading desk originate
from the Scandinavian countries. In Sweden, parents
are given 12 months of parental leave and the father
is strongly advised to share that time equally with the
mother. We have already heard how one large buy-side
firm’s trading desk has put this Swedish legal practice
in place by employing back-up staff to cover sick leave,
flexible working and parental leave successfully. Such
back-up staff should ideally be permanent staff as the
skills required for the job takes time to learn. Most other
European countries offer only 2 weeks of paternity leave
yet we have heard of examples of firms offering a longer
paternity leave to lead by example. Encouraging both
men and women to utilise their right to parental leave in
an inclusive work environment is seen as a key question.
The buy-side heads of trading discussed the challenges
with parental leave for over stretched trading desks and
the ideal scenario is that the employee is forthcoming in
trying to find a solution that works for both the firm and
the employer.
Back-up staff to cover
This is a particularly interesting challenge open to
misinterpretation. Back-up staff does not necessarily
mean that each firm should recruit more staff than
necessary. It means that the firm should consider
employing a flexible work force that backfill staff who are
given the right to sick leave, flexible hours and parental
leave. Out of the three examples just mentioned, two
are legal requirements and the firms need to consider a
contingency plan for such requirements. Some firms are
using the old corporate financial benchmark turn-over
and profit vs. number of staff headcount which would be
unsuitable when you implement such cultural change
within a firm. Therefore, such cultural changes must be
driven from the top management down.
Emma Quinn’s article on page 38, we hear from the buy
side that ‘diversity of thought’ is proven to generate a
more progressive and successful work environment so if
that is true, logically, we need to welcome people with a
more diverse set of skills and education.
An annual invite your daughters to work day
In addition to the enlightening article by Andrew
Maack on page 26, it is a tradition in Germany to have
a “Girls Day” where employees invite their daughters
to stereotypically male dominated jobs and sons to
typically women dominated jobs.
I recall asking my daughter, when she was three years
old, what she wanted to be when she was older and she
said; “I want to become a nurse like grandma!”. I asked
why she didn’t want to become a doctor instead and to
my surprise she responded that “boys are doctors and
girls are nurses”. This is not a result of any values that
had been taught at home. I realised how the wider social
environment and TV programs had impacted her values.
Subsequently, we had a discussion about her views
explaining that if she raises her ambitions, she could
potentially help more sick people with more efficient
treatments compared to the care a nurse is entitled to
give and that there are no limitations in abilities and
aspirations due to one’s gender.
IN H2 AR
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COMING DEWOMEN WEBIN
#BUYSI
Broadening the search pool and reviewing the
necessary skills in job applications
With an increasing interest in quant skills on the trading
desks, one needs to evaluate the profile needed for the
particular trading role you are hiring for. One needs to
ask the question if the listed skills requirements in the
job description are necessary or just a legacy ‘good to
have’ but this potentially skews the search to more male
dominated universities. Echoing the key message from
Anita Karppi,
MD, K&K Global Consulting
36
www.buysideintel.com
Summer 2019