As a recent graduate I was pleased and very interested to read that KPMG are set to hire 250,000 new employees over the next five years, 75,000 of whom will be graduates. This news makes a welcome change from the endless reports of firms axing jobs as a result of the economic downturn. It also provides hope for those graduates finding it increasingly difficult to gain employment after university. However, it begs the question, why are KPMG doing this when most other big businesses are cutting staff?

They say it is about ‘driving their growth now and in the future’, KPMG recognises the benefits of hiring exceptional talent and nurturing and fostering individual’s talent in order to realise long term success within the business.

Graduates are facing up to a three fold rise in tuition fees from next year and competition for graduate jobs is becoming increasingly difficult, there are now 83 applications per job (up from 69 last year) according to the Association of Graduate Recruiters bi-monthly survey. What is clear is that more companies need to be introducing similar initiatives to promote graduate employment. Part of being a responsible business is ensuring that there are facilities in place to encourage the next generation of business leaders. Without encouraging and nurturing graduate employment how do businesses expect to advance in the future? As far as I can see it’s a win-win situation.

With boardroom diversity, or rather the lack of it, coming under the spotlight in other recent news, one can’t help but wonder how many of those female graduates employed by KPMG over the next five years will make it to senior level positions and whether by that time in the future there will be regulations in place to ensure they do.

China to improve influence of women

China is striving to improve the political influence of women by ensuring more positions for them in the country's government departments, Song Xiuyan, deputy director of the National Working Committee on Children and Women has said. The 2011-2020 National Program on Chinese Women's Development stipulates that all local governments above county level should have more than one female leader by the end of 2020. 86% of local governments at the provincial, municipal and county levels had female leaders by the end of 2010, an increase from 60% ten years ago. The programme, issued every 10 years by the State Council, aims to boost women's rights in terms of education and employment, and narrow the development gap between urban and rural women.

Contact: National Working Committee on Children and Women under the State Council
www.nwccw.gov.cn

Report projects 70 years to achieve boardroom equality

A report published by the Equality and Human Rights Commission has found that more than 5,400 women are missing from Britain’s 26,000 most powerful posts. The report, Sex and Power 2011, measured the number of women in positions of power and influence across 27 occupational categories in the public and private sector. The results showed little change from a prior report in 2008. It calculates that it would take around 70 years for there to be an equal number of male and female directors for the FTSE100 companies, based on the current rate of change. Whilst more women are graduating from university and receiving higher results than men, they are failing to advance beyond senior management positions.

Contact: Equality and Human Rights Commission
www.equalityhumanrights.com

Report finds pension divide

According to a report from the High Pay Commission there is a sharp divide in pension provision between directors of public companies and other employees. The report found that while a FTSE100 director with a defined benefit scheme could be expected to receive a median annual pension worth £174,963 on retirement, the annual median pension paid from a private sector scheme was just £5,860 for the rest of the work force. One of the factors driving the divide in defined benefit provision is the preferential treatment for directors. The research also found a large number of public companies providing large cash lump sums in lieu of a pension, according to the latest annual reports almost one quarter of FTSE250 directors and a third of FTSE100 directors received a cash pension supplement.

Contact: PIRC
www.pirc.co.uk

Women envisage glass ceiling intact in 2020, Friends Life report reveals

A new report by Friends Life, entitled 'Working Women', reveals that the majority of working women see no end to the obstacles hindering their advancement in the workplace. Some 55% of women believe there will still be a significant pay gap between men and women in 2020, while 53% think women will still be struggling much more than men to secure senior roles. Motherhood and childcare pressures remain the biggest barriers for women according to the report with 51% of working mothers who have taken maternity leave agreeing that childcare is too expensive to make it financially worth returning to work. The report found that a shorter working week, subsidised childcare and the ability to work from home are all offered far less than many working mothers would like.

Contact: Friends Life
www.visionofbritain2020.co.uk

CBI backs changes to corporate governance code to boost boardroom diversity

The CBI has urged the Financial Reporting Council to make changes to the UK’s Corporate Governance Code to boost the number of women on boards. In response to the FRC’s consultation document: Gender Diversity on Boards, the UK’s leading business group reiterated its call for the Code to require listed companies to report on diversity on a “comply or explain” basis. This approach would allow firms to set their own targets for increasing diversity that reflect the nature of their business and circumstances and explain why if they fail to deliver. The CBI highlights the strong business case for increasing boardroom diversity, including: promoting good governance and challenging group mentality; helping companies get the best people for the job by using the most diverse selection pool and providing a better reflection of a firm’s customer base.

Contact: CBI
www.cbi.org.uk

Institute of Business Ethics looks at the case for boardroom diversity

Following Lord Davies’ Women on boards review which called for FTSE100 companies to have at least 25% female board representation by 2015, the latest Briefing form the Institute of Business Ethics examines the case for boardroom diversity. The Briefing reviews the current situation and puts forward the advantages of boardroom diversity. It draws on research undertaken by the IBE, Mckinsey and Lord Davies’ report in order to highlight the strong case to be made. It also offers best practice examples that detail how diversity can be helped to be achieved.

Contact: Institute of Business Ethics
www.ibe.org.uk

KPMG’s Member Firms to hire 250,000

KPMG’s member firms will hire approximately 75,000 graduates worldwide over the next three years, representing a 25% increase in the firm’s historical resourcing target. The global member firm network has identified a need to hire approximately 250,000 new hires over the next five years and graduate recruitment plays an essential role in meeting the firm’s long term global growth strategy. 7,500 of the new hires over the next five years will come from the UK. Iain McLaughlin, Head of Recruitment at KPMG in the UK said: ‘It’s important to note that our focus is about more than simply high volumes – it’s about recruiting top talent to drive our growth now and into the future.”

Contact: KPMG
www.kpmg.com/uk

CIPD survey shows little or no pay rise for employees

Employees are still feeling the pressure as pay levels fall below the current cost of living, according to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development’s summer 2011 Employee Outlook: focus on pay, based on a representative sample of more than 2,000 people in employment in the UK. The survey found that 58% employees have had a pay freeze since January 2011 and only 28% have received a pay rise. Not surprisingly, the public sector is being hit the hardest with 77% receiving a pay freeze (compared to 52% and 55% in the private and voluntary sector). The CIPD’s performance and reward adviser, Charles Cotton, said: “Even those who are lucky enough to get an increase in their pay will find it below the current cost of living, compounding consumer belt tightening.”

Contact: CIPD
www.cipd.co.uk

Flexible working should be extended to all sizes of business says CIPD

In response to the Modern Workplaces consultation, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) has argued that the right to request flexible working should be extended to all employees and the Government should stick to its implementation timetable of 2015. Flexible working benefits both employers and employees and the Government should resist pressure to create a two-tier labour market through exempting micro-businesses and start-ups. Mike Emmott, employee relations adviser, CIPD, comments: “The truth is that many employers – large and small see the business benefits of helping employees balance their work with their lifestyle and personal commitments. Organisations have grasped the reality that an employee who gives everything they can within flexible working hours offers more than someone reluctantly working a ‘typical’ working day because that is all that is on offer.”

Contact CIPD
www.cipd.co.uk

2011 Working Mother Best Company for Kids results released

Abbott, SC Johnson and Mastercard Worldwide are among the 2011 Working Mother Best Companies for Kids. The results are based on scores gained from questions from the 2010 Working Mother Best Companies application and focus on areas including: benefits, childcare, flexible work, paid time off and annual leave. The companies offered high levels of child care at lower costs, more support resources for parents with special needs children and a higher level of educational materials as a part of their nursing programmes.

Contact: Working Mother
www.workingmother.com

Diversity targeted by shareholders

Pax World Management, a leader in the field of Sustainable Investing, announced that during the 2011 proxy season, it withheld votes from, or voted against, 264 director slates for insufficient gender diversity. Of these, Pax World withheld votes from director slates at 138 of the 264 companies because they had only one woman on the board or among the nominees. It is the policy of Pax World to withhold votes from, or vote against, all-male slates of directors, and in most cases Pax will oppose director states that include fewer than two women.

Contact: Pax World Management
www.paxworld.com