On this international Women’s Day we are proud that 60% of all DPP’s team and 55% of our Director team are female. Planning Magazine’s Annual Consultancy Survey has today confirmed that this ranks DPP as proportionally, the 8th highest employer of female planners, whilst 2nd in respect of female Directors.
DPP is committed to providing a flexible workplace to ensure everyone in our team is able to fulfil their potential and create a work / life structure that’s right for them. This includes hybrid working, compressed hours, part time hours and our new monthly early finish Friday. We provide a mentoring scheme which offers guidance and nurturing from those with lots of experience in the industry. And all our team have a career pathway mapped out at DPP created, updated and discussed through our quarterly personal review process.
Speaking to Planning magazine about DPP’s female leadership and proportion of female planners, COO, Faith Folley said:
We haven’t specifically gone out to increase our female leadership. What the findings do reflect is that we have brought in excellent leadership through the business. The majority of our board were not recruited, but promoted from within,
Part of the reason for this success is the effort the company has made to change the way it operates as a business for all, and to be more flexible as an employer.
It is not just for females, it is for everybody in the business. It is about how we work through offering flexible working patterns, and promoting from within, and making sure everyone in the business has a career pathway.
In terms of flexible working, things like early Friday finishes, shortened days, days out of the office, and offering compressed hours to people who want a day off a week for childcare make a real difference to our team.
It is not just for working parents, but anyone who wants more flexibility from their jobs. We don’t want people to discount us because we don’t offer that.
Bringing females into the firm and then promoting them become a virtuous cycle. When I became a director there were two other women directors. I took it to nearly 40 per cent and it is now at 55 per cent. But for me, it was so encouraging to have two people that I looked up to and respected. Having those mentors available spurred me on to do more, and to learn more from them.
Image from left clockwise: Faith Folley (COO), Jen Patterson (Director), Jo Robison (Director), Helen Marks (Director), Michelle Davies (Director) (centre).
