Thames hailed for upping gender diversity with one-in-three female executives

Diversity consultancy Pipeline has hailed Thames Water’s progress in appointing women to its top jobs as a “huge leap” from its earlier position that is the product of “a plan of specific interventions.” Women hold one in three of Thames’ executive committee posts.

Pipeline said: “Critically, the chief executive and executive team were absolutely committed to the diversity and inclusion agenda and fully supportive of the plan Janet Burr, HR director, put in place.”

Thames is working with Pipeline to improve its gender diversity. It is planning, the consultancy said, to put more females on its graduate and apprenticeship schemes while increasing the number of women in middle and senior manager roles “and ultimately executive committee roles.”

In a report, Women Count, Pipeline found that the utility sector was “lacklustre in terms of gender diversity” with statistics that were in line with other FTSE 3590 companies including only 18% representation of women on their executive committees and just 13% of executive directors are women.

In the report Pipeline included findings that it said revealed “demonstrable economic benefits for companies who have women in more senior roles,” and a “£13bn gender dividend on offer for UK plc, if all FTSE 350 companies performed at the same level as those with women on their executive committees.”