Kate Nutt, group director of External Relations, said that when the Treasury had taken such an approach to its recruitment in the past, the number and quality of candidates applying had improved.
The change to recruitment policy is now one of a number of actions she is actively pursuing within the organisation as a way to improve diversity and representation.
She is also leading a new pilot programme, I WILL, which aims to get more women into senior leadership roles in the public sector.
There is currently just one female director general – Caroline Landon – and 13 of the government’s 33 directors, including Ms Nutt, are women.
The government’s gender pay gap report, published this summer, showed that the difference in the average pay between all men and women in the workforce was 18.3%. It also revealed that of the ten employees earning above £170,000 a year, just one is female.
‘To have the best public sector delivering the best public services we can, it really makes sense that the people making the decisions are as diverse as possible, representing the make up of the community they are serving. Otherwise it can be difficult to get the diversity of views and input that you really need,’ said Ms Nutt.
She added that currently more than 60% of the government workforce was female, but explained that above the middle-management level that figure dropped dramatically.
‘There are a variety of reasons for that. Some [issues] are easier than others to solve, but one of our longer-term objectives is to help get more women into senior leadership roles
in the organisation,’ she said. ‘Also, we want to create more opportunities for men and women to communicate and network across the organisation.’
I WILL – which stands for Inspiring Women into Leadership and Learning – was launched in June by a group of 16 like-minded men and women working for the government. It now runs regular events that are open to all Government of Jersey employees, holds network and learning sessions featuring guest speakers and focuses on different topics and runs a mentoring scheme which has so far enabled more than 60 people to benefit from the support of a senior colleague.
A shadowing scheme which will provide around 40 placements for staff to gain an insight into leadership roles across the organisation is also due to be launched in January. Opportunities are open to all staff, regardless of gender, but those signing up to the mentoring and shadowing schemes so far have been predominantly women working at lower levels within the civil service.
The programme, which is not solely focused on gender, also has the support of a number of directors-general and of chief executive Charlie Parker.
Ms Nutt said next year the aim was to put I WILL on a more formal footing, and to set ways for success to be measured.
‘I think I WILL has the potential to make a big difference to the diversity of the organisation and generally to change the culture, especially as it complements the objectives of our Team Jersey programme, and aligns with our developing People Strategy.
‘It is still very early days. We have got quite a long way to go and we do need to think about how we measure the outcomes.
‘And if we are saying we do really want to increase the number of senior women applying for roles, we also need to look at recruitment. There are some really simple things we should be doing, for example advertising all roles as being open to flexible working unless there is a very good reason. When they have done that with Treasury they got a really good response rate and really good calibre of candidates. You are then accessing a much wider pool of applicants.’
She added: ‘I also think if you are looking for a job it is one of the things people do look for. It is about that work- life balance. If an organisation recognises that and trusts people, then I think you get more back.
‘If you are flexible with the way people work, I think, personally, you get more commitment.’
