Debate: Is the Post-Pandemic Shift of Working from Home Full-Time Good for Women?
About
This was a very lively debate around the pitfalls and upsides of women WFH vs returning to the office, led by Liz Moseley managing director of Good Housekeeping.
It left the audience wanting more, with controversial statements like: “Working from home is a disaster waiting to happen for feminism,” from multi-exit entrepreneur Debbie Wosskow, OBE.
But Christine Armstrong, author of The Mother of All Jobs, argued from the opposite corner: “Covid has given us the most incredible opportunity to reset work, which was designed for the world of the breadwinner model, where Daddy was at work and Mummy was at home. Now we can save ourselves two hours a day travelling, do a really good job, come into the office maybe two or three days a week and do some networking. And actually, this could really work, so what we can’t allow is for the men to do it the way they always did it, and slide back to the 1960s.”
Meanwhile, Michelle Sequeira, senior principal and Mercer’s UK and Europe diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) consulting leader, said research shows 40% of men feel connected when they are working remotely with co-workers, compared to only 30% of females. She urged businesses to build the right networks and put in place sponsorship and mentorship to encourage a sense of community for those working from home.
Speakers
Liz Moseley
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Liz Moseley is a writer, interviewer and media business leader. Born and raised in marketing, she is a former publisher of heat magazine and Chief Marketing Officer at Ascential plc, where she led brand and growth marketing for a portfolio of global events including Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. She joined Tortoise, the pioneering "slow news" start up, as an editor and partner in 2018.
Christine Armstrong
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Christine Armstrong is obsessed with research into the world of work. She writes, speaks and vlogs on what the trends and data tell us is and isn’t working.
She was recently named 6th out of the top 50 Future of Work influencers in the world and is known for being fact-led, high energy and genuinely funny.
Christine is also the author of ‘The Mother of All Jobs: how to have children and a career and stay sane(ish)’, published by Bloomsbury. The book is based on six years of interviews with working parents, employers, leadership experts and carers and a finalist in the Business Book UK awards 2019.
Debbie Wosskow OBE
Ms
Debbie is one of the UK’s best known digital and media entrepreneurs.
She began her career as a management consultant, before co-founding communications and digital marketing agency Mantra (sold to The Loewy Group 2007). She is the founder of Love Home Swap, which she sold to Wyndham Destination Networks (2017) and in 2018 co-founded AllBright, the world’s largest network for women’s careers.
Debbie is the author of the Wosskow Review for the UK government on the Sharing Economy and the former Chair of Sharing Economy UK. She is a Member of the Mayor of London’s Business Board and a Trustee of the Women’s Prize for Fiction. She is a former winner of the Evening Standard ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’ and Board Member of the Rose Review of Female Entrepreneurship - and was awarded an OBE for services to business in 2017.
Michelle Sequeira
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Michelle Sequeira joined Mercer as a Senior Consultant in 2014. She has an MSc in Human Resource Management at Birkbeck, University of London and an MPhil in Social and Developmental Psychology at the University of Cambridge. Michelle is an associate member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and is a Chartered Manager.
Michelle is a Senior Principal and Mercer’s UK and Europe Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Consulting Leader, based in London. She works with a wide range of clients helping organisations achieve a talent advantage through people. Michelle has also recently advised Mercer UK’s Executive Leadership Team on shaping their internal DEI strategy.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion: Michelle has led the design and delivery of numerous inclusive leadership journeys, empowering senior leaders to take charge of their inclusion agenda. Beyond this, Michelle also establishes DEI strategies underpinned by tailored solutions, using analytics to identify the most impactful levers of change ; embeds DEI into the DNA of the entire employee experience ; sets appropriate metrics using quantitative and qualitative diagnostic assessments on how firms compare to market ; implements with impact with regards to unbiased talent programs and building rigor into pay equity processes.
Workforce Planning and Analytics: Michelle has experience in determining a firm’s critical roles, and skills, and how best to meet the demand for these roles over the next few years; helping firms use analytics to make informed impactful strategic decisions; delivering education and learning workshops; external labor market analysis building models to identify suitable locations to set up or transfer business functions.
Talent Management: Advising clients on their talent strategy; reviewing and designing multinational firms’ approaches to Performance Management.
