Women's Networks: Making Good Connections

Women’s networks in the corporate sector are increasingly seen as a business activity as well as a career development tool. This research begins with a review of the literature on women and networking. Two key issues are examined. The first looks at women’s participation in networking and why such activity is important in career development. The second issue looks at how corporate women’s networks operate in the USA and draws upon the work of Catalyst, a US based research and campaigning organisation. The research then moves onto the study of twelve leading UK corporate networks. Our findings reveal how their networks were started, how they are managed, how they are evaluated, and what advice the network leaders would give others starting a network. The research was carried out by Professor Susan Vinnicombe, Dr Val Singh and Dr Savita Kumra at the Cranfield Centre for Developing Women Leaders in association with Opportunity Now. We interviewed the network chairs and organisers and surveyed a sample of their members to identify best practice. With the exception of BT, all the networks were less than eight years old. At about the same time as this project was under way, Helen McCarthy was studying women’s networks for DEMOS. Her research draws mainly from public sector sources, while this research is based on practice in the private sector. The recommendations from the report, Girlfriends in High Places, (McCarthy, 2004) are appended to this report.

• The majority of women’s networks were set up by women themselves and were aimed at executive women.
  
• All networks have now expanded and run activities to include men.
  
• Most of the networks are called women’s networks. Barclaycard has renamed its network the ‘Barclaycard Network’ to encourage men to join and UBS calls its network ‘All Bar None’.
  
• The networks are run by volunteer leaders and committees and most are linked to HR and/or Diversity functions.
  
• Several networks work internationally and many have regional centres. Network leaders also liaise across other internal diversity networks.
  
• Leadership is demanding, so most networks rotate their leaders.
  
• In some corporates, the network structure is complex and involves many meetings.
  
• Five of the networks obtained funding from central diversity budgets, four from HR and three from the business areas. Most have to bid for their funds by making a business case for them. Very little administrative support is provided.
  
• The networks are involved in a huge range of activities and the business focus is very strong. There is a great need to demonstrate value back to the company.
  
• Women members appreciated their networks and viewed events aimed at career management/advancement and providing networking opportunities as the most memorable events.
  
• Women report joining networks for networking, career advice/support, understanding the business, helping others and sharing experiences.
  
• Whilst the original objectives of women’s networks were to focus on facilitating women’s careers, the pressure from business has meant that most network leaders focus on benefits to the company.  These are primarily in the areas of recruitment, retention and reputation.
  
• Companies are starting to draw on the expertise of women’s networks in areas such as product design, marketing and PR.
  
• The main challenges for networks are around sustainability, activities and corporate culture.
  
• The measures used to assess the success of women’s networks included membership numbers, feedback from events, mentoring relationships established, gender statistics at various levels and achieving the business objectives.