Climbing the Ladder: Gender‐Specific Career Advancement in Financial Services and the Influence of Flexible Work‐Time Arrangements

Abstract

The aim of this study is to gain insight into the gender‐specific career advancement of about 10,000 middle‐ and top‐level managers in a Dutch financial services company. Our results indicate that women earn less, work at lower job levels, but show slightly higher career mobility than men. However, working a compressed four‐day nine‐hours‐a‐day workweek turns out to be favourable for women who are ‘rewarded’ for working full time, whereas men are ‘penalized’ for not working five days a week. Introducing this form of flexibility into a predominantly masculine organizational culture offers new opportunities for career advancement, albeit solely for women.

Organisational culture in Romania: The fine line between success and failure for women in academia

“…During the 19th century there was the idea that women had inferior minds, an idea no longer accepted today. Nowadays, the most sensible argument for justifying the absence of women in high academic positions relates to maternity (Noback, Broersma and van Dijk 2016).…”

Balancing the Scales of Gender and Culture in Contemporary South Africa

“…In the European model, gender equity strategies are distinguished to include hard law in the form of legislative acts and soft law in the form of normative pressures and encouragement (Noback, Broersma & van Dijk, 2013). Sweden, in particular, seems to be at the forefront of actively supporting gender equality at work through its Discrimination Act of 2008, requiring employers to facilitate work-life balance strategies for both male and female employees (Allard et al, 2011).…”

“…Such skills are essential to organisational strategies that will culminate in gender equity. Mostly, alternative or flexible work time schedules have been advocated as a key strategy to enable better work-life balance for women (Noback et al, 2013) and in some countries also men (Allard et al, 2011). Masculine organisational cultures, however, mediate the impact of alternative work schedules negatively for men and positively for women (Noback et al, 2013), pointing again to the profound yet covert effect of socially constructed norms and stereotypes permeating organisational culture.…”

“…Mostly, alternative or flexible work time schedules have been advocated as a key strategy to enable better work-life balance for women (Noback et al, 2013) and in some countries also men (Allard et al, 2011). Masculine organisational cultures, however, mediate the impact of alternative work schedules negatively for men and positively for women (Noback et al, 2013), pointing again to the profound yet covert effect of socially constructed norms and stereotypes permeating organisational culture. Franks et al (2006) highlight that recognising the interconnected nature of women's work and personal lives is an important strategic adaptation for South African organisations and urge organisational investment in appropriate work-life balance policies covering pre-employment career planning and assistance with work-life integration strategies in women's different life stages.…”

“…International cross-cultural studies indicate that work-life balance remains a highly persistent and gendered phenomenon (James, 2014) where family responsibilities affect women's career progression more negatively. However, they benefit from social support such as having their male partners increasingly engaged in child rearing and family responsibilities (Noback et al, 2013). Despite legal compliance and the fact that most South African organisations have all the necessary equity policies and formal procedures in place, the debilitating effect of not having internalised these into the organisational culture (Booysen, 2007) will continue to hamper gender equity and the work-life balance of all employees.…”