Private equity players have missed the opportunity to recruit female executives
The news is not entirely new – but now investors are calling more emphatically for more women in private equity. There is hardly any other sector in which fewer women work than in private equity funds. At the same time, the backers of the funds, who have to comply with EU-wide regulations to increase the proportion of women, are insisting on a balanced gender distribution. The few women who already work as investment and portfolio managers are in a comparatively strong negotiating position – and are becoming increasingly expensive as demand rises. Where there is a lack of women in management positions, private equity companies must endeavour to shed their historically grown profile of a purely ‘male world’ and also offer young parents opportunities to balance family, career and individual life situations.
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More flexible career planning
The rigours of the business are legendary: all-nighters, a 100-hour week and stress that never ends, even at weekends. On top of that, you are often travelling, even throughout Europe. Female professionals who are not deterred by this and keep up the pace for years start to have second thoughts after the birth of their first child and planning childcare that is compatible with their working hours. Ideally – and this is the famous needle in the haystack – the private equity company will have its own childcare centre. However, most companies are too small or not sensitised enough to offer company childcare. This is a missed opportunity.
So far, companies in the sector have generally not been open or willing to develop models for a balance between work and private life that fulfil the expectations and needs of women and family fathers and enable flexible career planning. An initial, not entirely voluntary rethink began with the increase in working from home over the past three years. This proved that it is also possible to work very productively from home.
View to Scandinavia
In the coming years, it will be important to inspire more women to pursue a career in private equity – and to bring them into senior and partner positions in the long term, even with children. The industry is traditionally unfamiliar: there is still a lot of scepticism when a woman joins an all-male team. However, experience shows that the higher the proportion of women, the easier it is to attract new women to the team. There are good female candidates. However, it is difficult for many private equity players to find them. It starts with the time that small companies hardly have to be constantly present at Europe’s top universities, for example at career days. Added to this are the old blinkers of insisting on professionals from within the industry, which makes a rare commodity even rarer. Incidentally, it is worth taking a look at Scandinavia and Scandinavian funds in Germany, which are already one step ahead.
Women are more readily accepted there and in greater numbers than is usual in Germany. At the same time, they are women who do not necessarily come from a traditional private equity background, but who have the same skills and the necessary drive for this intensive sector. This openness, away from rigid guidelines, is the key to attracting more female employees to private equity funds.
Female recruiting: broaden the search
The pressure is increasing immensely, as investors rightly insist on the proportion of women. Companies that remain sluggish in this area, for example by delaying the implementation of legal regulations, risk difficulties, especially when it comes to fundraising. Private equity companies should therefore quickly begin to organise their search for female professionals more boldly and more broadly. See the Scandinavian example. First and foremost, this means looking for talent outside the traditional environment. Managers who enjoy figures and are confident in evaluating companies, as well as having the necessary entrepreneurial spirit. Large recruitment consultancies have long recognised this potential and draw on their extensive database to find the best candidates for private equity. Even if the willingness of companies is currently still restrained, there is no way around these new talent pools in the future.
Andreas Weik, HAGER Executive Consulting, Business Unit Head of Financial Sponsor Coverage. The financial expert has over 30 years of experience in leading positions at renowned and globally active executive search consultancies. He is convinced that without new female talent in key positions, private equity funds will stagnate.
‘Private equity players who now dare to break new ground in recruiting female managers will reap rich rewards.’
Andreas Weik, HAGER Executive Consulting, Business Unit Head of Financial Sponsor Coverage
