Women in our workforce

For the first time JBWere Pty Ltd, has been recognised as an Employer of Choice for Women by The Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency (EOWA). Being granted this award is a reflection on our commitment to lifting the bar in gender equality and advancing opportunities for women.

We join 97 other organisations in Australia - including NAB - whose policies and practices supporting women in the workforce have been independently assessed against a range of criteria. Each year the selection process gets tougher, so being one of the 98 organisations to make the list in 2011 out of the 2,500 organisations that applied is no mean feat.

JBWere CEO Paul Heath said the award was a key milestone and an important recognition of JBWere delivering on a broad diversity strategy.

"It's critical our business principles mirror a set of ethics that drive integrity, commitment and excellence across all facets of our organisation. Part of this is ensuring our workforce better reflects the community in which we operate, and of course diversity across our firm encourages new perspectives.

“So not only does our approach to equal opportunities for women in the workforce help us attract and retain the best people, it helps us ensure we are providing the best service to our clients and responding more effectively to our clients' needs.”

Paul's leadership and passion in the area of gender diversity has been a crucial part in achieving the Employer of Choice for Women award. Aside from the benefits that come from diversity of views, Paul’s attention is focused on ensuring our workforce reflects our clients in order to remain relevant.

“A recent BCG wealth report highlighted 36 per cent of individual wealth above $1M is controlled by women and this number is rapidly growing. Our business needs to reflect this diversity in our clients. At JBWere we have only 25 per cent female representation at the Director and Executive Director level. This must change if we are to stay relevant and recruitment is fundamental to changing those ratios. We have a lot to do!” he said.

This award is a terrific outcome and we should be proud we've been recognised for our progress. But this doesn't mean we will become complacent. To ensure we are vigilant about diversity issues our Diversity Council, sponsored by Paul, will continue to drive strategies and priorities for the firm that enables diversity to be further developed.