The Paula Principle

Month: October 2014

Imposter Syndrome

The TV series Borgen is a rich source of material for the Paula Principle.  We've just finished watching the first series (yes, I know, behind the times).  Its principal character, Birgitte Nyborg, is leader of the Moderate party going into the Danish elections.   She is married to an economics lecturer, with two school-age children, and one recurrent theme is her struggle to get home in time to see the children (and her husband). One episode illustrates in a fleeting moment the imposter syndrome - the tendency of women (more than men) to think that they are not qualified to have got to where they are.  On the eve of the…
Read More

Low pay, part-time and job satisfaction

We seem to be getting a flurry of useful reports just now.  Last week it was the turn of the CIPD to publish very solid one on Pay progression, focussing on the barriers for the low-paid to moving up the ladder.  It has a very strong Foreword from Sir Charlie Mayfield, Chairman (sic) of the John Lewis Partnership.  He argues that our low pay reflects a productivity problem, and notes how many low-paid people have no clear paths to show them how they might progress. The CIPD use the three  categories of low-pid worker which were developed originally by the Resolution Foundation, and which have proved themselves sound: - Stuck are those who…
Read More

Ageing and skills: how and why we are losing out

A powerful new report, The Missing Million, has just been published by PRIME, the Prince's Initiative for Mature Enterprise.  It makes the case for enabling far more older people to stay in work.  Many elements of the case are quite familiar:  the challenge  to us all of an ageing population; the need for individuals to assure themselves of a decent income in old age;  the intrinsic value of work, e.g. in the social contacts it brings;  and so on.  But there is a wealth of factual analysis and insights to back it up, some of them quite surprising (to me at least).  Apparently people in the UK on average believe that…
Read More

Pensions and skills

Pensions don't grab everyone.  When I was a youngish researcher, about 35 years ago, I did a study of employee trustees of pension schemes, and how much influence they had on the way the schemes were managed.  I got quite into this, since it seemed (and seems) to me really interesting that there were employees formally involved in the management of huge sums of capital (even then, in the early 1980s, the funds were worth many billions).  "Pension fund socialism' was a prospect raised by the management guru of the time, Peter Drucker.  In fact I got so into the topic that my friends used to make 'switch-it-off' gestures; years…
Read More

Fair play

Chwaere Teg means  'fair play' in Welsh - a good title for an organisation that is doing excellent work promoting equality issues in Wales.  I was in Newport last night giving a lecture for them on Paula (and chapeau to them - they aim to alternate female and male speakers in their lecture series, though the audience was 90% female). We had quite some discussion on careers.  Chwaere Teg produced last year an excellent report, A Woman's Place, on women in the Welsh workforce.  Welsh women are upping their learning - 55% have recently taken part in adult education or training, compared to just 39% in 1996, and a full…
Read More

Discrimination and networks

In the last couple of days I've done one of my last PP interviews, and had a lively discussion with members of the NHS Employers Forum.  Both brought up the question of the effects of networks on people's career prospects, and how difficult it is to draw the line between networks which are part of 'normal' working lives, and those which serve to exclude women. My interviewee, Olivia, is 30ish and works for a global branding agency.  She told me how in her first years there a middle-aged manager had put together a group of younger male colleagues, who went whisky-drinking together.  Olivia saw this as a rather desperate attempt…
Read More

Imposter Syndrome

The TV series Borgen is a rich source of material for the Paula Principle.  We've just finished watching the first series (yes, I know, behind the times).  Its principal character, Birgitte Nyborg, is leader of the Moderate party going into the Danish elections.   She is married to an economics lecturer, with two school-age children, and one recurrent theme is her struggle to get home in time to see the children (and her husband). One episode illustrates in a fleeting moment the imposter syndrome - the tendency of women (more than men) to think that they are not qualified to have got to where they are.  On the eve of the…
Read More

Low pay, part-time and job satisfaction

We seem to be getting a flurry of useful reports just now.  Last week it was the turn of the CIPD to publish very solid one on Pay progression, focussing on the barriers for the low-paid to moving up the ladder.  It has a very strong Foreword from Sir Charlie Mayfield, Chairman (sic) of the John Lewis Partnership.  He argues that our low pay reflects a productivity problem, and notes how many low-paid people have no clear paths to show them how they might progress. The CIPD use the three  categories of low-pid worker which were developed originally by the Resolution Foundation, and which have proved themselves sound: - Stuck are those who…
Read More

Ageing and skills: how and why we are losing out

A powerful new report, The Missing Million, has just been published by PRIME, the Prince's Initiative for Mature Enterprise.  It makes the case for enabling far more older people to stay in work.  Many elements of the case are quite familiar:  the challenge  to us all of an ageing population; the need for individuals to assure themselves of a decent income in old age;  the intrinsic value of work, e.g. in the social contacts it brings;  and so on.  But there is a wealth of factual analysis and insights to back it up, some of them quite surprising (to me at least).  Apparently people in the UK on average believe that…
Read More

Pensions and skills

Pensions don't grab everyone.  When I was a youngish researcher, about 35 years ago, I did a study of employee trustees of pension schemes, and how much influence they had on the way the schemes were managed.  I got quite into this, since it seemed (and seems) to me really interesting that there were employees formally involved in the management of huge sums of capital (even then, in the early 1980s, the funds were worth many billions).  "Pension fund socialism' was a prospect raised by the management guru of the time, Peter Drucker.  In fact I got so into the topic that my friends used to make 'switch-it-off' gestures; years…
Read More

Fair play

Chwaere Teg means  'fair play' in Welsh - a good title for an organisation that is doing excellent work promoting equality issues in Wales.  I was in Newport last night giving a lecture for them on Paula (and chapeau to them - they aim to alternate female and male speakers in their lecture series, though the audience was 90% female). We had quite some discussion on careers.  Chwaere Teg produced last year an excellent report, A Woman's Place, on women in the Welsh workforce.  Welsh women are upping their learning - 55% have recently taken part in adult education or training, compared to just 39% in 1996, and a full…
Read More

Discrimination and networks

In the last couple of days I've done one of my last PP interviews, and had a lively discussion with members of the NHS Employers Forum.  Both brought up the question of the effects of networks on people's career prospects, and how difficult it is to draw the line between networks which are part of 'normal' working lives, and those which serve to exclude women. My interviewee, Olivia, is 30ish and works for a global branding agency.  She told me how in her first years there a middle-aged manager had put together a group of younger male colleagues, who went whisky-drinking together.  Olivia saw this as a rather desperate attempt…
Read More

Imposter Syndrome

The TV series Borgen is a rich source of material for the Paula Principle.  We've just finished watching the first series (yes, I know, behind the times).  Its principal character, Birgitte Nyborg, is leader of the Moderate party going into the Danish elections.   She is married to an economics lecturer, with two school-age children, and one recurrent theme is her struggle to get home in time to see the children (and her husband). One episode illustrates in a fleeting moment the imposter syndrome - the tendency of women (more than men) to think that they are not qualified to have got to where they are.  On the eve of the…
Read More

Low pay, part-time and job satisfaction

We seem to be getting a flurry of useful reports just now.  Last week it was the turn of the CIPD to publish very solid one on Pay progression, focussing on the barriers for the low-paid to moving up the ladder.  It has a very strong Foreword from Sir Charlie Mayfield, Chairman (sic) of the John Lewis Partnership.  He argues that our low pay reflects a productivity problem, and notes how many low-paid people have no clear paths to show them how they might progress. The CIPD use the three  categories of low-pid worker which were developed originally by the Resolution Foundation, and which have proved themselves sound: - Stuck are those who…
Read More

Ageing and skills: how and why we are losing out

A powerful new report, The Missing Million, has just been published by PRIME, the Prince's Initiative for Mature Enterprise.  It makes the case for enabling far more older people to stay in work.  Many elements of the case are quite familiar:  the challenge  to us all of an ageing population; the need for individuals to assure themselves of a decent income in old age;  the intrinsic value of work, e.g. in the social contacts it brings;  and so on.  But there is a wealth of factual analysis and insights to back it up, some of them quite surprising (to me at least).  Apparently people in the UK on average believe that…
Read More

Pensions and skills

Pensions don't grab everyone.  When I was a youngish researcher, about 35 years ago, I did a study of employee trustees of pension schemes, and how much influence they had on the way the schemes were managed.  I got quite into this, since it seemed (and seems) to me really interesting that there were employees formally involved in the management of huge sums of capital (even then, in the early 1980s, the funds were worth many billions).  "Pension fund socialism' was a prospect raised by the management guru of the time, Peter Drucker.  In fact I got so into the topic that my friends used to make 'switch-it-off' gestures; years…
Read More

Fair play

Chwaere Teg means  'fair play' in Welsh - a good title for an organisation that is doing excellent work promoting equality issues in Wales.  I was in Newport last night giving a lecture for them on Paula (and chapeau to them - they aim to alternate female and male speakers in their lecture series, though the audience was 90% female). We had quite some discussion on careers.  Chwaere Teg produced last year an excellent report, A Woman's Place, on women in the Welsh workforce.  Welsh women are upping their learning - 55% have recently taken part in adult education or training, compared to just 39% in 1996, and a full…
Read More

Discrimination and networks

In the last couple of days I've done one of my last PP interviews, and had a lively discussion with members of the NHS Employers Forum.  Both brought up the question of the effects of networks on people's career prospects, and how difficult it is to draw the line between networks which are part of 'normal' working lives, and those which serve to exclude women. My interviewee, Olivia, is 30ish and works for a global branding agency.  She told me how in her first years there a middle-aged manager had put together a group of younger male colleagues, who went whisky-drinking together.  Olivia saw this as a rather desperate attempt…
Read More

Imposter Syndrome

The TV series Borgen is a rich source of material for the Paula Principle.  We've just finished watching the first series (yes, I know, behind the times).  Its principal character, Birgitte Nyborg, is leader of the Moderate party going into the Danish elections.   She is married to an economics lecturer, with two school-age children, and one recurrent theme is her struggle to get home in time to see the children (and her husband). One episode illustrates in a fleeting moment the imposter syndrome - the tendency of women (more than men) to think that they are not qualified to have got to where they are.  On the eve of the…
Read More

Low pay, part-time and job satisfaction

We seem to be getting a flurry of useful reports just now.  Last week it was the turn of the CIPD to publish very solid one on Pay progression, focussing on the barriers for the low-paid to moving up the ladder.  It has a very strong Foreword from Sir Charlie Mayfield, Chairman (sic) of the John Lewis Partnership.  He argues that our low pay reflects a productivity problem, and notes how many low-paid people have no clear paths to show them how they might progress. The CIPD use the three  categories of low-pid worker which were developed originally by the Resolution Foundation, and which have proved themselves sound: - Stuck are those who…
Read More

Ageing and skills: how and why we are losing out

A powerful new report, The Missing Million, has just been published by PRIME, the Prince's Initiative for Mature Enterprise.  It makes the case for enabling far more older people to stay in work.  Many elements of the case are quite familiar:  the challenge  to us all of an ageing population; the need for individuals to assure themselves of a decent income in old age;  the intrinsic value of work, e.g. in the social contacts it brings;  and so on.  But there is a wealth of factual analysis and insights to back it up, some of them quite surprising (to me at least).  Apparently people in the UK on average believe that…
Read More

Pensions and skills

Pensions don't grab everyone.  When I was a youngish researcher, about 35 years ago, I did a study of employee trustees of pension schemes, and how much influence they had on the way the schemes were managed.  I got quite into this, since it seemed (and seems) to me really interesting that there were employees formally involved in the management of huge sums of capital (even then, in the early 1980s, the funds were worth many billions).  "Pension fund socialism' was a prospect raised by the management guru of the time, Peter Drucker.  In fact I got so into the topic that my friends used to make 'switch-it-off' gestures; years…
Read More

Fair play

Chwaere Teg means  'fair play' in Welsh - a good title for an organisation that is doing excellent work promoting equality issues in Wales.  I was in Newport last night giving a lecture for them on Paula (and chapeau to them - they aim to alternate female and male speakers in their lecture series, though the audience was 90% female). We had quite some discussion on careers.  Chwaere Teg produced last year an excellent report, A Woman's Place, on women in the Welsh workforce.  Welsh women are upping their learning - 55% have recently taken part in adult education or training, compared to just 39% in 1996, and a full…
Read More

Discrimination and networks

In the last couple of days I've done one of my last PP interviews, and had a lively discussion with members of the NHS Employers Forum.  Both brought up the question of the effects of networks on people's career prospects, and how difficult it is to draw the line between networks which are part of 'normal' working lives, and those which serve to exclude women. My interviewee, Olivia, is 30ish and works for a global branding agency.  She told me how in her first years there a middle-aged manager had put together a group of younger male colleagues, who went whisky-drinking together.  Olivia saw this as a rather desperate attempt…
Read More

Imposter Syndrome

The TV series Borgen is a rich source of material for the Paula Principle.  We've just finished watching the first series (yes, I know, behind the times).  Its principal character, Birgitte Nyborg, is leader of the Moderate party going into the Danish elections.   She is married to an economics lecturer, with two school-age children, and one recurrent theme is her struggle to get home in time to see the children (and her husband). One episode illustrates in a fleeting moment the imposter syndrome - the tendency of women (more than men) to think that they are not qualified to have got to where they are.  On the eve of the…
Read More

Low pay, part-time and job satisfaction

We seem to be getting a flurry of useful reports just now.  Last week it was the turn of the CIPD to publish very solid one on Pay progression, focussing on the barriers for the low-paid to moving up the ladder.  It has a very strong Foreword from Sir Charlie Mayfield, Chairman (sic) of the John Lewis Partnership.  He argues that our low pay reflects a productivity problem, and notes how many low-paid people have no clear paths to show them how they might progress. The CIPD use the three  categories of low-pid worker which were developed originally by the Resolution Foundation, and which have proved themselves sound: - Stuck are those who…
Read More

Ageing and skills: how and why we are losing out

A powerful new report, The Missing Million, has just been published by PRIME, the Prince's Initiative for Mature Enterprise.  It makes the case for enabling far more older people to stay in work.  Many elements of the case are quite familiar:  the challenge  to us all of an ageing population; the need for individuals to assure themselves of a decent income in old age;  the intrinsic value of work, e.g. in the social contacts it brings;  and so on.  But there is a wealth of factual analysis and insights to back it up, some of them quite surprising (to me at least).  Apparently people in the UK on average believe that…
Read More

Pensions and skills

Pensions don't grab everyone.  When I was a youngish researcher, about 35 years ago, I did a study of employee trustees of pension schemes, and how much influence they had on the way the schemes were managed.  I got quite into this, since it seemed (and seems) to me really interesting that there were employees formally involved in the management of huge sums of capital (even then, in the early 1980s, the funds were worth many billions).  "Pension fund socialism' was a prospect raised by the management guru of the time, Peter Drucker.  In fact I got so into the topic that my friends used to make 'switch-it-off' gestures; years…
Read More

Fair play

Chwaere Teg means  'fair play' in Welsh - a good title for an organisation that is doing excellent work promoting equality issues in Wales.  I was in Newport last night giving a lecture for them on Paula (and chapeau to them - they aim to alternate female and male speakers in their lecture series, though the audience was 90% female). We had quite some discussion on careers.  Chwaere Teg produced last year an excellent report, A Woman's Place, on women in the Welsh workforce.  Welsh women are upping their learning - 55% have recently taken part in adult education or training, compared to just 39% in 1996, and a full…
Read More

Discrimination and networks

In the last couple of days I've done one of my last PP interviews, and had a lively discussion with members of the NHS Employers Forum.  Both brought up the question of the effects of networks on people's career prospects, and how difficult it is to draw the line between networks which are part of 'normal' working lives, and those which serve to exclude women. My interviewee, Olivia, is 30ish and works for a global branding agency.  She told me how in her first years there a middle-aged manager had put together a group of younger male colleagues, who went whisky-drinking together.  Olivia saw this as a rather desperate attempt…
Read More

Imposter Syndrome

The TV series Borgen is a rich source of material for the Paula Principle.  We've just finished watching the first series (yes, I know, behind the times).  Its principal character, Birgitte Nyborg, is leader of the Moderate party going into the Danish elections.   She is married to an economics lecturer, with two school-age children, and one recurrent theme is her struggle to get home in time to see the children (and her husband). One episode illustrates in a fleeting moment the imposter syndrome - the tendency of women (more than men) to think that they are not qualified to have got to where they are.  On the eve of the…
Read More

Low pay, part-time and job satisfaction

We seem to be getting a flurry of useful reports just now.  Last week it was the turn of the CIPD to publish very solid one on Pay progression, focussing on the barriers for the low-paid to moving up the ladder.  It has a very strong Foreword from Sir Charlie Mayfield, Chairman (sic) of the John Lewis Partnership.  He argues that our low pay reflects a productivity problem, and notes how many low-paid people have no clear paths to show them how they might progress. The CIPD use the three  categories of low-pid worker which were developed originally by the Resolution Foundation, and which have proved themselves sound: - Stuck are those who…
Read More

Ageing and skills: how and why we are losing out

A powerful new report, The Missing Million, has just been published by PRIME, the Prince's Initiative for Mature Enterprise.  It makes the case for enabling far more older people to stay in work.  Many elements of the case are quite familiar:  the challenge  to us all of an ageing population; the need for individuals to assure themselves of a decent income in old age;  the intrinsic value of work, e.g. in the social contacts it brings;  and so on.  But there is a wealth of factual analysis and insights to back it up, some of them quite surprising (to me at least).  Apparently people in the UK on average believe that…
Read More

Pensions and skills

Pensions don't grab everyone.  When I was a youngish researcher, about 35 years ago, I did a study of employee trustees of pension schemes, and how much influence they had on the way the schemes were managed.  I got quite into this, since it seemed (and seems) to me really interesting that there were employees formally involved in the management of huge sums of capital (even then, in the early 1980s, the funds were worth many billions).  "Pension fund socialism' was a prospect raised by the management guru of the time, Peter Drucker.  In fact I got so into the topic that my friends used to make 'switch-it-off' gestures; years…
Read More

Fair play

Chwaere Teg means  'fair play' in Welsh - a good title for an organisation that is doing excellent work promoting equality issues in Wales.  I was in Newport last night giving a lecture for them on Paula (and chapeau to them - they aim to alternate female and male speakers in their lecture series, though the audience was 90% female). We had quite some discussion on careers.  Chwaere Teg produced last year an excellent report, A Woman's Place, on women in the Welsh workforce.  Welsh women are upping their learning - 55% have recently taken part in adult education or training, compared to just 39% in 1996, and a full…
Read More

Discrimination and networks

In the last couple of days I've done one of my last PP interviews, and had a lively discussion with members of the NHS Employers Forum.  Both brought up the question of the effects of networks on people's career prospects, and how difficult it is to draw the line between networks which are part of 'normal' working lives, and those which serve to exclude women. My interviewee, Olivia, is 30ish and works for a global branding agency.  She told me how in her first years there a middle-aged manager had put together a group of younger male colleagues, who went whisky-drinking together.  Olivia saw this as a rather desperate attempt…
Read More