'Chicks' Shouldn't Need 'D.cks'

The New York Times last week quoted Joe Gregory, the president of Lehman Brothers, who once said that 'you can't build a great company without great people - and great people are not just white, straight men aged 25 to 40'. He also claims that 'the days of the psycho-workaholic with no work/life balance are numbered. It's just not a recipe for success'.

As investment banks make serious efforts to increase the diversity of their workforces, one obvious 'minority' grouping is getting more attention than ever - experienced women bankers who have left the industry to look after their young. And attracting them back into the fold will mean that firms will need to be more flexible in their outlook, and pay much more than lip-service to the idea of work/life balance. In short, the investment banking industry will need to quickly shed its macho image, and make life easier for returning mothers who, after all, have much more on their plate than a day at the office.

And firms are beginning to realise that women returning from raising a family have a lot to offer an organisation - experience, maturity, and a sense of balance, to name but a few. Yet a 2004 study undertaken in the US, sponsored by Goldman Sachs and Lehman, revealed that of 2,443 'highly qualified' women questioned, only 5% of the 2,271 who wanted to return to work, were looking to return to the places they had left.

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