As part of IFA Magazine’s International Women’s Day celebrations, ParkWalk’s Susie Harris and Cassie Doherty tell us about just some of the ways that their team have been adapting in order to harness the benefits of greater diversity and inclusion within the business.
According to Susie Harris, Head of Business Development, Parkwalk Advisors, the fact that the organisation has embraced hybrid working has really helped build gender diversity commenting:
“I believe that the move to more flexible working options has the potential to have a huge impact on gender diversity in the workplace – and in several different ways. For example, when it comes to working parents, a hybrid set-up allows both parents to participate in childcare, freeing up women (traditionally the primary caregivers) to come into the office more frequently and allowing them to work to less rigid hours. This benefit extends beyond just gender diversity, allowing parents for whom childcare costs are prohibitive, more flexibility in terms of career options. However, the benefits of hybrid working apply not just to parents but right across the workforce. Also, it means that reduced commuting can help employees use their time more efficiently and also improves employee well-being, reducing the chances of illness and burnout.
“Parkwalk began supporting hybrid working prior to Covid. Our team is now comprised of 64% women, five of whom joined in the last two years, which we feel is a strong endorsement of its impact on gender diversity and the benefits it brings.”
Cassie Doherty, Investment Director, Parkwalk Advisors, goes on to say that there are considerable benefits to having greater diversity and inclusion within business – and that this should extend to investment committees too – as she comments:
“The evidence that diverse teams make better decisions is unquestionable. As investors we need to make sure that the composition of our investment committees reflects a diversity of background and opinions. This will ensure that we make robustly challenged investment decisions that are not subject to bias, benefiting our stakeholders and also aligning with the diversity we want within our portfolio. At Parkwalk 40% of our investment team are women.”
About ParkWalk Advisors
Parkwalk is a leading investor in ‘hard science’ companies: commercialising the scientific discoveries made at the UK’s globally-ranked research universities. Parkwalk is the UK’s most active investor in the university spin-out sector, and currently has over £400m of assets under management.
