Business acumen in government
Posted by: Helen on Mar 09, 2010 17:16
A short while ago in one blog, I got hot under the collar as a result of the government saying what bankers bonuses should - or should not - be paid this year. Whatever the reality about who is paid what and for what level of performance, what I care about is the harm I see being done by the government interfering in business just to get a bit of good publicity. And now the meddling continues...
Yesterday The Guardian reported Gordon Brown as saying that it was “completely unacceptable that some of our top 100 public companies have not a single woman on their boards” and suggested that firms need to start reporting on what they are doing to increase women in senior management positions and most worryingly, the message I heard was that this should become one further legal requirement for companies to adhere to.
Again, the issue of the number of women on senior boards aside, what right does the government have to meddle in business? They introduced the equal pay legislation in the 70’s but that hasn’t exactly achieved much so what do they think they will achieve this time? A simple publicity stunt would be my cynical view.
So ‘butt out’ of business is my message to government. But if they really want to do some good, how about instead of threats and accusations, focus on creating some really positive publicity for those businesses that do incredibly well, that promote staff, that engage staff, that develop staff, that have women on the Board and if they do this, I have no doubt at all, that those who flag behind will end up following the good examples set when they see the clear business benefits (e.g. publicity) of doing so. But more red tape – I hardly think that’s going to achieve much and what a waste of everyone’s time…
