Telstra has today announced that chief executive David Thodey will step down after five years in the job. He will be replaced by the telco’s CFO Andrew Penn who will commence as CEO on 1 May this year.
Thodey is one of the Male Champions of Change, a group of 20 leaders committed to accelerating women’s representation in leadership.
The group has not been immune from criticism but Thodey has gone further than many in implementing an ‘All Roles Flex’ policy last year.
“By March 2014, all roles at Telstra will be advertised as flexible. That is, flexibility will be considered the starting point for all roles – both at the recruitment stage and for current employees. We are the first large corporate in Australia to implement such an initiative and it required a leap of faith for some of our leaders,” Thodey wrote.
“Our work is not just about numbers, although this is certainly important. It is really about creating an inclusive culture within our organisations for both women and men to achieve their full potential – without any barriers.”
Just last week I was at an event where his praises as a leader genuinely committed to gender diversity were privately being sung. Hopefully the incoming CEO Andrew Penn will adopt a similar approach.
After reading the news of Thodey’s planned exit, another headline caught my eye. The Australian’s Business Now wrote: Telstra’s new CEO will be paid 12% less than Thodey.
Imagine if they had hired a woman and saved themselves 45%?
As you may have read earlier this week the Workplace Gender Equality Agency released data showing the pay gap between men and women in management is as high as 45%.
The obvious question of why these women are paid so much less, has been explored at length. Curiously though, the flipside gets far less attention. Why are the males paid so much more?
Whatever the answer, why don’t businesses – that are driven by dollars – seek out more female managers given they can snap them up for almost half the price? I’m genuinely interested.