Looking at diversity and inclusion in the German corporate world, you will often be confronted with the so called Thomas principle. Long story short: In Germany, there are more men named Thomas on management boards than women combined. This huge imbalance does not only have an impact on a socio-political scale. Various studies have shown that diverse leadership teams strongly influence and enable sustainable company success:
Diversity of thought and perspectives are only possible if we bring people from diverse backgrounds together and give them a voice. A thing that we have learnt: Change that is not initiated and supported from the top has less of an impact. In order to achieve more diversity, e.g. increase the number of women in leadership positions, old (male) patterns need to be broken - and this ideally starts on a leadership level.
But how can we achieve that? What does the playing field look like for women at idealo? What are the (un)spoken expectations women leaders are confronted with at idealo and how do they deal with them? But also, what career advice beyond the outdated “lead like a man“ would they share?
We want to start a conversation. About personal experiences. About what needs to change.
"We’ve already implemented various measures over the years to to address and improve the lack of representation of women in leadership as well as Tech positions. Being part of the Gender Balanced Leadership Initiative allows us to align and focus our efforts to reach the target we set for ourselves.”
Caroline Erler Head of People
Our commitment to balanced leadership at idealo
Today, 45% of idealo's employees are women. If we look only at the management levels, i.e. all idealos with leadership responsibility, the current share of women from the team leads up to our top management is 42%. Although this is already higher than the German average of 27% (in 2021) of women in leadership positions, we want to contribute to diversity and fair representation at idealo.
As part of the Axel Springer Group's Gender Balanced Leadership (GBL) Initiative, we have set ourselves the goal of increasing the proportion of women in leadership at idealo to 44% by 2026.
Why are we focusing on a goal to increase the proportion of women in leadership?
Simply because we cannot be satisfied with the current status. This target within the framework of the Gender Balanced Leadership initiative is the first markup for idealo to set and track targets for itself within the framework of D&I measures. We are confident that we can become more diverse and successful with the actions taken and changes at the management levels. Therefore, we currently see the focus on management positions as the most effective lever for more diversity and inclusion across all dimensions.
Lead Like a Man - Being a woman in a leadership role at a (tech) company
Unfortunately, women leaders are still not common in a lot of industries and often receive the advice to “lead like a man” if they want to get ahead. But what does this even mean? And how useful is this advice really?
In honor of International Women's Day, we organized a panel discussion to take a closer look at what that even means and discuss different ways of leading, debunk some myths, and collect tips on how to find your own leadership style.
Next stop: #idealolife
Take a look at all our open positions and apply now!