Erste Bank achieves a 40% quota of women in managerial positions

Erste Bank has been able to increase its number of female managers by 25 percent in the last five years. While 32 percent of these positions were held by women in 2012, the figure is now up to 40 percent. “We’ve finally reached a level of normality. It would be great to no longer have to talk about young or old, male or female, big or small. Female managers and diversity in general should be normal. That’s the next stage of the company’s evolution, and it’s something we all need to keep working together on”, says Claudia Höller, member of the Erste Bank Oesterreich executive board. 

4 in 10 managerial positions are held by women – this is the pleasing result of numerous measures implemented by Erste Bank to enable more female staff to embark on such a career move. “Women tend to assume they need to put in 120%, and have less confidence than men. Women could say ‘I’ll just give it a try. All that can happen is that it ends up not being enough’ a lot more often than they do”, adds Höller.

There are many different reasons why women are reticent in the workplace. It is common for career moves to be impeded by the double pressure of job and family, as well as a lack of confidence/courage. That’s why, as early as five years ago, Erste Bank put together a comprehensive package to encourage women in their careers. The package includes specialised training for women, mentoring programmes, a special “Erste Women’s Hub” network and events, plus flexible framework conditions for a work-life balance. It is also important to ensure a healthy balance of replacement staff and talent support. “What’s clear is that managers are only selected based on their human and professional qualities”, Höller concludes.