What women want from there job?

McKinsey reckons women actually remain highly confident throughout their careers, but as they age their desire to move up dissipates faster than men's. Perhaps it is not so much a lack of ambition, as much as a different type of ambition: one that follows a different time course or involves doing something different, such as starting their own business, which women appear to be more keen to do than men. Fiona O'Hara, diversity lead for Accenture, UK and Ireland, observes: "I mentor a lot of women and I do see their ambition to get to senior executive level. The question these women ask me is how can I get there and at what speed, rather than 'is that the job for me'." There are many reasons why women's ambitions, and their careers, may not follow the smooth linear trajectory that men experience. Much of the debate focuses on the problems that women face, from discrimination to juggling family with work. As Ms Pinker writes: "At least 10 studies show that women, on average, find social aspects of the job more important than men, whereas men find pay and advancement the big carrots." Obviously, women do care about pay as well (and the less educated a woman is, the more likely she is to care), just as men also care about the social context of a job. But the weight men and women tend to attach to each differs. This is not to suggest that there is anything biologically inevitable about the low representation of women on UK corporate boards. First, there will always be many women (and most likely far more than today's low numbers) who do want the top jobs as they are currently constituted. Surveys are averages, not predictors of what an individual woman may want. Second, there would surely be far more clamouring for them if the very real obstacles cited by women were tackled. According to a McKinsey survey, 57 per cent of women believe the double burden of balancing work and domestic responsibilities is the biggest barrier to increasing gender diversity in the top management of companies. Close second, at 42 per cent, is the expectation that employees be available anywhere, any time. If there were credible changes in corporate culture, endorsed from the top, then the most senior jobs might be more attractive. As Joanna Barsh, a McKinsey director, notes: "Have companies changed the pervasive mindset that you have to make VP by the time you are 35 in order to be successful? Or are they open to the idea that you can still be on your way up in your 50s? "Because when women enter their 50s, they may be eager to do all kinds of work. Women worry that companies haven't changed and that if they take time off, they may be discounted."

Other issues that often come up include how to help women navigate their return to work after maternity leave and how to negotiate a corporate culture and informal networks that may not feel natural to them. Penny de Valk, chief executive of the Institute of Leadership & Management, observes: "The challenge for some women in more senior roles is understanding the rules of engagement the unwritten rules. "The reality is that in senior positions, the day job involves influencing people, not just getting better at a particular task, and women sometimes struggle with how you do that with integrity, how do you ensure it is congruent with personal values." With political and public pressure, change does happen, however, and significantly so in some countries. In Norway, 44 per cent of board directors are now women. In Australia, women have accounted for 27 per cent of all new board appointments since last summer. But some believe that the first step is a clearer understanding and acknowledgement of what women want. "Equal opportunities are not going to give you equal results," says Ms Pinker. "In countries with equal opportunities, there is an increasing trend towards gender segregation, with more women, for instance, gravitating towards the not-for-profit sector. "If companies are looking for more women to increase diversity on their boards, are they fishing in the right places? If they want women who will work 60-80 hours a week, then they will end up recruiting precisely those women whose preferences look more like men's."

Mallya gives Kingfisher bank guarantee, get Rs 50-cr cut

Press Trust of India / New Delhi October 2, 2011, 12:30 IST

Kingfisher Airlines has given a little over Rs 50 crore as commission to its chairman and key promoter Vijay Mallya, who provided guarantees worth more than Rs 6,100 crore for the airline's loans and other liabilities during the last fiscal. The airline, whose share price has crashed by over 20% in the past three trading sessions, is working hard to improve its financial health as well as operating performance, and as part of these efforts it plans to shut down its low-cost service Kingfisher Red in the next four months.

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For providing the additional level of collateral for its funding needs, the company gave Rs 50.87 crore to Mallya as "guarantee and security commission" during the year ended March 31, 2011, Kingfisher has told its shareholders. The airline disclosed the guarantees worth Rs 6,175.63 crore provided by Mallya and the commission paid to him in its Annual Report for FY11, which were made available to the shareholders ahead of its AGM last week in Bangalore. Mallya had also furnished guarantees totalling Rs 2,799.56 crore in FY10 on behalf of the company for loans taken and other liabilities, but did not get any commission that year. The company did not reply to detailed queries regarding the need for a collateral from Mallya and the exact details of loans and other liabilities for which he had to furnish his personal guarantee. However, Mallya told the shareholders, during his address at the AGM on Wednesday last week, that he "personally

stepped in to provide a third level of comfort to the lenders who have been extremely supportive of Kingfisher." Kingfisher, which claims to be the country's single largest airline with a market share of about 20%, is taking various steps to improve its operating performance and as part of these efforts has decided to phase out its low-cost service Kingfisher Red in about four months. However, the plans could not arrest a free-fall in the airline's share price, which has plunged by over 20% since Wednesday to Rs 20 apiece now. It has lost nearly Rs 250 crore of market value in just three days and the stock has fallen by nearly 78% from its 52week peak of Rs 91 scaled on October 8, 2010. The airline's market value has now fallen little below Rs 1,000 crore, from nearly Rs 4,500 crore about a year ago. Its total revenue rose by 23% in FY11 to Rs 6,496 crore, while it narrowed its net loss to Rs 1027 crore from Rs 1647 crore in FY10. In the latest quarter ended June 30, it posted a net loss of Rs 263.5 crore, while its revenue rose by 15% to Rs 1,911 crore. Mallya said that the airline implemented a debt-recast programme to lower its debt liabilities and Kingfisher was continuing to work with the consortium of banks with a view to further reduce the interest costs. Kingfisher said in an investor presentation in June that the recast lowered its total debt by about Rs 1,650 crore to Rs 6007.30 crore. "The banks have not only given relief to Kingfisher in the form of moratorium on repayment, extended tenor of the loans and reduced interest rates but also converted 30% of their outstanding loans into preference and equity capital," Mallya said. "By the same measure, I too have given my personal comfort to the Lenders over and above the securities provided by the Company and the additional collateral of UBHL guarantees," he added. Besides Mallya's guarantees, Kingfisher Airlines also got guarantees worth Rs 16,853 crore during FY11 from its holding company United Breweries (Holdings) Ltd (UBHL), which was paid commission of about Rs 58 crore. UBHL had also got commission worth Rs 49.5 crore in FY10, during which it had given guarantees of about Rs 6,985.5 crore. Mallya said that promoters have consistently supported the airline through direct investment, advances from the holding company, guarantees from the holding company and also by securing third party funds to meet exigencies in Kingfisher. He said that UBHL has provided Kingfisher with corporate guarantees totalling Rs 9,135 crore and each of these primary obligations was supported, in the first instance, by Kingfisher's assets and cash flows. The UBHL guarantees are by way of additional collateral to further strengthen the Promoters commitments, he added. At the end of FY11, the airline's total secured loans stood at about Rs 5,184.5 crore, up from Rs 4,842.4 crore a year ago. Its unsecured loans were, however, lower at Rs 1,872.55 crore as on March 31, 2011, from Rs 3,080.17 crore a year ago. Kingfisher paid a total of about Rs 1,119 crore as interest charges and Rs 191.5 crore as bank charges and guarantee commissions during FY11, up from Rs 1007.6 crore and Rs 88.8 crore respectively in the previous year.