Leading psychologist says women at the top are being set up for a fall

Women
at work should worry less about the ‘glass ceiling’ and prepare themselves for
a fall off a ‘glass cliff’, according to a new study.

The
research of 300 employees, by a team at Exeter
University
led by professor of psychology and editor of the European Journal of Social
Psychology Alex Haslam,
found that successful companies chose male candidates, while businesses that
were in trouble chose women.

Haslam said women were offered
senior posts because they were better at handling business crises. This led to
women being given more difficult jobs with a higher chance of failure.

“We’ve
found evidence of this in every company we have looked at. If a company is doing well, then the ‘jobs for the boys’ rules
apply. But if it is in trouble, no man wants to give a job to
their friends, so the answer is to get in a woman,” Haslam told the British Association for the
Advancement of Science.

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

Email(Required)

OptOut

From time to time, we will send you emails about selected products, events and services from Personnel Today - but you can choose to opt-out at any time. If you do not wish to receive these emails, please tick this box.

Comments

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Δ

Michael Millar