Women in Science – Schlumberger Position Paper

The issue is simple in fact: women with well demonstrated high school skills in mathematics and physics are consistently showing a lack of interest in continuing their studies in Engineering/Science disciplines. Universities are looking on as female students choose all kinds of alternative careers. As a consequence, the pool of future engineers /scientists is significantly shrunk both quantitatively and qualitatively and women’s chances to reach decision-making positions in the Industry and National Research are decreasing.

While competing for the best students on all campuses, Industry tends to consider that the low presence of women in technical disciplines is more of a social problem (“women are not ready for such careers”) than a business problem. They tend to not realize that access to an increased and more diverse pool of talent is a key competitive edge.

It is not clear that High Schools, Universities and Industry are taking this issue seriously.

Female students and their entourage have a tendency to accept the current situation as well as forgetting that R&D and engineering jobs are the royal career lines in business. This may be explained by lack of positive role models, lack of understanding of what a career in engineering can provide but really starts as early as with the kind of toys toddlers play with. We need to get children interested in science much earlier. Parents, teachers and others contributing to the status quo, must become active change agents.

Women feel isolated in the male bastion of R&D, but male students are also increasingly finding the R&D culture less appealing. The culture is certainly backwards in terms of policies and practices in areas like dual career management where balanced gender diversity is a catalyst for change.

Based on our experience, there is also a need to challenge the preconceived idea that men and women behave differently in front of concrete work tasks.

Schlumberger Experience

While we very early (from the 70s) were successful in nationality diversity at all levels, it was only in 1994 that we decided to address the issue of gender diversity as a business issue. We were certainly ahead in the Oil Industry where acceptable working and living conditions were not available for women at that time.

From 1994 to 2001 we have hired more than 4000 women engineers and professional staff from all the countries where we work. The % of women among engineering recruits has gradually increased. The presence of women has triggered significant changes in our culture and has made us a much better employer for men and women.

We expect 20% of our managers at all levels to be women in 2010 with full diversity when it comes to nationality and educational backgrounds. This is a top business objective for the company.

Programs that help us attract and retain women include:

High potential identification and succession planning: dedicated to identifying women with potential early in their careers and developing them through high profile or visible positions. Every succession plan, including the CEO’s, is required to have a certain percentage of women identified as “ready in the future”.

Recruitment: The Schlumberger culture strongly supports promotion from within, and we manage our female recruiting goals quite aggressively. We have shown constant improvement since 1994 and currently target 40% of our R&D hires to be female. A large percentage of our recruiters are female (45% in 2001). Female recruiters act as role models both on campus and within Schlumberger. Recruiting assignments last about 1.5 years with next assignments typically in management.

Dual Career Management: Schlumberger is developing programs to insure recognition as an employer of choice for dual career people. Current initiatives include Partnerjob.com, Permits Foundation, MEWS, hiring spouses, leaves of absence, flexible work schedules, educational assistance, and additional relocation benefits. This is a critical issue of importance for Schlumberger and it will receive particular emphasis in 2002 and beyond.

Diversity Managers: We have two full time professional Personnel Managers assigned to managing diversity and related issues, such as dual careers, harassment free workplace etc.

Schlumberger Women's Groups: In Schlumberger centers around the world, female employees are encouraged and supported in developing networking groups. The participants manage the groups locally but share experiences internationally.

IT Tools: Our IT tools allow regular statistical monitoring of our goals related to women, e.g., recruiting, resignations, hi-potential identification and removal of status and succession planning. In addition, our Career Center allows employees to inform the company of any personal issues related to their career development in a way the employee feels is appropriate.

The latest information and communication technology, available to all employees, is widely used to increase work flexibility. A large number of employees are, for example, sometimes working from home.

Outreach programs to young people in Science: Schlumberger Excellence in Educational Development (SEED) is a giving schools access to the Internet through grants and sharing the technical expertise of Schlumberger volunteers through the SEED Educational Website. The website has a section called “Women in Science and Engineering” bringing together Schlumberger engineers, scientists and schoolgirls.

Conclusion

To succeed in this task, companies need to change their policies to make room for gender diversity and dual career couples. Furthermore, high schools, universities and industry need to work together to promote change. Young people will have little interest in joining Universities, Labs and Industries resisting change, or being passive about it.

Annika Joelsson, Diversity Manager Schlumberger June 2002