The New York Times ran a story yesterday on the relative shortage of female partners in law firms, which compare unfavorably to accounting firms. What caught my eye was this quote from a Deloitte executive, explaining why the firm was offering such a wide range of benefits including long-term sabbaticals and flexible schedules:
"The cost of women leaving and the cost of turnover was so high and the fact that the majority of accounting graduates were women were strong drivers of our initiatives," said Wendy C. Schmidt, a Deloitte principal in New York.While legislation and PR will compel many companies to provide minimum lip-service to things like policies that support working mothers, nothing beats the bottom line. To the extent that benefits like these make the world a better place, the talent shortage will do more than any legislation ever could to compel companies to provide them.