Amsterdam office signs up to Talent to the Top Charter

On behalf of Odgers Berndtson The Netherlands, Michael Mellink, Managing Partner has signed up to the charter ‘Talent to the Top’,  on May 26, 2011.

The Charter is a code in The Netherlands designed to realize and to preserve a continuous flow of talent, especially women,  into top positions.  Companies, government institutions and nonprofit organizations can commit to the code voluntarily, but do so on the basis of specific objectives. The basic principle of the Charter is that organizations are responsible themselves for the required cultural shift at the top of their organization to achieve a smooth continuous flow of talent into senior leadership positions. For this purpose, organizations must take concrete, measurable initiatives.

Signatories set their own organization specific targets focused on middle and top management and fitting into their strategy and current position regarding the number of women in (top) management positions. For illustration and inspiration, the Charter offers an elaborate review of HR best practices.  The Charter focuses on all employers, meaning listed and unlisted companies, institutions and public organizations in the Netherlands. The Charter consists of a preamble and principles. The preamble describes the context and philosophy of the Charter. Signatories commit to the principles and will give yearly reports on the progress of their objectives to a Monitoring Committee.

To support and ensure the implementation of the Charter, a taskforce has been created, its members include:

Sybilla Dekker, Chairperson, (Chairperson Ambassadors Network, former Secretary of State for Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment);
Ronald Plasterk (Secretary of State for Education, Culture and Science);
Frank Heemskerk (State Secretary for Economic Affairs);
Bernard Wientjes (Chairman Employers Association VNO-NCW);
Alexander Rinnooy Kan (Chairman Social Economic Council); WiebeDraijer (Managing director Benelux, McKinsey & Company); and
Jos Nijhuis (Chairman, Board of Directors, PricewaterhouseCoopers).

Odgers Berndtson in The Netherlands was one of eighteen new signatories to the charter in a ceremony at which the representatives of the new signatories were joined by the Prime Minister of The Netherlands, Mr Mark Rutte.

For further information please contact Michael Mellink or Edward van den Boorn of the Dutch Odgers Berndtson office ( + 31 20 7 130 670 ) and / or visit www.talentnaardetop.nl (There is a button to read this site in English.)