Bristol recruitment company ISL has been ranked second in a league table of the UK’s best small firms for women to work in.
As part of the process to qualify for the Great Place to Work UK 2020 Best Workplaces for Women list, ISL was comprehensively audited on both employee experience and business practices and compared with organisations across various industries. 
Organisations considered a Best Workplace for Women must have programmes in place that look specifically at addressing gender imbalance in the workplace and are actively growing female talent.
ISL, which was founded in 2007 by directors Henry Keeys and Alan Furley out of a desire to challenge what they saw as a stereotypical ‘robotic’ recruitment, now has 22 employees with a 60-40 male-female representative split.
The firm has already featured in Great Place to Work tables, debuting in 2017, reaching fourth place in the table in 2018 and 11th earlier this year.
Alan Furley said appearing now in the Best Workplaces for Women table was as a result of the mission the pair created when they established the business.
“We set out to create a mature working environment where people enjoy coming to work, are treated equally and with respect, and are listened to,” he said.
“It is because of this that we believe we have attracted women to ISL and achieved such good representation and levels of retention.” 
He also said that the timing of this issue was important as women will be worst hit following lockdown due to traditionally more home and child-caring roles falling to them, despite advances in workplace gender equality.
“This is a pivotal time for women in the workplace as following lockdown many face having to stay at home to look after the children while higher earning partners get back into some kind of working normality,” he added.
“On top of this, it’s been well documented that women have faced a ‘double day’ of working from home and also picking up the more traditional female led roles in the house of childcare and housework.
“We have to ensure that workplaces therefore are ready and willing to not just welcome women back into work but make the necessary provisions for this to happen as easily and sensitively as possible.
“There’s no question that this comes down to the cultural belief system and understanding inherent in the organisation itself and we are advising clients creating inclusive cultures at the moment across the board.”
