A series of crises over the last three years has affected the career arcs of women in banking — for the worse, but also, for the better.
There was the onset of COVID-19 and ensuing worries about
At the same time, employee expectations are changing. Women don't just want lengthier paid maternity leave, but more holistic help with family planning and caregiving. There are opportunities to transfer their experience laterally, and counterbalance the advent of artificial intelligence and other technologies in the workplace with savvy leadership and other "soft" skills.
Two panels at American Banker's
"What has helped us a bit in the past 18 months is the tech industry hasn't been as buoyant as we had seen five years ago, so banking is coming back into the forefront" in the minds of job seekers, said
One issue brought up by Orrico and co-panelist
"You don't need a degree in IT to be an IT specialist or a degree in economics or finance to be a successful banker," said
Another issue is the growing desire for support for parents of young children.
Orrico, who is expecting her third child in a few weeks, pointed out that being a woman in leadership who is visibly pregnant has sparked personal discussions with other women who worry about balancing career and family, especially as they rise in the ranks and take on more responsibility.
"The firm has come a long way from a benefits perspective," she said of BNP Paribas. The bank has steadily increased the number of weeks parents receive for maternity and paternity leave.
That is still not enough, Mariniello said.
"We've done a lot on the maternity leave side, which is great, but what we are hearing from junior women is they want more family planning," she said on the same panel. That could mean having an employee's back when she is undergoing in vitro fertilization and may have to drop work obligations at a moment's notice for treatments, in a way that could appear to be negligent from the outside — something that Mariniello experienced with a woman on her team.
"I don't think enough firms train managers on the challenges their teams go through," she said.
The industry has certainly come a long way since Brady gave birth to her oldest child 26 years ago and took a phone call while in labor. Her company was going through a merger and she was on the merger team.
"Times have changed," she quipped.
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Another topic was the importance of soft skills, which are sometimes undervalued in favor of flashy results or technological expertise. But while machines can replace some technical jobs, such as coding, they cannot replicate these more human qualities.
"Our businesses are extremely results driven," said Orrico. "In markets, people often get promoted based on their production and how much money they made for the firm, which are all valuable things. But they are not necessarily promoted because of their leadership skills or vision, which is quite short-sighted."
The result: High performers sometimes become poor managers.
The panelists also weighed in on ways women could advocate for themselves in the workplace.
"I remember being told that women overshare," said Mariniello.
"We tend to be apologetic," said Orrico, who recalls a male co-manager forthrightly communicating that he couldn't attend an important presentation. The reason was that he had promised his daughter he would join her school field trip that day.
"I learned it's OK to have a boundary," said Orrico. "You don't have to explain yourself. Generally speaking, people won't ask questions."
While supportive managers are crucial, it's also everyone's responsibility to "own our careers," said Orrico. "That doesn't mean you have to be self-promoting all the time," but it could mean proactively asking a manager for stretch assignments, for example. Brady recalls that she progressed the most in her career "when I was asked to do something that made my stomach churn," she noted. The catch-up she needed to do helped her grow.
Even now, "I say this all the time, that I'm not qualified to run my job today," said Brady. "I constantly have to keep pace with what is going on."
Yet not every woman must aspire to climb the ladder for the sake of reaching certain senior levels, or penetrate male-dominated sectors of banking, such as technology.
Brady encouraged parents to embolden their daughters' pursuit of math and science subjects in school, but only if they have the aptitude — and to be mindful of the fact that there may be social pressures that divert their interests elsewhere.
Although technology is a big part of her job, "For some women that is not the choice they want to make," she said. "You may have other priorities. 'I've gotten to a certain level of my career and my success is defined by X.' Whether you have children or not, or are a man or woman, you define what success looks like for you."
