Once upon a time (or so the story goes), an accountancy firm gave a talk to The 30% Club in which it explained that the way work is typically allocated in professional service firms allows unconscious bias to thrive. Despite attempts to introduce work allocation systems, partners tend (rightly or wrongly) to give work to associates with whom they have already built up good working relations – and this tends to exclude women.
Despite being viewed by many as a tool to boost diversity, a work allocation system could actually...
