Make it work for women to work!
Given the seismic changes over the last three years, we ask the question - where are we in terms of progress enabling women in the workforce? The headline – based on a recent study by Lean In and McKinsey - we’re in the midst of what they coin “the Great Breakup”.
Female leaders are still dramatically underrepresented in corporate America - especially at the most senior levels where only 1 in 4 C-Suite leaders is female. And women are leaving their companies in unprecedented numbers and at much higher rates than men. For every one woman at the Director level that gets promoted, two women Directors leave. Why? Three key reasons – flexibility, access, and support.
Flexibility was the silver lining in the pandemic world. When the pandemic began, women felt the brunt of the impact and 2 million jobs evaporated immediately. The good news – today 57% of women are in the workforce and women are returning to work post-pandemic at a higher rate than men. The bad news – as employers work to claw back flexibility, the impact on women is more pronounced. Marry that with the challenge of finding affordable childcare the lack of flexibility becomes a burden many women can’t or won’t bear. Those employers that support flexibility are more desirable for women, and they are voting with their feet.
Access to promotional opportunities has long been a challenge for women in the workforce. For every 100 men who get promoted from individual contributor to manager, only 87 women do. It’s worse for women of color. Women never catch up. Add to that the number of women who leave the workforce during childbearing years and the talent pipeline begins and remains increasingly lopsided. Additionally, women are more likely to be judged as less capable than their male counterparts and will receive less opportunity as a result.
Companies that are designing creative programs to help women enter or reenter the workforce are making progress in closing the pipeline gap. For example, Intuit launched two programs – the Apprenticeship Pathway Program and the Intuit Again return to work program – both aimed at helping those who are seeking to return to the workforce after an extended absence the ability to do so. Citibank has taken several steps to put teeth into their diversity and inclusive hiring and development practices and as a result has raised their female representation from 37% to 40.6% which is above average for that industry. Putting real teeth into the design of talent and development practices, and helping leaders recognize unconscious bias helps increase access to fair hiring and promotion.
Support, real support, matters in keeping women in your company. Women are 41% more likely to experience a toxic work environment, according to a recent MIT study. Using Glassdoor data to review what caused women to leave their workplaces, beyond pay inequity, women were most often likely to cite gender bias, discrimination and exclusion. This workplace experience is primarily encountered with one’s leader. Organizations that have moved beyond “unconscious bias training” as an event, but build in inclusive and collaborative practices in everyday ways of working are making greater progress. Those that reward leaders on demonstrable leadership capability make the most progress. Further, a 2020 McKinsey study cited the difficulties women encounter in finding sponsorship and mentorship in their organizations. Without that, it’s difficult to advance.
For all of us who are employers – it’s time to take a good hard look at how we are enabling flexibility, access, and support in real and measurable ways to both attract and retain the women in our workforce. What steps can we take?
True up compensation – Women still earn 82 cents to every dollar a male makes and are less likely to be offered equity-based awards.
Provide mentorship/sponsorship – Align senior mentors to high potential women to help them meet the right people, network, and navigate the political system effectively.
Ease childcare anxieties – Allow true flexibility – measures outcomes, not time in the building. Provide access to daycare – either through allowances or on-site care.
Ensure recognition – 37% of women report their ideas are credited to others compared to 27% of men having that experience. AND a woman is 2x as likely to be mistaken for someone more junior than a male. Make sure leaders are consciously valuing the contributions of the women who work with them.
Invest in development – women coming into the workforce from non-traditional routes or returning to the workforce after an absence due to child rearing can be brought up to speed with the right development. Tech companies are leading the way in providing non-traditional development opportunities in order to attract and retain women.
Communicate – women are more likely to be excluded from meetings and communications and may miss critical information to help them thrive and deliver. It’s also important to seek input and feedback from the women in our organizations to understand how we are doing and what requires continued change.
Acting with conscious thought and building key actions such as those cited above into our policies and ways of working will help us retain the talented women who want to work with us.
Bio
Deborah Brecher is President and Managing Director of Tandem Group. With more than 25 years in consulting, Deb has extensive experience working with CEOs, CHROs and senior executives in global companies developing and implementing talent management strategies and undergoing complex business transformation and change. Deb has worked with companies across many industries including include AT&T, Google, Comcast.