3 Keys to your Gender Diversity Program
Inexpensive Strategies You Can Use To Start Unlocking Now
It is well-known that the Lockdown N.0 (yeah! we lost count) has taken a toll on women worldwide. But let’s focus on where our country’s women workforce stands. Currently, the working women constitute a mere 9% of those employed than working men at 67%. This is ominous as it leaves workplaces at a competitive disadvantage.
Most organizations do not have a robust Diversity and Inclusion at workplace function, which can ensure good quality jobs and provide support to the women who are struggling in the trying times of the pandemic.
Why Women Need Good Quality Jobs?
Good quality jobs are imperative for working women, who otherwise are often not ‘allowed’ to work, given the greater household demands in the current times and the patriarchal society. After all, if the job is not worthy of the struggle between family responsibilities and work, why choose it? Due to worsening market conditions, today’s women are left with no ‘choice’ work, or no choice to work. Either way, they lose!
Here are strategies that you can deploy right away to support your women employees. They are not expensive to execute as many organizations are struggling too.
These 3 inexpensive Key Strategies are also proven measures or hidden gems in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at workplace (D,E&I) Programs.
What are Proven Measures and Hidden Gems in D,E&I?
When management and women employees agree that a measure is effective, it is called a Proven Measure. A Hidden Gem is a measure that is highly valued by women but under-rated by company leaders, especially men.
The over-arching requirement in Diversity and Inclusion at workplace is that women want tools that can help them balance work and family responsibilities. This equity is a universal requirement for women, pandemic notwithstanding.
Women want to advance in their careers too
This balance is not to say that they are not ambitious to climb the corporate ladder. Contrary to popular belief that women only want a ‘mere paying job,’ women rate Advancement in their careers much higher in importance than what men usually rate for them. Most company leaders (often men) still underestimate the challenges faced by women employees, thereby spending on ineffective D,E&I initiatives, or not spending enough on effective/practical measures. (Boston Consulting Group, Jan. 2019)
Holding one-time-only Diversity training programs is one such ineffective yet over-rated measure. It is never enough to reshape an organizational culture. (BCG Global Gender Diversity Survey, 2017)
Key # 1: Targeting Moments of Truth – A Hidden Gem
You don’t need to undertake a company-wide survey to find out what are critical junctures in a woman’s career. And indeed, you don’t need to have superior gender intelligence to know that the current pandemic is the time your women employees need your support more than ever before.
Companies with relatively limited resources during the pandemic need to focus on Moments of Truth in women’s careers to generate strong ROI.
Women on the verge of quitting jobs due to familial pressures or returning to work from extended leave are at critical junctures in their careers. Suppose promising women leave due to a lack of flexible options at the workplace. This will result in a financial penalty your organization will pay for losing on Retention and eventually having a gender-skewed leadership team.
Can we ignore this Statistics? Higher representation of women in leadership teams results in 34% greater returns for shareholders. (Fast Company)
Common Misconceptions lead to Blindspots
According to women, Retention & Advancement are more considerable challenges, but according to men, Recruitment is the problem area in Gender Diversity. This difference is a misconception that can lead to organizations misallocating valuable resources and overlooking potentially beneficial areas.
Key # 2: Flexible Work Options – A Proven Measure
If you can provide them flexible or part-time work options during the pandemic, these measures are sure to pay off in the longer run, with greater Retention, higher Engagement, and Advancement. As already mentioned further above, the rise of women’s careers is significant for your Diversity and Inclusion program’s success. This advancement of women’s careers also leads to the visibility of Role-Models, a Hidden Gem (Key # 3.)
Additionally, Employee Engagement is a critical indicator of your organization’s success.
Impressive Stats: Recognizing the importance of Moments of Truth, GSK launched a coaching program to help people during critical times. Since the program launched in 2015, the 12-months-later Retention rate for program participants was 100%. And women reported finding it particularly beneficial.
Key # 3: Provide Visibility – A Hidden Gem
It doesn’t take a lot to provide extra visibility to the women employees who are doing well. You can do this by having them in crucial meetings, roundtable discussions, webinars, and other events. They will value it, learn from it, and return the favour with increased Engagement. Moreover, they will resist any familial pressures they could be facing to quit the job. As their learning and engagement opportunities increase, so will their Performance. This will lead to better increments, which will likely influence their family members to start being more supportive. This family support will lead to greater Retention. Everything is connected.
Do women have a choice?
Whether due to external pressures or their over-stretched capacity, women the world over are quitting jobs in eye-popping numbers. Well, do they have a choice?
More importantly, can you help them stay back and even advance using some of these inexpensive yet proven measures? At Rainmaker Training Solutions, we can support your organization to help women by designing a complete D,E&I Intervention based on facts and research findings. Our Scalable, Sustainable, and Effective Solutions can help unlock your Employee Diversity Training programs’ success and help women rise above the turmoil caused by the pandemic while sharpening your competitive edge.
If you believe ambition is not a dirty word for women, you are on the right track for your organization’s Gender Diversity program’s success.
References:
Number of women workers decline in India due to slowdown, pandemic; younger ones facing too many challenges by Satyaki Chakraborty from Nationalheraldindia.com
Getting the Most from Your Diversity Dollars By Jennifer Garcia-Alonso, Matt Krentz, Claire Tracey, and Miki Tsusaka from Bcg.com
Measuring What Matters in Gender Diversity by Katie Abouzahr, Matt Krentz, Lauren Van Der Kolk, and Nadjia Yousif from Bcg.com
The Rewards of an Engaged Female Workforce by By Matt Krentz, Claire Tracey, Miki Tsusaka, Rainer Strack, Jennifer Garcia-Alonso, Diana Dosik, and Julie Kilmann from Bcg.com
Stuck-At-Home Moms: The Pandemic’s Devastating Toll On Women by Pallavi Gogoi from Npr.org
Shattering the Glass Ceiling – An Analytical Approach to Advancing Women into Leadership Roles By Susanne Dyrchs and Rainer Strack from Bcg.com
Why place gender parity at the heart of business | Mercer
Author: Sumali Nagarajan
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