How to Increase Gender Equality in Your Workforce

Tomorrows workforce is taking shape today. But Washingtons business leaders should ask themselves whether they have adequately addressed the issue of gender equality and whether they are on a path to building greater workforce diversity.

Despite years of progressive policies, current female hiring, promotion, and retention rates are insufficient to dramatically improve gender equality over the next decade.

Fortunately, proactive leadership can play a key role in building a diverse global workforce.

The World Bank recently reported that global labor force participation rates for women ages 1564 have actually declined over the past two decades. And The Human Capital Report, released by the World Economic Forum in partnership with Mercer in 2013, found that only 60%70% of the eligible female population participates in the global workforce compared with male participation well above 80%.

And while talent flows will move more women into senior roles, equal representation is still far off. Furthermore, progress could stagnate if organizations dont take a more aggressive approach to gender equality.

These observations are based on recent Mercer data on workforce representation and internal labor market flows (e.g., hires, promotions, and terminations) submitted by 164 companies in 28 countries covering 1.7 million employees including more than 680,000 women. Mercers report featuring these data, When Women Thrive, Businesses Thrive, challenges todays corporate leadership to find fresh solutions to this all-too-common problem.

Traditional leave and flex-time programs often fail to make lasting improvements especially in the absence of leadership engagement and manager training. Executives need to champion innovative programs that target womens unique health and financial needs, such as gender-customized retirement solutions, to create a differentiating value proposition.

Educational programs aimed at womens unique health needs are also part of the solution, as are programs that promote gender pay equity these can help ensure better levels of female representation. Companies also need to steer clear of unconscious bias and provide effective career coaching to employees.

A siloed approach to gender diversity is counter-productive, research shows. Organizations that focus on holistic approaches to support female talent have more comparable talent flows for women and men than those that do not.

Only a disciplined, statistical review of the organizations employment data will ensure optimal configuration. The data might show, for example, the value of exposure to supervisory and/or critical roles, the importance of internal mobility, or a need to eliminate bias in performance review processes.

Executives need to admit there is a problem but acknowledge and embrace the opportunity. Gender diversity strategies should be based on robust workforce analytics, identifying the drivers of and barriers to gender equality. Diversity strategies should align with talent strategies, so that diversity programs dont run counter to how talent is managed.

Finally, gender diversity programs should be implemented only in the context of an enabling environment one that actively encourages women to effectively use available programs and benefits in the context of their overall career development.

Collaboration will also have a positive impact on the female talent pipeline. Leaders can position their organizations for success by influencing women through alliances with other key stakeholders, such as schools, governments, public health organizations, industry groups, and NGOs. To ensure tomorrows global business success today, organizations need a mix of skills.

A truly gender-diverse workforce is vital. Ultimately, optimal gender diversity takes more than having a standard diversity policy and traditional programs.

Learn more about Mercers groundbreaking study, When Women Thrive, Businesses Thrive.”

Tracy Bean ([email protected]) is a partner at Mercer and leads the talent practice in the PNW, helping organizations assess, engage, develop and reward their workforce. Tracy specializes in executive and broad-based reward strategies.