Ten things companies can do to increase gender diversity in the workplace – Part 1

An article appeared recently on www.reuters.com that listed ten useful tips for companies to assist them in working towards a more diverse gender balance.

Step 1 Work towards “functional diversity”

“Professor Scott Page of the University of Michigan uses this term to capture the idea that we need people with diverse ways of perceiving problems, rather than groupthink, in order to devise better solutions. As a recent Ernst & Young report points out, a group of intelligent problem solvers chosen at random will outperform a homogenous group of even the best problem solvers, under the right conditions.”

Does your organisation have different thinking styles on your Board? Do you nurture ‘outside the box’ ideas or stick with the ‘tried and true’ methods?

Step 2 Send a message from the top

“A report from McKinsey & Co. found that almost all companies that achieved significant change in gender diversity ‘benefited from the personal commitment of the CEO’.”

Does your CEO recognise the importance of gender diversity? What policies has the CEO set in place for nurturing female talent in your organisation?

Step 3 Put more women on your Board

“According to a recent report from InterOrganization Network (ION), an alliance of women's business organizations, board-ready women are not difficult to find. A significant number of qualified women serve in executive capacities in Fortune 1000 companies. Others run large hospitals and non-profit organizations, are active members of industry associations and professional organizations and regularly attend educational and corporate governance programs offered by business.”

A recent article on the Women on Boards website noted that a diverse Board can often times lead to more profitable organisations. The article quotes: “These companies will be able to draw from a broader pool of talent in an era of talent shortages. What’s more, research shows a correlation between high numbers of female senior executives and stronger financial performance.” Furthermore, the article also notes that having more than one female on the Board makes a defining difference on Board performance.

How many women are on your organisation’s Board? How are Board members recruited? Is there a diversity policy?

Step 4 Rethink Human Resources

“As research shows and Inforum's members can attest, corporate HR policies often, inadvertently, hold back professional women at the very stage - in their late 20s and early 30s - when their careers should be taking off. Simple changes could address that. For example, evaluation processes that penalize women for taking maternity leave could be changed so that a woman's tenure with the company includes that time.”

What HR policies are in place to ensure women are not penalised for taking maternity leave? Is there any noticeable bias on the promoting of women of child bearing age?

Step 5 Recruit smarter

“Some simple changes in the way companies recruit new employees could make a big difference. According to McKinsey, companies that simply train recruiters and operational managers on the importance of diversity can make meaningful progress in recruiting women. One European company raised the application rate of women for technical, sales-oriented jobs by 40 percent simply by changing the text on the ad and replacing a stock photo of a man with a photo of that company's senior women.”

Look at your recruitment adverts - do they appeal equally to both sexes? Look at your website and publications – are they oriented towards a particular sex?

Part 2 next fortnight will look at the next five steps to creating a greater gender diversity in your organisation. Or you can read the full article on Reuters here.