January 29th, 2009
The gender gap isn’t just an image problem: our research suggests that it can have real implications for company performance. Some companies have taken effective steps to achieve greater parity.
-Georges Desvaux, Sandrine Devillard-Hoellinger, and Mary C. Meaney
Nice report from McKinsey Quarterly that came out in late 2008 on women in the workforce. Take a few minutes and check it out. A few key points to consider:
- In the United States, fewer than a third of the leading 1,500 companies had even a single woman among their top executives in 2006.
- Besides helping companies to fill shortfalls of talent, gender diversity can allow them to attract and retain it and to meet other business goals.
- Using data on 1,500 US companies from 1992-2006, Dezo and Ross demonstrate the strong positive association between return on assets, on the one hand and the female top-management participation rate on the other.
- Some companies have organized training for recruiters and operational managers on the importance of diversity and on identifying prejudices that might affect their decisions.
- Coaching, mentoring, and networking programs have proved quite successful in helping female executives succeed-for instance, by encouraging them to seek out new positions more aggressively. Internal research at HP showed that women apply for open jobs only if they think they meet 100 percent of the criteria listed, whereas men respond to the posting if they feel they meet 60 percent of the requirements.
So…how is your organization doing?
Do you examine workforce data on a regular basis?
Do you look for gender differences in hiring, promotions, pay, retention or leadership?
If there are differences are you taking action?
If not, then you should read this report. Then you should share it with your co-workers. Then make sure the conversation continues around these questions.