These Companies Nailed Diversity Hiring. You Can, Too. Here’s How…
Women make up 47 percent of the American workforce and companies that don’t place a strong emphasis on recruiting them are ignoring a large talent pool.
Research also shows that companies with higher representation of women on boards have higher financial profits than those with lower representation of women. Female job seekers will also choose a company with higher representation of female executives than one with none at all.
Companies that are more gender-diverse have higher sales and profits compared to those that are more male-dominated. Placing a focus on hiring more women also shows its customer base their workforce is just as diverse as them.
With this strong evidence to show why women are critical in a company’s success, here’s a look now at how companies can make their workforce more diverse and inclusive so women more inclined to work for (and stay with) them.
Cultivate From Within
The promotion process inside a company should be reviewed to ensure bias isn’t occurring. For example, interpretation of communication styles should not be misinterpreted as lack of ambition if women may appear too timid or not aggressive resulting in the system overlooking them and us.
Education, training and professional development have shown to be strong incentives for women to join organizations. Rotational programs implemented across departments are crucial so we can build the skills and experience to advance.
Stay interviews are becoming another method to retain and attract females, as these meetings occur while women are employed, as opposed to exit interviews. They are usually held between a manager and a key employee, and when enough of them are held, it will uncover the most common concerns an employee may have. The information uncovered can be valuable to determining why women stay and what they are most frustrated with within the company.
Company Perks
Research from the Women’s Independent Forum show mothers in the workforce value workplace flexibility options and paid sick and vacation days the highest, while non-mothers find salary and raises far more valuable.
With only 69 percent of women returning to work after giving birth, more companies have realized the important of offering on-site child facilities.
Patagonia, Home Depot, Clif Bar & Co. and Burns & McDonnell have all opened child care facilities, with compelling reasons to do so. At Patagonia, they estimate that employee parents have been 25 percent less likely than other employees to leave over the last five years, and 100 percent of mothers have returned to work after maternity leave over the same period.
What Companies Are Doing
The following companies have taken steps to encourage hiring of women, so let’s have a closer look:
- Pinterest — Increased the hiring rate for full-time engineering roles to 30 percent female, with one female candidate interviewed for every open leadership position.
- Salesforce — Adjusted 6 percent of employees salary so they now pay women the same as men.
- Facebook — Created TechPrep, an online resource to increase the amount of women interested in technology, and Facebook University, an internship program for first- and second-year college students that targets female college students.
- CEB — Created a women’s focus group, Women at CFB, which is dedicated to engaging, developing and retaining female talent.
Conclusion
Attracting and retaining top female talent is a priority of every organization. Companies should work towards filling senior positions with women, and men should become mentors/sponsors and check their own decision-making decisions for bias.
You don’t necessarily have innovate to hire more women, you just need to understand what women want and need, then move forward with female-focused initiatives. Taking baby steps in the right direction will save companies from falling far behind in their competitiveness while driving during hiring success and improving the candidate/employee experience for women.
Learn more about how you can move the needle on diversity hiring at www.womensjobsearchnetwork.com
