5 Strategies to Support & Advance Women in the Workplace

Why should business leaders want to support and advance women in the workplace?

Other than fairness and equality – which should be driving factors – there are direct results for your bottom line. According to a Gallup study, business units with gender diversity show above-average revenue compared to those without gender diversity. 

Furthermore, teams diverse in gender deliver better sales results than teams with primarily male employees. On top of that, when Fortune 500 companies have more women on their boards, they tend to outperform those with a lower representation of women.

Realistically, though, profit margins aren’t everything. A more diverse workplace is a better workplace on a variety of metrics, including talent acquisition and retention. And opening your company up to different people from varying backgrounds creates a flourishing culture that turns your organization into a desired hub for top talent. 

Start leveraging the many advantages that come with supporting and advancing women in the workplace with the following strategies: 

Formalize Women’s Advancement and Support in the Workplace. 

It’s time to formalize women’s advancement in your workplace. 

Establish an official program tailored to women that helps develop their professional leadership skills. Focus these initiatives around teaching women to grow their networks and cultivate these new relationships. Plus, you can help these talents explore the potential for a new career path while broadening their impact on your organization.  

Apply training and self-assessments to help with skill-building. Lastly, ensure that your goals are to achieve gender equality in leadership positions.

Join the Fight Against the Pay Gap. 

Equal pay for equal work is a straightforward concept that many businesses struggle with.

There’s no reason that women should earn 79 cents on the dollar compared to men. Especially since women – on average – receive more college degrees than men.

It’s time to shrink this pay gap. Inspire your leadership team to earnestly analyze this issue. From there, be more transparent about salaries and equal pay. 

Develop Employee Resource Groups

Here are three distinct advantages that result from an employee-driven resource group:

•     Through supporting their leadership, you’ll help women in your workplace receive guidance to succeed in all areas of their lives.
•     You’re fostering a gender-intelligent culture.
•     You’re committing to identifying and getting rid of barriers for women. 

These groups should be safe spaces, encouraging everyone to say their piece and be heard. This kind of initiative only works when people ask authentic questions and receive genuine feedback.

Creating these groups will help you understand what women in your workplace need to thrive and flourish. From there, you can offer relevant solutions. 

Provide a Women-Centric Sponsorship

The women in your workforce with tons of potential might just need the extra boost of confidence to hit their professional stride. This added jolt in the right direction can result from a workplace sponsorship program.

Offering a women-focused sponsorship gives female talents a better chance at breaking the leadership barrier. This results from providing relationship opportunities that otherwise wouldn’t be available without a helping hand.

Turn Men into Allies 

Men play as much of a role as women in paving the road to gender equality. 

Don’t get tunnel vision in building your gender-diversity initiatives and only focus on women. Men can thrive as allies by being more informed and educated on how they can help. 

After all, supporting women in the workplace is about gender inclusivity. Inherently, that idea weighs on men being involved as well.

These 5 initiatives can give organizations a tremendous boost when aiming to support women in the workplace. But such strategies are complicated and require forward-thinking talent who understand the benefits of gender equality in the workplace. 

On the above note, Remedy Recruiting has access to a diverse group of high-performing candidates. Contact us today to find out more.