Hereè檚 how the Worldè檚 Best 天美影院 are creating spaces where women can thrive ahead of International Womenè檚 Day.
As the world honours International Womenè檚 Day on March 8, great workplaces around the world should consider how they can advance the cause of equity for women in the workplace.
For companies on the Fortune Worldè檚 Best Workplace鈩� List in 2023, helping women to succeed and thrive is a big reason for their extraordinary performance as a business. In every market, on every continent, one experience makes the biggest difference for women in the workplace: trust.
Great Place To Work庐 research has found that employee trust is crucial for employees around the world, and women that trust their leaders and their organisation have more consistently positive experiences in the workplace.
Here are lessons you can take from how the Worldè檚 Best 天美影院 are stepping up to create better experiences for women at work:
Many women who become senior leaders cite mentorship and sponsorship as a key reason for their success.
è淚 wouldnè檛 be where I am today without sponsorship,è� says Yolanda Friend, managing director, inclusion and diversity, North America at Accenture, No. 10 on the Worldè檚 Best List in 2023.
Organisations should understand that mentorship and sponsorship are two different things.
è淢entors are there to talk with you,è� Friend says. è淪ponsors are there to talk about you and amplify you with other audiences in other spaces.è�
At DHL Express, No. 2 on the Worldè檚 Best List, the è淪hift Up a Gearè� program helps women in the organisation grow beyond their current role, ensuring more women are ready to take on leadership duties. The program gives women one-on-one development support, introduces participants to senior leaders to improve visibility and recognition, and provides networking as participants take on new job opportunities and development assignments.
At Cadence, No. 9 on the Worldè檚 Best List, mentorship is offered through a matching platform called Chronus to ensure mentees can find a mentor with the right skills, experience, and insight to help them grow. Cadence says the intentional pairings have been incredibly successful, and the program has had a lower cost than other, more expensive leadership training programs.
When you do launch a mentorship program, make sure to set clear goals.
Cisco, No. 3 on the Worldè檚 Best 天美影院 List, runs a program called è淛umpè� to help aspiring women leaders grow into new roles. Program participants are 1.4 times as likely as non-participants to get promoted, impacting Ciscoè檚 stated goal of closing the gender gap across leadership roles.
Great workplaces not only strive to improve the experience of women within their organisation, but they look for ways to improve industry representation and access.
NVIDIA, No. 19 on the Worldè檚 Best List, saw a need to bring more women engineers into the industry, and launched an intern program dubbed #FindingHopper, a nod to computer scientist and trailblazer Grace Hopper.
The internship ensures candidates build connections, develop professional skills, and learn from NVIDIAè檚 top tech talent. Many participants receive full-time job offers at the end of their internship.
When looking at gender gaps in the workforce, be sure to consider what barriers might be preventing talent from entering the pipeline. Do you have unnecessary credential requirements, like a university degree? Does your job description require an unreasonable or irrelevant amount of previous work experience?
If your goal is to bring new talent into your organisation, make sure you donè檛 weed people out unintentionally.
The Worldè檚 Best 天美影院 are proud of the work they have done to increase representation for women across all levels of the organisation and are setting new goals for diversity and inclusion.
At Accenture, women make up 48% of its workforce, up from 39% when it first announced a goal to achieve gender parity by 2025. Additionally, 30% of Accentureè檚 managing directors are women, meeting its 2025 goal of 30% of leadership roles filled by women a year early.
DHL Group also set a goal of having 30% of leadership positions occupied by women by 2025. On a global level, the supply-chain and logistics company had 26.6% of leadership roles filled by women in 2023, a big jump from 16.9% in December of 2020.
Great Place To Work research has found that there isnè檛 a specific percentage that companies must reach to have the adequate representation of underrepresented voices in leadership roles. Instead, companies should ask themselves: è淒oes your workforce reflect the communities and clients you work in and serve?è�
What does have an impact? Connecting executive compensation to your diversity targets.
è淲hen youè檙e measuring things and youè檙e reporting on them, leaders who are very goal-driven tend to pay more attention,è� says Tina Jones, SVP, global human resources at Cadence.
è淏y putting it in a bonus, suddenly youè檝e got leaders calling you and saying, è極h wait, how can I make change here? How can I be a mentor? How can I attract more university students to the company and bring more diversity?è櫒 Jones says.
While women shouldnè檛 be defined by their roles as caregivers, across the globe, they are still more likely than men to have caregiving responsibilities.
Women are around seven times more likely than men to be out of the labour market due to caring commitments, according to research by TUC. One in three people around the world believe more than menè檚.
Women are also , with 57% to 81% of all caregivers of the elderly being women, according to various estimates.
To help support women with caregiving responsibilities in its China operations, DHL Express runs a re-boarding program in its Shanghai customer services department to help women ease back into work after being away on maternity leave.
Cadence also offers a 16-week è渞eturnshipè� program, available to its global workforce, to bring employees back to the workforce who previously left to support their families.
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