6 Concrete Strategies for Empowering Women in Your Workplace

This Mental Health Awareness month, we’re reflecting on women’s mental health in particular. As a women-founded, led, and run company, we’re keenly aware of how far organizations - and society as a whole - still have to go to achieve gender parity. While women’s participation in the workforce is finally rebounding post-pandemic, just looking at the most recent data from McKinsey & Company’s collaborative study with LeanIn shows how underrepresented women still are, in all levels of the workplace.

The lack of women in high-ranking roles in particular isn’t super surprising, given our country’s childcare crisis and wage inequities, but it is disheartening. While there is no silver bullet to even the playing field, there are research-backed ways to authentically empower women workers, protecting their mental health, while simultaneously allowing them to thrive in the workplace.

1) Measure and Reward DEI Work

LeanIn and McKinsey’s 2022 Women in the Workplace report divulged that women are twice as likely as their male colleagues to actively take on and champion diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. While equity work is fundamental to attracting and retaining talent long-term, it’s infrequently included in success metrics, meaning DEI is an important area where women may not be getting the recognition they deserve.

Attaching clear, company-wide metrics to DEI efforts and actively spotlighting employees who are metric-makers are both important actions companies can take to make the workplace more equitable for women.

2) Offer Better Than “Fine” Parental Leave

When Google extended their paid maternity leave program from 12 weeks to 21 (and then again to 24 last year), they saw a 50% reduction in turnover among women employees who had given birth. Given that U.S. companies with 50+ employees are only required to provide 12 weeks of (unpaid) leave, offering paid time off to new parents makes a company stand out from the pack. Increasing that leave time beyond the standard 6 - 12 weeks makes your organization even more valuable for women, allowing them the space and time to bond with a new arrival without fear of work repercussions.

Side note: While new mothers tend to receive a 30% wage drop after giving birth, fathers reap an average of a 22% income bonus. This “mystique of masculinity,” as Gloria Steinem coined it, is also something to consider when thinking about how your women employees are compensated.

3) Provide Clear Opportunities for Advancement

Women are leaving their jobs in droves, and for 48% of them, that’s because they’re seeking more opportunities to advance that just aren’t there.

Addressing this starts by ensuring there are no doubts about leveling in your organization. Does every job have a role profile? Is it clear what separates a performer from a manager from a director from someone in your C-suite? What are the salary ranges for each of these bands and roles? Without this information clearly outlined, widely shared, and regularly discussed, promotions and advancement come as one-offs that can succumb to bias.

4) Encourage Training & Development Opportunities

Just like women want clear opportunities to advance in their organizations, they want (and need) training to get there. Excellent development opportunities are important for women themselves, as well as for managers of all genders. In fact, 75-80% of top-performing companies have practices in place to provide managers formal training on how to facilitate team conversations about diversity issues, how to communicate with remote employees, and how to help employees set boundaries on their personal time. (That’s compared to just 20 - 30% of companies who don’t have these training practices in place.)

Side note: Agile’s newest set of training programs, including Managing to Outcomes for new managers, ELLEvate for women and women-identifying managers, and the Leveled Up Manager for more experienced leaders, all offer exactly this type of training in a safe, supportive, space.

5) Institute a Mentorship Program

Establishing formal programs for more junior employees to receive regular coaching, support, and learning opportunities from more senior staff (aka: mentorship) is one of the most impactful way that your organization can support women. Studies show that this type of informal guidance is invaluable. For example, a Wharton study found that 25% of people who participated in a mentorship program saw a bump in salary, compared to 5% of those who didn’t receive the opportunity.

Companies with formal mentorship programs increase retention, as well as employee engagement. Add in the fact that mentees and mentors are promoted at significantly greater rates, and it isn’t surprising that 71% of Fortune 500 companies have mentorship programs in place.

6) Offer Flexible and Remote Work Options

When asked about the benefits that are most important to them in a job, women said that flexible and remote work options are just as important to them as the salary attached to their role. Even more telling? Women of color universally said that this flexibility is even more important than compensation.

Given that the vast majority of women identify as the primary caregiver for children, and well as the person who is mostly responsible for running their homes, it’s just common sense to figure out how to implement some level of flexibility in your work expectations.

Curious to learn more?

None of these suggestions have to be overly daunting. Thoughtful role profiling and compensation architecture, support with remote work and parental policies, and - of course - development of leaders to support all genders in your organization - are right in our wheelhouse.

Reach out to learn how Agile Talent Consulting can help you level the playing field for your women employees.