Creating an inclusive workplace for women starts with managers

Putting in the time and effort to create a welcoming and inclusive environment can assist in the attraction and retention of talented women.

This process begins with managers, as they’re the ones who can implement the correct procedures and engrain attitudes that will make this happen. This was discussed in the “ELMO Live Panel Session: Empowering Change to Close the Gender Pay Gap”.

Dr Samone McCurdy, capacity building executive manager at the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA), said effective leadership can spark change.

“We talk a lot about values. We talk a lot about CEOs, and we talk a lot about HR and diversity and inclusion, but if we stop and think about who delivers that promise each and every day, it is the line manager,” said Dr McCurdy.

“We know that your experience of an organisation has less to do with what the CEO is saying that is important. But actually, delivering on that promise each and every day is that line manager’s responsibility.”

Managers have the power to influence employees, for better or worse. They’re the ones who coordinate most of the workforce, and they’re the ones who staff report to.

“There used to be an old saying: you don’t leave organisations, you leave managers. And I think that’s the thing that’s going to change employer brands is the organisations that pull together what we are calling a coalition of influences,” Dr McCurdy explained.

“Looking at the CEO, they and C-suite, they have a job to do; they do need to be doing everything they can to message it correctly. But it’s actually the authorising environment that they need to create for HR diversity and inclusion, people who have the knowledge, who know what to do. We need to cascade that down to the managers to ensure that they have the capability to deliver on their promise each and every day.”

She continued: “If we’re not helping develop the practice of the managers to deliver a gender-equal experience and have those outcomes in mind … we need to really work with our managers to make sure that we do that. HR needs to be authorised to get that level of capability.”

Industries that could use this attention, in particular, are the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. As previously discussed by HR Leader, STEM is disproportionately affected by bias and negative attitudes against women, causing many to turn their backs on these professions.

Teena Wooldridge, Asia-Pacific region director of marketing at LinkedIn, commented: “You see it across a range of industries, there’s not a single industry where, you know, women are paid at an equal rate than men, including traditionally female-dominated industries such as healthcare or education, we still see massive drop off and massive pay gap.”

“The gender pay gap analysis that was released demonstrates that STEM, in particular, is a major issue and AI even more.”

Ms Wooldridge noted that the drop-off rates for women in STEM are unreasonably high.

“On average, you see around 50 per cent of women go into entry-level jobs in any industry, and it’s down to 25 per cent by the time you get to the C-suite. In STEM, you’re getting around 30 per cent going in, and you’re only getting to 12 per cent at the C-level,” she explained.

“More than ever, more women are coming out of university with STEM degrees, but they’re dropping off in their first year. So, something’s happening in that first year, then they get to that tip over point to manager, [and] again, we see another massive 9 per cent drop. So, there’s something not quite right, particularly in STEM, particularly in AI where the women just aren’t coming through.”

Sunita Gloster, founder of Gloster Advisory, said organisations could benefit by bringing more women into STEM roles.

“Some of the reports out of the Tech Council of Australia show that the STEM or the tech roles are built for women, because they can be done flexibly, and the gender pay gap in technology is lower than the national average,” said Ms Gloster.

Organisations may benefit by bringing gender targets into their employee value proposition (EVP). This shows staff you’re committed to providing a safe space for women in the workplace.

Dr McCurdy commented: “What we do know is that using gender pay gaps as a measure for the experience within organisations is actually quite good. It does put it on to the radar of others; it does have a public face.”

“I’m with my people, I can talk about employee value propositions. When we talk about talent wars, we are in the middle of a talent war. The value proposition of an organisation is probably one of the strongest tools that they have in order to future-proof their organisation because it’s not just bringing more women in. It’s about having a look at where your women sit in your organisation.”

“What’s the forward plan for transitioning women, horizontally and also vertically? And also, from the external point of view, it will get to the point where women and men are making their employment decisions based on some kind of prediction about what is the gender experience or the explicit employee experience in that organisation.”