6 things companies can (and should) do to make progress on gender diversity

Today, LeanIn.Org and McKinsey & Company released Women in the Workplace 2018, our fourth annual study of women in corporate America. (Read the full report at womenintheworkplace.com.)

We surveyed employees and leaders at 279 companies employing more than 13 million people. The good news: companies are committed to gender diversity and are taking some action. The bad news: The study’s findings reveal there is a disconnect in corporate America.

Year after year, companies report they are highly committed to gender diversity, and yet women continue to be vastly underrepresented at every level. Women are less likely to be hired into manager-level jobs, and they are far less likely to be promoted into them. Women are particularly disadvantaged at the critical step-up to manager — men end up holding 62% of manager positions, while women hold just 38%. This is despite women doing their part: they are earning more degrees and asking for promotions and negotiating salaries as often as men.

For real progress, companies need to treat gender diversity like the business priority it is. Based on this year’s study, here are six things we’re recommending companies do:

1) Get the basics right – targets, reporting and accountability. Experts agree that setting goals, tracking and reporting progress, and rewarding success are key to driving organizational change. Yet when it comes to gender diversity, more companies need to put these practices in place. Only 38% of companies set targets for gender representation and only 12% share a majority of gender diversity metrics with their employees. Only 42% hold senior leaders accountable for making progress toward gender parity, and even fewer hold managers and directors accountable.

2) Ensure that hiring and promotions are fair. Hiring and promotions are the two biggest levers for changing the representation of women across the pipeline, yet very few companies have end-to-end processes in place to ensure fair practices. Fewer than one in three companies sets diversity targets for hiring and promotions, even though setting goals is critical to achieving them. Fewer than one in four companies uses tools to reduce bias when reviewing résumés, and fewer than half of companies require diverse slates of candidates for external hiring. Just 19% of companies require unconscious bias training for employees involved in hiring – and a mere 4% require training for employees involved in performance reviews.

3) Make senior leaders and managers champions of diversity. Only 39% of women – and 47% of men – say that gender diversity is a high priority for their manager and just over 1 in 5 employees believes senior leaders are held accountable for results. Less than a third of employees say that managers often challenge biased language and behavior when they see or hear it. Until leaders at all levels understand the problem, are trained to help solve it, and are held accountable for making progress, it will be hard to achieve lasting change.

4) Create an inclusive and respectful culture. Companies should develop clear guidelines for what collegial and respectful behavior looks like—as well as unacceptable and uncivil behavior. To be treated seriously, these guidelines should be supported by a clear reporting process and swift consequences for disrespectful behavior. Women who believe that disrespectful behavior toward women is often quickly addressed at their company are 44% less likely to think about leaving their job.

5) Make the “Only” experience rare. Companies should take steps to reduce the number of women who are the only one in the room—and who feel isolated and under pressure as a result. In addition to increasing the representation of women, companies should be thoughtful about how they move women through their organizations. One approach is to hire and promote women in cohorts and cluster women on teams.

6) Give employees the flexibility to fit work into their lives. To increase the representation of women at all levels, companies need to find more ways to help employees balance work and family. A majority of companies offer employees some flexibility to ease work-life friction, such as the ability to work part-time or telecommute. But fewer companies address the unique challenges faced by parents. As one example, fewer than two-thirds of companies offer maternity leave beyond what’s required by law, and just over half offer fathers the same benefit. In addition, only 45% of employees say that their manager regularly helps them balance work and personal demands – and women and men feel equally unsupported.

Learn more at womenintheworkplace.com.