Don’t let good become the enemy of great: supporting women in the workplace

For International Women’s Day, back in March, I talked about five indicators that show progress in driving gender equality is slowing down , and more importantly, five things that organisations need to do now to create gender equality in their workplaces.

Much as I’m delighted to hear that Great Place to Work? has ranked Something Big as one of the UK’s Best Workplaces for Women?, I wouldn’t want the progress of all the workplaces celebrating their ranking today to mask the challenges still present in so many workplaces.

Putting aside the long (and woefully slow) journey to closing gender pay gaps and our crawl toward more women on Boards, let’s look at three things that need to be done in the workplace to make it fairer, healthier, and happier for women:

1.?Gender balancing in traditionally male-dominated sectors

The gender pay gap is a hugely complex issue with many contributing factors. One of these factors is the gender imbalance in some industries and roles. While we may never achieve a perfect 50/50 split in some sectors, significant gender dominance can cause challenges further up the organisation, where leadership can also be dominated by one gender over another.

I want to give massive credit to organisations pioneering sector change, with a shout out to Wates Group for leading the way for women in construction with their programme to provide opportunities for 125 women by 2025 , and to all the women at DHL for challenging gender bias in logistics .

These are both great examples of proactive action being taken to balance out gender and overcome traditional stereotypes. We need to keep up the great work.

2. Creating inclusive workplaces where women thrive

A positive workplace culture is essential for employee happiness and productivity, and I do a lot to create this kind of environment for my team. Recently, we received our latest Great Place to Work? survey results and I was thrilled to see that we scored 100% on several statements, which means that everyone on our team either agreed or strongly agreed with them.

These statements included:

• People avoid backstabbing as a way to get things done
• Management recognise honest mistakes as part of doing business
• Promotions go to those who best deserve them
• People are encouraged to balance their work life and their personal life
• Management show appreciation for good work and extra effort

What’s important to me about these statements is that while they’re great for everyone, my sense is that for women these themes are particularly poignant.

On a personal note, I hate internal politics as a way to get stuff done. It makes me feel uncomfortable and paranoid that there’s a hidden agenda. I too like reassurance and appreciation that I’m doing a great job. I’d hate to feel judged for balancing my family with work or to be seen as less ambitious because I want to go to Sports Day. If I got promoted, I’d want to know it’s because I deserve it, and if I don’t get it this time, I’d like to think it went to my colleague because they deserved it.

Some of the comments given by our team on our latest survey also lend themselves to an environment where women are thriving:

• “You can be yourself here and people recognise your strengths and weaknesses”.
• “I can be myself here.”
• “Management shows a sincere interest in me as a person, not just an employee”.

So, what did we do to achieve this environment where women can thrive? I’d say these things have probably helped:

1. We work really hard to be authentic to show our vulnerability and to accept mistakes are part of everyday life, which helps us create a culture of psychological safety.
2. We accept that work is only part of our lives, so flexibility is a hygiene factor for everyone.
3. We set the bar high for an inclusive culture by being clear on banter, microaggressions, and supporting each other.

3. Challenging gender stereotypes

Despite the great work going on at Something Big and in so many workplaces, we’re still exposed to outdated and negative stereotypes daily. Research firm, Perspectus Global, did a great job of reminding us what these stereotypes look like in their Imagine campaign .

Sadly magazines, TV, films, the internet and now AI tools are still full of negative gender stereotypes. We can all do our bit to reduce them by proactively speaking out when we hear or see them, by being living examples and role models for friends, family and future generations, and by consciously taking care over the wording of our online searches or AI prompts.

I’d love to hear your examples of how you’re shifting gender equity in the workplace. Please share your stories so we can all learn from them.