The importance of actively working to bring more women leaders to the C-suite and other leadership roles

A substantial missed opportunity for corporate America

As a global company, it’s important to be grounded in your values and to actively work to bring your vision for the future to fruition. I was excited to see TTEC was recently recognized on Forbes’ list of “The World's Top Female-Friendly Companies ” for 2022. Not only was TTEC ranked in the top 5 percent of recognized companies overall, it was the highest-rated business services and supplies company on the list.

It raises an important question. Why aren’t there more companies, globally and domestically, doing a better job elevating women leaders within their organizations?

Only 26 percent of C-level executives in North America are women, according to a report from LeanIn.Org and McKinsey & Company . This underrepresentation doesn’t make ethical or business sense. Why aren’t more companies leveraging women’s expertise? And how do companies without a substantial presence of women in leadership effectively tune in to the needs of their consumer base? There is a substantial disconnect here.?

From a personal perspective, I’ve been surrounded by strong, smart women my entire life — starting with my own mother. The importance of gender diversity in the workplace and in leadership roles has always been clear to me.?

Addressing gender disparities in leadership at the C-suite level

Creating an environment that attracts and retains top female employees and executives is not only the right thing to do, it also makes business sense. To serve consumers well requires the critical input and insight of women in key leadership roles, especially in the C-suite. At TTEC, we are big on design thinking. We recognize that solutions are only ever as good as the understanding that drives them.?

Having a diverse leadership team improves the understanding needed to create solutions that are effective and helpful when you have a diverse consumer base. It also helps a company better connect with their customers. Great customer service is rooted in connection that is compassionate and empathetic. How better to connect at that deeper level with consumers than to structure company leadership to reflect the people your company serves??

The same concept applies to effective leadership within an organization. A majority of customer service representatives in the United States are women . When your leadership team reflects your workforce, and has a deeper understanding of their day-to-day needs, it creates a more positive and cohesive working environment.

Putting values into action: how TTEC supports women in leadership roles?

?At TTEC, we are proud that women comprise a growing percentage of our total employee base. TTEC promotes and encourages women to take up the mantle of leadership in roles up through the company's executive committee and board of directors. At the C-level, we have been grateful for the leadership contributions of Regina Paolillo , global chief operating officer; Judi Hand , chief revenue officer; Margaret McLean , general counsel and chief risk officer; and board members Gina Loften and Ekta Singh-Bushell .?

Recently, that list grew as Shelly Swanback was named president of TTEC , in addition to her role as chief executive of TTEC Engage , our largest business unit.

C-level executives play an important role in setting the tone and fostering a workplace culture that supports gender diversity in leadership. Implementing that vision also requires leadership, at the C-level as well as throughout the company. It takes commitment, but the rewards are indisputable. At TTEC, our strong and diverse leadership team has helped us respond almost in real-time to the evolving needs of our employees, during the pandemic and beyond. In the past several years, we have worked to provide benefits and tools to help support remote work — first to increase safety during the pandemic and more recently to provide additional flexibility when needed. We have also worked to increase employee access to health and mental health services, because we know that is a priority for our workforce.

At TTEC, women have been a driving force in many of these efforts — refining our vision and bringing it to life.

Helping women advance their careers at all levels

We know that when employees are considering joining TTEC or beginning their careers here, seeing women in leadership sends an important message about our company culture and values. But our work doesn’t end with the current generation of leaders. It’s important to us to provide advancement opportunities for women employees at all levels of the company.? At TTEC , nearly half of our team managers globally are female. And for our operations in the United States, a majority of our team managers are female.

TTEC’s Women in Leadership program began informally as TTEC’s women leaders took the initiative to help other budding leaders at all levels of the company succeed and thrive. As Laura Ward , vice president of enterprise transformation at TTEC, recounts , this early, organic connection led to the realization that a formal program was needed. The resulting program, Women in Leadership, has been a huge success, growing to serve thousands of women worldwide.?

In addition to mentorship, Women in Leadership provides support and educational programs for women on topics of interest such as health, career goals, leadership and more.?

Our work building a more inclusive and diverse company won’t stop here. With an ongoing commitment in place and a culture that values and demands diversity throughout the company, we look forward to expanding the number of top leadership positions at the company that are held by women.??