Reminiscing about how corporate has changed, I recalled the old days when a lot was different. A few decades ago, although the corporate started progressing in multiple ways, they often overlooked “parity.” Despite coding being discovered by a woman – Lady Ada Lovelace – the tech jobs weren’t considered a women “thing.” And the fact that culinary had more to do with taste, still a man desiring to be a chef wasn’t something of an easy path. Clearly, gender parity wasn’t a popular fashion back then. The stereotyped fixation about job profiles limited the potential of individuals which carried on for quite some years; however, of late that thought might have taken a different turn. This is something which I myself observed a lot, perhaps a bit closer. While I started Ergode, during those days I encountered the same stereotypical mindset. We had numerous women applicants for HR but only a handful for logistics or technical roles. Women were ready to settle for at least 20% less pay against their male counterparts. It took me a while to realize that this is way beyond the vocab “stereotype.” Rather, it is a practice of gender inequality that individuals have gotten used to.
The Long-Awaited Progress
As the word depicts “long-awaited progress,” modernization and freedom of speech have brought a lot of change from what I discussed previously. Women today account for 47.7% of the global workforce (Data Credit: Team stage). Even the diversity in employing the female workforce has shot up by 71.8% as suggested by the Research Briefings. These increasing numbers are commendable in comparison to 40% of the women workforce in 2015 (Data credit: McKinsey). Clearly, I must say that it took a long time for people to understand the concept of gender equality, but these slow learners are shredding the barriers of gender with time. They understood that gender equality is not about empowering any specific gender, rather it’s more about shouting out loud and setting an example of giving equal opportunities to both genders.
In my journey, I initiated gender parity by removing barriers and allowing equal participation of both genders in my company which resulted in much more productive results. Giving access to all the rights made employees trust the firm. It’s simple math. The moment a firm gives ‘equal’ opportunities to an individual (irrespective of their gender), workplace culture thrives. Plus it seeds a sense of belongingness among the employees making them more inclined to the company’s vision. Desiring for something synonymous, during my early days as an e-commerce learner, I always envisioned a firm with a robust working environment where individuals don’t stay only for “log in and outs.” I have seen people rush home at the end of the day, or jump ship at the drop of a hat.
Should it be that way?
Certainly not! A workplace flourishes when numerous people, irrespective of their genders, races, religions, nationalities, and ages come together in synergy to accomplish one goal. It took me a while to build a place synonymous with parity, but the end result was “worth it.”
What’s Ergode Doing?
Over the past 15 years, from Ergode’s inception to the process of becoming Unicorn, my team and I have made significant progress towards bringing equality in the workplace. As easy as it sounds, the execution was tough. Bringing change to the firm required changing the thinking of people, changing their approach, and using more of one’s emotional intelligence. I believe that ’empathy’ plays a pivotal role in understanding what’s equality for an employee. The reason why showing empathy is vital, because every employee enters the workplace with different expectations. These expectations are however driven by their backstories and past experiences. The moment my team and I dived into understating our workplace through numerous interactions, change became noticeable. I became closer to what equality is for them and what exactly they desire. This called for building a solid, or perhaps, a robust mechanism in the firm. Hence, my team and I focused on the factors that drive equality. Those are :
Equality = Equal pay + Opportunities + Altered hiring practices + Policies
Listed below are key factors that assisted Ergode to create much-desired equality. Take a read!
Equal Role, Equal Pay :
How would it be if an employee for the same position and similar skill set receives $1000 dollars less than her peer? Even today in the midst of the 21st century and the world full of advancements, on average, 20% of women are paid less than men. This means that she misses out on more than $4,00,000 over the course of her career (Data credit: Leanin). The pay gap is wide! What do these skilled and eligible women employees do? They resign!
The concept of equal pay is as important as running an organization. Pay is the primary reason an employee remains with a company. Entire retention is dependent on it. Thus, there’s no way for inequality to float while an organization runs over a reliant pay structure. Both genders should be paid equally (if hired for the same position). Still, in many SMEs and global MNCs, such practices are forgotten by the management as well. To eliminate discrimination in the remuneration process, an annual pay audit can do wonders in ensuring transparency. Secondly, instead of expecting the candidate to be collaborative, they should be allowed to negotiate for their ‘right’ pay. So far, the result of this practice has been desirable. Equal remuneration has helped a lot with employee retention and increased performance.
Equal Hiring for Leadership Roles :
If women should be considered apt only for supporting roles, then I suggest you take a hard look at that statement. At Ergode, women in the organization work hard in every role, from tax analyst to sales manager.
It’s a commonly mistaken myth that to complete a certain set of tasks with feminine strength lags behind. With such belief, firms structure their hiring accordingly where tech or field industry roles are given to men. On the other side of the coin, jobs such as designing and speech-language pathologists are women-dominated where men aren’t hired in bulk.
Hiring strictly according to skillset is one of the primary solutions to it. Start this by including an equal gender ratio in the HR committee, as they are the prime representatives of a firm. The second step towards gender diversity and equality is giving an equal chance of leadership roles to both sexes. Today, in industries like mining, manufacturing, and textiles, women are entering and performing equivalent roles as men. Eventually, they become capable of taking on leadership roles and setting themselves as an example for others.
Improving Workplace Policies :
According to CNBC, one-fifth of American women experience workplace harassment. The situation is worsening for men too as they are increasingly experiencing physical and mental harassment at the workplace. To tackle this, strict policies are laid down in Ergode. Other violations such as cyberbullying and racism also come under it.
At workplaces, such offenses are on the rise, resulting in a decline in goodwill and increased attrition. As a result, it is imperative for a firm to keep a keen eye on such issues from the outset. Indifference towards such activity can lead to huge damage and earn a company the distrust of employees.
Another policy is “wellness leaves”. When it comes to leaves, I will be extremely specific. Often, companies provide maternity leave to women, but very few think of parenting as a job that both parents do. Here, a firm capability of acknowledging gender-equal parenting and workplace family-friendly policies shows its sincerity towards gender equality. Policies such as maternity and paternity under wellness should be provided to all employees so that they can cherish the time and return to work content. After the adoption of these gender-sensitive policies, I have already seen the difference and recommend this as one of the best practices for gender equality.
Act now!
Gender equality is achievable when the entire firm comes together and believes in its benefits. Parity is not just good for book pages; it also works wonders in the real corporate world. Unarguably, the changes in terms of equality require patience and great effort. However, there’s one thing that every firm misses. That’s employee interaction. It is vital to consider the feedback and suggestions of previous and current employees when promoting gender equality. As a result of their experiences, firms can get valuable insight into what’s happening and what could be done.
To get started, I have outlined a comprehensive list above that serves as a guidebook throughout the corporate journey. With time, all I hope is for the world to change where “actions will speak louder than the gender.”
Cloverbites By Rupesh Sanghavi 