Worth Reading – The new Women in the Workplace report is pretty dire
This seems like a horrible idea. Why would you not invest in growing what is probably half of your staff?
The standout finding was that only half of US businesses considered women’s career progression a priority last year (down significantly from just a few years ago).
Even worse, a little over 20% of companies are now placing low or no priority on women’s advancement, a number which rises to 30% for women of colour.
https://thred.com/change/the-new-women-in-the-workplace-report-is-pretty-dire/
Let me get this straight:
- You’re actively disinterested in the career development of people who work for you because they are female.
- You are limiting advancement to only part of your workforce.
- Your actions are causing some of your best employees to disengage, not seek to improve themselves, and eventually leave.
- You’ll take that disengagement as a sign that women “just aren’t ambitious.”
Does that seem like a good idea when the financial cost of turnover is hitting record highs?
Honestly, I think we all know where this is coming from, and it’s gross. It’s also harmful to your business. You don’t recruit and retain the most talented employees by limiting your choices. You have to expand the choices to attract a wider range of people. It’s common sense and basic math. When you decide to deprioritize the career development of the women who work in your organization, you limit your choices and take some very talented, driven people out of the equation.
Why would you do that?
I’m going to reiterate something I said early in 2025 about diversity:
We know these strategies create a better workplace, so I see a simple mandate as business owners: Ignore the pressure to scale back DEI efforts and remote working opportunities. Embrace both, hire the best talent in the labor market, and create dynamic, engaged teams.
When you broaden the talent pool, you create a better team. This is basic stuff.
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