Want a low cost, low risk way to improve your gender diversity numbers dramatically?
Learn how to harness the power of a restructure within your organisation to retain and promote female talent.
Setting targets or quotas is something many organisations are looking at but continue to struggle with. While I believe such initiatives are worthwhile, the risk is female executives feel devalued and male executives resentful.
Leveraging a restructure to power a positive discrimination initiative is a great way to address gender imbalance without a lot of noise.
In recent weeks several companies have announced job shedding with retailing giant Coles just the latest. Some of these jobs will be line manager roles and some of the talent heading out the door could well be high potential women with runs on the board.
During the last couple of years, Optimiss has heard many stories about enormous amounts of time and money being wasted because of the all too common disconnect between those tasked with the recruitment and retention of female talent and those planning restructures within the same organisation.
A hard earned reputation for gender diversity can be destroyed in an instant through a restructure. For example, Victoria once led the nation for public service leadership. While none of the nine department heads in NSW at that time were women and only 10 per cent in South Australia and the Northern Territory, Victoria’s public serviced excelled with 36 per cent of its top jobs filled by women.
After Denis Naphine became Victoria’s Premier in 2013 he reshuffled the top ranks of the public service appointing two additional male department heads, which left only one woman in a top job.
Many private sector organisations have seen their gender diversity numbers change in similarly dramatic way after a restructure.
Don’t let that happen to your organisation. A huge body of research has linked gender diversity within an organisation’s management and leadership ranks to profitability and business resilience – particularly in tough economic times.
Restructures are a challenging time for any organisation but with a bit of planning ahead of time they can also offer a silver lining for workforce strategists.
Follow these six steps and fly under the radar to create a positive story for your organisation.
- We know what gets measured, gets done so add up what is being spent on diversity efforts and the cost of having to re-do all that work if female numbers dwindle.
- Cost the estimated gains to the organisation of gender diversity using all measures available plus any specific achievements of the females in the executive ranks.
- Outline why using positive discrimination via restructure is low risk and low cost. Examples include that the women in your organisation are already in place and therefore their skills and contributions are well known. Retention costs nothing and poses no risk.
- Articulate the “low noise” benefits of using a restructure to promote positive discrimination. Quotas, set targets and deliberate recruitment campaigns are effective but also high profile. Making a conscious effort to keep qualified women when choosing between similarly qualified executives for redundancy will boost the numbers of females in your executive ranks almost overnight but in a comparatively subtle way.
- Know your champions. Who gets the importance of gender diversity at the top of your organisation? Who will back your play or even benefit from your idea? Hint: senior line managers are always keen to keep as many of their team as possible when a downsizing is pending particularly their female high performers.
- Take your case to the CEO. Articulating the business benefits of leveraging a restructure to achieve a positive discrimination initiative is a must. Engaging the CEO is also an important opportunity to re-state all the business benefits of the work you do.