Gender parity must exist at all levels of a company

Commitment to gender parity at the senior level in companies has been on the rise, and we are starting to see results.

Commitment to gender parity at the senior level in companies has been on the rise and we are starting to see results.

The average C-suite has 24 per cent more women than in 2015. The share of open roles going to women is rising, through promotions or hiring.

That progress engenders more progress: C-suite members have an outsize impact on promoting diversity and inclusion in their companies. They also are visible role models to other women coming up the ranks.

Still, we shouldn’t confuse progress with parity. To create workplaces where young men and women progress equally into top-level business leaders, we must address a glaring gender disparity at the first rung of the corporate ladder. While women account for 48 per cent of entry-level hires, they account for only 38 per cent of first-level managers, according to the 2019 Women in the Workplace study McKinsey & Co developed with LeanIn.Org.

Let that soak in for a moment. That collective stumble on the first step up the corporate ladder suggests that across the next five years, one million women in corporate America will get stuck at the entry level while their male counterparts move into promising career paths.

It gets worse. The fact all these women are getting stuck or left behind early in their careers results in today’s unbalanced talent pipeline — women account for only 30 per cent of all vice-presidents, versus men at 70 per cent.

Remedying problems at the beginning of the talent pipeline may be the key to turning incremental gains into explosive ones. At the current pace of change, we will bridge the gap at the first promotion rung in 30 years. If, on the other hand, we start hiring and promoting women into first manager roles at equal rates as men today, we could bridge most of the gap between entry-level and manager roles for women in only five years.

Companies have the tools to make this happen. We know this because they are using them to crack the “glass ceiling”, increasing the percentage of women at the top. Now it is time to extend those practices to the rest of the organisation. Across the companies we at McKinsey work with, three practices stand out.

● Hold managers accountable for increasing gender parity. While only 15 per cent of companies do this for early tenured managers today, 55 per cent hold their top leadership accountable for gender parity. Increased accountability must be accompanied by better support and tools. Managers need clear goals, data visibility on how they are doing, positive incentives, and training on inclusive leadership.

● Deliver on opportunities and fairness. This may sound obvious, but all too often companies fall short. Only 40 per cent of employees believe promotions go to the most deserving candidates. Meaningful correctives such as de-biasing performance reviews, leadership succession planning, gender-balanced promotion slates and formal sponsorship programs should be applied at any company that believes in gender equality. The pay-off can be rich; in a fair workplace where opportunities are distributed equally and without bias, men and women are three times as happy and three times as likely to stay.

● Apply the science of “nudges” to your implementation efforts. Making change stick means shifting day-to-day behaviours. Nudges are simple prompts on daily actions that create more inclusive working experiences. Examples for managers include sharing the spotlight, curiously seeking out the opinions of others or speaking up when you see someone withdrawing from a conversation or being interrupted.

The Wall Street Journal