Retaining and attracting women to your company.

FACT:  Current trends in demographics and workforce participation forecast that there will be a labour shortage of 1.4 million workers by the end of the decade (Australian National Training Authority)

FACT:  1.4million  new entrants will enter the work force this decade, in the decade commencing 2020 it will be 300,000 (Diversity Council of Australia)

FACT:  44% of the labour market is currently female

FACT:  By 2016, the number of women in the Australian labour force will have increased by 867,600 to 4.9 million, a growth rate almost double that of men (ABS).

Why is the area of ‘women’ a good place to start in terms of retaining and attracting great staff:

• Retention and attraction of female staff is one area that most organizations get very very wrong – not just in Australia but globally
• If you start to get this right – you can have some significant quick wins
• Most organizations have not thought through the major impact an internal female employee strategy can have on their external customers, clients and suppliers.

What does common sense tell us and what does the research say?

• Attracting and retaining the very best talent is critical to our ability to serve our customers well and thrive in a global marketplace
• With the candidate pool decreasing we need to attract the broadest possible talent pool.
• To keep our talent, it is critical for our people to feel engaged, valued and included. 
• A ‘women’s strategy’ will move an organization to greater profitability as a result of a more diverse workforce.
• Companies that openly embrace workforce diversity are reaping the benefits through increased employee engagement, attracting and retaining the best talent, improving morale and increased consumer and market responsiveness.
• Research shows that companies with a higher representation of women in senior management positions financially outperform companies with proportionally fewer women at the top.
• When teams include people with different backgrounds and experiences who respect and challenge one another, their diversity of thought provides greater innovation and better solutions (Corporate Leadership Council May 2003)
• A study conducted by General Electric Company showed that when their work system shifted from individual contributors to a team based system, homogeneous teams over the long term produced a productivity increase of 13% while diverse teams provided a source of new business ideas, work procedures and approaches to problems, and showed a productivity increase of 21%.
• For every $1 a company spends on flexible work or family benefits, there is a return of $2 through higher rates of retention, reduced absenteeism and increased motivation (Diversity Inc, 2006)
• There is a growing global trend towards making ethical demands on service providers/ suppliers around diversity and inclusiveness ( e.g. Exxon Mobil)

Workforce diversification increases profitability and productivity through:

• Attracting and retaining the best talent, which in turn reduces staff turnover costs (Diversity Inc, New York estimates the cost of turnover is approximately 1.5 times salary of the departing employee)
• Increasing productivity and innovation through diversification of skills and valuing differences in team members
• Reducing X’s risk of sex based harassment and discrimination claims
• Attracting more female customers through the recognition of the “buying power of women” and encouraging our staff to capitalize on this knowledge through target marketing
• Optimize workforce capability – realizing the full potential of women

This is now a business imperative – not only from a workforce capability perspective but, ever increasingly, from a customer satisfaction perspective.

In all, a review of ‘who is getting this right’ identifies there is no ‘silver bullet’; it is a combination of all of the following:

1. Demonstrable commitment by the CEO and those at the top that diversity and inclusiveness for women is a business imperative (creating the tone from the top)
2. Effective support structures in place to drive diversity and inclusiveness effort (for example a diversity council)
3. Clear leadership accountability for promoting an inclusive culture – linked to bonus, rewards and recognition (sustaining the tone from the middle)
4. Creation of an inclusive environment through our day to day practices in areas fundamental to our people such as career development
5. Strong focus on raising awareness around diversity and inclusiveness for women, through education, building skills and shifting behaviours to support this focus
6. Sustained corporate communication – internal and external
7. Rigorous measurement of diversity and inclusiveness practices for women – audits, metrics, targets

Despite significant progress, studies generally reveal that the major barriers to women’s advancement continue to be:

• Exclusion from informal networks
• Lack of bottom line business experience and or knowledge
• Lack of mentoring
• Work – life issues and career interruptions
• Lack of self promotion skills

What is current best practice?

Organisations are undertaking a range of initiatives to address the equal opportunity issues that impact upon women’s participation in the workplace.

The types of initiatives most widely being developed are:

• Networks
• Formal leadership and management development programs
• Mentoring
• Focussed development for high potential female employees

In order to successfully achieve results with retaining and attracting female employees we have to be successful ‘marketers’ to women. So what are we trying to sell? We are trying to ‘sell’ to our existing and potential female employees the concept that they really want to work for your organization!
Why not try applying some of the principles associated with ‘marketing to women’ generally?

So what are the rules of marketing to women and how can they be applied to your female retention and attraction strategies? There are eight rules.

The first rule to understand is - Connecting your female customers to each other connects them to your brand
Rule 2:   If you are marketing to one of her lives you are missing all the others.
Rule 3:   If she has to ask it’s too late.
Rule 4:   Market to her peripheral vision and she will see you in a whole new light
Rule 5:   Walk, run, go to her, and secure her loyalty forever
Rule 6:   This generation of women consumers will lead you to the next
Rule 7:   Co-parenting is the best way to raise a brand.
Rule 8:   Everything matters – don’t hide behind your logo.

We have developed a unique system of helping you understand these rules and how they apply to your female retention and attraction strategy. When we meet with you we will discuss this process with you in the development of your strategy.