Despite the past two decades of employer efforts to improve gender diversity and equality in the workplace, women remain underrepresented at most levels in the workforce and are not progressing in their careers.
If the status quo remains, just one-fourth of executive positions will be held by women by 2024, virtually unchanged from today, finds new global research from consulting firm Mercer.
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Closing the Advisor Gender Gap
Customizing employer health education programs and retirement solutions to better meet the needs of women can help organizations better attract, develop and retain female talent, according to
Forty-eight percent of respondents say they offer customized health education programs, while just 13% say they provide retirement solutions customized to women.
Organizations are not doing a lot on this front. Mostly they are managing benefits in a consistent way across a population, says Brian Levine, innovation leader for Mercers North America workforce strategy and analytics consulting business. Companies that offer and heavily promote health education and retirement programs directed at women have a greater likelihood of having women represented in the upper ranks of management, the research finds.
Organizations that offer gender-specific education and believe it to be critical, there we see improvement in future female representation, says Levine.
The active involvement of senior leaders in gender diversity leads to greater, accelerated representation of women in executive roles more so than accountability alone, the research finds. Yet, just more than half (56%) of organizations indicate that their senior executives are actively involved in diversity and inclusion programs.
Furthermore, a dedicated team responsible for pay equity leads to more women in senior roles while common policies those intended to ensure equity through flexible work schedules and leave programs are, in the absence of management, associated with slower improvement in the number of women in leadership positions.
Andrea Davis is managing editor of Employee Benefit News.
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