Once upon a time, not too long ago— a company decided they wanted to hire, develop and promote more women into STEM-related roles.
They counted, they assessed, they trained, and the men clamored:
What about us???
Don’t we matter, too?
Leaders lamented:
I don’t want to recruit at other colleges, I have long standing relationships at the schools we go to … plus this feels punitive for the men. We need to be more inclusive!
Frankly, I could be writing this about any company — and the desire for greater representation for women and BIPOC may be the same goal. Yet so many organizations get stopped in their tracks and never make progress.
Why?
It is easier to pretend that the problem exists in other organizations, but not your own.
It is convenient to say, “we may not have many women on (fill-in-the-blank) team, but the women we have— they are treated very well.”
It is simpler to say, “there is not as much representation in the early career talent pools / graduates, and we seem to be getting our fair share.”
These are all statements that rationalize the laziness around the laser-focus that is needed to increase representation.
To be honest, I’ve done a fair amount of this rationalization. When the pressure is on and you have to hire people quickly— time is not a luxury that most businesses feel like they can afford.
But I am done rationalizing now.
Many times, I have said, “I’m not a feminist or anything…”, because I always felt that declaring myself a “feminist” came along with its own baggage of high maintenance and aggressive behavior. That ends now.
I am a feminist.
And we have the President to thank for that.
Two days ago, he proudly announced to the women in the audience, “We’re getting your husbands back to work.”
October 27, 2020 - Lansing, Michigan (USA) Credit: BBC
Before I launch into a personal diatribe, here are some stats/ data around why that is such a damming statement right now.
We’ve hit a time where 1 in 4 women are considering leaving or have left their workplace*, with 3 out of 4 citing “burnout”.
Another direct quote from the same McKinsey/ Lean In study:
Due to challenges created by the Covid-19 crisis, as many as two million women are considering taking a leave of absence or leaving the workforce altogether.
This is the first time we’ve seen signs of women leaving the workforce at higher rates than men; in the previous five years of this study, women and men left their companies at similar rates.
To put this in a perspective — let’s use covid as an example.
Some people who contract covid are asymptomatic; others have a much more difficult time and many have died.
Medically, scientists and doctors still are trying to understand the long-term effects of covid-19— they don’t know how this will affect our population in aggregate for years to come. There is still much that is unknown.
In contrast, I 100% know what the effects of this pandemic is having on our talent pipeline.
From a talent perspective, the pipeline of female talent is being decimated at all levels, in every industry.
This downstream effect of this will be devastating.
If economic stability is what we’re chasing, (among other things) then having a mass exodus of a significant portion of your workforce is the opposite of what you want to happen.
Businesses will have to do everything they can to fight this— and it will require investment.
Here are a couple of thoughts— some obvious, but still worth reiterating.
SHORT TERM ACTIONS
1) Adapt and flex for ALL employees. Everything is on the table. Location, How the work is done, When the work is done, and WHO it is done by. When you extend the opportunity to all employees— you are giving permission to your workforce to care, yes care, about how they can help each other.
2) Must Dos and May Dos. I’m taking a beat from my daughter’s 3rd grade class. We all have “Must Do’s” to keep ourselves solvent and profitable. Now is the time to have laser precision about what items are in what bucket. If it’s in the “May Do” bucket— put it aside. PRIORITIZE. Don’t get a bigger plate — time to take things off.
My first suggestion— look very carefully at meetings named “check-ins, updates, pulse check”. Weed your garden of meetings and free up capacity to do actual work. Yes, you might need an actual meeting to do this effectively, but measure once, cut twice!
3) Insert the word(s) “right now” or “today” to the following question.
What can I do for you?
What can I do for you … today?
What can I do for you …right now?
Here is the difference. When you add those words, you become a teammate, the colleague, the manager, the leader who is IN THE MOMENT.
You become much more accessible to someone who needs support. Perhaps they need a brain break, maybe they need an extra set of hands for a project; maybe they need to take care of a family member who isn’t feeling well— or maybe they need to spend a couple hours debating with Comcast on why their Wi-Fi is down (again). Either way, extend the permission for people to tell you what they need.
LONG TERM ACTIONS
1) Understand your employee demographics at every level. BE HONEST. DON’T CHERRY PICK the best “story”.
Transparency, transparency, transparency.
2) Make a Plan. Use data to influence strategy, not just to tell a story (that is good, bad or otherwise)
Most companies are incredibly bad at forecasting talent needs, even during the best of times, yet, if you listen to an earnings call … you’ll hear, “we expected this downturn/ uptick and have responded accordingly.”
The reality is typically that they didn’t and they scrambled to make it work. An investment in data quality and what points to gather will help inform and shape talent strategy… some quick examples below:
Internal Data — think turnover rates, cycle time at each hiring step, how quickly resumes are funneled in, employee references and recommendations, metrics of individual recruiters and hiring managers
External Data— think of labor pools, the availability of talent in the physical location, the industry trends, the macro environment of the state/ province/ country. Even the housing market and consumer trends can help inform decisions.
3) Invest for the long term. Short-term “pushes” are exactly that. They solve for the immediate need but do not create a environment for sustained growth.
Simply put, you may dedicate millions of dollars, countless resources to hiring all of the female/ BIPOC talent out there- but if you have not addressed your underlying culture or values— you will have wasted that spend. I believe that meaningful early investment— (read: not just higher-education) in the community through industry— is one of the biggest ways the private sector can influence talent pipelines for years to come.
My personal thoughts?
Leaders matter. Their words matter.
When the President says, “we’re getting your husbands back to work”, you give weight to those who believe woman should be at home— and only at home.
You confuse little girls whose parents are telling them, they can be anything they can be.
You piss off women, like myself, who have been breadwinners for their families — those who provide emotional AND financial stability for loved ones.
You insult the intellect of men, who not only support their female counterparts and partners, but are reliant on women’s financial and business acumen to flourish personally and professionally.
So I’m choosing to embrace being a “feminist”. For too long, that moniker has held negative connotations— too aggressive, pushy, single-minded— when we should have been holding it up like a badge of honor. I’m asking you to challenge your spouses, partners, fathers, uncles, brothers, colleagues, peers, bosses, board members, CEO’s, sons — to join you in this effort, publicly.
And while I’m not telling you who to vote for— I AM asking you to consider what happens when “getting your husbands back to work” becomes as contagious as covid. These statements, however flippant or made in “jest”— will have a chilling effect.
Be well.
Stay well.
Mask Up.
Vote.
And get a flu shot while you’re at it.
Jean
*McKinsey/ Lean In study; September 2020