(From Fast Company) -- Look around your office: Is it a total dudefest? For many tech companies and startups, the answer is yes--and it’s truer the higher you climb on the executive ladder. But that’s not acceptable if you want your company to thrive.
Multiple studies confirm: companies with more women in higher places meet with greater financial success. McKinsey’s Organizational Health Index (OHI), a broad-based measurement of top-performing companies, finds firms with three or more women in top positions score higher than their peers--findings supported by studies by Columbia Business School and University of Maryland, among others. Catalyst, a nonprofit focused on expanding opportunities for women in business, found a 26% boost in return on invested capital in companies with lots of women on their boards versus companies with no women.
And then there’s the "end of men." A new spate of books published this fall trumpet the new economic ascendency of women. Their arguments in brief? Male-dominated industries like manufacturing and construction have dwindled in a blizzard of pink slips, while the economy’s fastest-growing jobs--nursing, home healthcare, and service roles--and the skills necessary to succeed in the recession’s disruptive wake--collaboration, communication, flexibility--all favor women. Skeptics point out that, while women have come a long way, there’s still a long road ahead. Even so, data strongly suggest getting and keeping top female talent could be the new corporate edge.
What’s the latest smart thinking in employer policy to attract and retain female workers? We scanned the corporate landscape for low-cost, high-ROI policies that work.
Stop thinking exclusively in terms of "mommy-policies."
Increasingly, what women demand from their employers aligns with what men want, too: better work-life balance. As Hanna Rosin relates in her book The End of Men, Harvard Business Review surveys of Gen Y workers reveal both genders “want flexibility, the option to work remotely, to dip in and out of full-time, and find their work meaningful.” Women have just been historically more willing than men to ditch any workplace that doesn’t meet these demands, and suffer the career fallout that may result.
“The wage gap can’t be explained just in terms of discrimination,” Rosin explained in a phone interview from her home in Washington, D.C. “Women are making rational decisions to guard their personal time.” Given a choice between two equivalent positions--one amply paid but featuring zero flexibility, and one less well remunerated but more flexible--more women are consciously opting for the latter. In other words, contrary to many companies’ expectations, more flexible corporate policies can actually save you big bucks in hiring costs.
