Women in the Workplace
Details: Written by Eleanor Lodge
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Throughout March we celebrated women, with International Women’s Day, Women’s History Month and Mother’s Day all taking place. But amidst the festivities, and despite positive steps forward, female inequalities in the workplace remain.
In a recent study of performance reviews, 66% of women said they had received negative feedback on their personal style, with phrases such “you can sometimes be abrasive” used. This was a stark contrast to the 1% of men said to have also received this type of feedback.
Now, after almost 60 years since the passage of the Equal Pay Act in 1963, a 7.9% gender pay gap remains between the average hourly rates for men and women in the same role, with the gap the highest in every English region in the UK than in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
The evidence of female discrimination in the British workplace remains clear, made evermore apparent in male dominated industries. Now, after 20 years in the EdTech industry, female leader Sian Wilson, Executive Director of Commercial at The Skills Network offers her top five tops on how to tackle bias in the workplace and open the doors to greater workplace diversity.
Sian's top tips for an inclusive workplace:
- Safe and unbiased recruitment practices – ensuring you are looking at the skills, knowledge and behaviours you want in your business without knowledge of gender, race, disability, sexuality or other identity factors.
- Get involved at school level careers activities, apprenticeships, digital bootcamps and study programmes - these are your future workforce, attract and engage early for a great talent pipeline into your business for years to come.
- Think inclusive – from corporate events, benefits, work socials etc, does this isolate your staff and customers?
- Build an open, flexible and safe culture – we are all different. Those businesses that allow flexible working, have open communication, have wellbeing support and caring leadership will always be one that attracts the best talent.
- Get involved and learn more – opening your business to diverse talent has proven rewards. Being a disability confident employer, being an LGBTQ allied, having working patterns that are conducive to those that have caring responsibilities and engaging your colleagues and customers communities will not only bring a happier and more fulfilled workforce but also puts you firmly as an employer of choice.