CULTIVATING A DIVERSE WORKPLACE Adapted from Sodexo’s “Why Diversity Shows Up in Profit Margins & How to Make it Happen,” January 2020
Just 21 percent of senior management roles are held by women. Even with the spotlight firmly fixed on equality in the workplace, a recent figure from Equipleap shows that businesses worldwide haven’t made significant progress. So, what’s the sticking point? Sunil Nayak, CEO Corporate Services Worldwide, Sodexo, says: “We know that most companies recognize the importance of being diverse and inclusive. But many of them struggle to weave it into their organizational fabric.” If a better work culture isn’t enough of an incentive, we know that a gender-balanced workplace can also increase performance. Diverse teams give an organization a world view, making it more sensitive to customer needs and expectations on a global scale. In an extensive survey involving 50,000 Sodexo managers across 70 business entities worldwide, we found that performance improved with a 40-60 percent female workforce. With this kind of gender balance, we scored better on five parameters: 1. Operating Margins 2. Employee Retention 3. Client Retention 4. Safety 5. Employee Engagement McKinsey & Company’s latest study, “Delivering Through Diversity,” backs this up. It showed that companies ranking in the top quarter for gender diversity were 21 percent more likely to see above-average profitability than those in the bottom quarter.
Diversity and Inclusion – What It Means to Give Everyone a Voice “Showing diversity in hiring is just half the work done,” says Sunil. “Every person should feel valued by the organization.” Many people representing diversity have had the experience of feeling like a check on a box, rather than a contributing member of the team.
First Step: Make it a Leadership Priority Leadership is the starting point for developing a genuine and effective equal-opportunities culture. “My own journey with gender diversity started many years ago when I had one of the first interactions with my global CEO. He asked me, ‘Do the women in Sodexo India have equal opportunities?’ This question was as important to him as our business performance. Now I know it’s a question that every CEO should be asking.” For Sunil, leaders play a crucial role in “walking the talk.” Like a celebrity lending weight to a social campaign, the words and actions of leaders have a profound effect on the way their employees think. Once it’s a priority, turning it into action is the next critical hurdle.
The Cornerstone of Equality: Equal Pay Another startling figure from Equileap shows that women worldwide are still paid 23 percent less than men. Equal pay is the cornerstone to equality; it should not be glossed
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ENGAGE MAGAZINE
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FALL 2020