8 HR metrics every HR leader should monitor for greater gender diversity in the workplace
The global pandemic could set women back half a decade when it comes to gender equity in the workplace, according to McKinsey’s ‘Women in the workplace’ report. Effectively, that’s an entire generation of working women who could see little to no shift in gender equity. That’s astounding.
Driving diversity and inclusion should always be a priority, but since the pandemic, it’s highlighted DE&I gaps that should be addressed.
It means that organizations need to shift gears on their diversity and inclusion initiatives. They need to have a deeper understanding of how fair their workplace truly is, not only in the case of gender but for age, race, neurodiversity and so much more. This way everyone is given the workforce experiences that they deserve.
However, HR and People teams first need to know where they fall short and where they should be prioritizing their initiatives within their own organizations. The best way to do that is through data.
We take a look at where women are in their journey to an equitable workplace, and which metrics are vital for building one.
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HR in the moment: Changing expectations and perceptions of HR
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Women in the workplace today
The representation of women in corporate America show incremental increases towards gender parity, which is welcome news.
In fact, the representation of women in senior vice-president positions and in the c-suite grew from 23% to 28%, and 17% to 21% respectively between January 2015 and January 2020. However, with just one in four Senior VPs are women, and one in five women in the C-suite, women are still grossly outnumbered in comparison to their male counterparts. That’s not even taking into account the setback women could experience in the workplace due to the pandemic; potentially as much as 50 years.
Despite clear evidence that company profits and share performance can be almost 50% higher with improved female representation at senior level, these numbers remain low, but it’s far from just being about the bottom line – it’s the right thing to do. Women in senior roles positively impact an organization’s culture, paving the way for other women in the organization to do the same.
Why metrics in HR?
For a thorough and accurate understanding of gender diversity in your workforce, you need data. You can’t rely on guesswork, assumptions or anecdotal feedback. So, the big question is, which data do you use?
Firstly, what you really need is a metric. Organizations are notorious for collecting large datasets that can provide all the answers – but the metric helps you find the answers you’re looking for within a sea of numbers. Once you’ve found it, you can make positive steps towards remedying any gaps – in this case, gender disparity – to make sure you’re offering the employee experiences you want to give and ones that your people deserve.
You can also then look back and reflect across set time periods and even introduce KPIs to make sure you’re hitting the goals you’ve set for your organization.
Here’s eight metrics that provide HR leaders with a clearer picture of your workforce and where you can focus your efforts to allow you to act upon your findings.
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Female to male ratio
Just 49% of women participate in the current global labor force, compared of 75% of men, according to the International Labor Organization. That’s a female to male ratio of 3:5.
At a basic level, knowing how many female and male employees you have in your organization gives you a starting point. You can also compare your statistic to your relevant business industry, to see how your organization compares to the benchmark. From this overall ratio, you can analyze the gender ratio in specific business areas, or specific job roles.
Once you understand the numbers, you can dig into why this is the case. For example, if you find there isn’t enough training and development for employees to move into certain job roles, you can then put new training in place to enable employees to move into these roles.
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Seniority levels
Analysis by CNNMoney found that just 5% of the CEO jobs are held by women. It’s clear the glass ceiling still exists, and this statistic just shows hard it is still to break through it.
You may have a good overall female to male ratio, but find a significant gender disparity in leadership, for example. So, looking at seniority is the first step to understanding what barriers exist and how you can remove them.
HR and People leaders can use the data from the gender seniority ratio to inform strategies, such as for recruitment and career progression.
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Gender-wage gap
Along with female representation, the gender wage gap has been at the core of gender diversity and inclusion in the workplace.
Taking an economic view, closing the gender wage gap could halve the poverty rate of working women and add $512.6 billion of income to the U.S. economy alone.
Income ratios and equal pay audits can provide HR and People leaders with the data they need, but the gender wage gap KPI relies on actioning those insights and taking steps to close the gap.
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Turnover and retention
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reports an average turnover of 44.3% across all industries. The top three reasons for leaving a job have been cited as insufficient career advancement opportunities, low pay and lack of pay rise.
Looking at the gender breakdown of your organization’s turnover and retention data can be useful in determining the average duration in a position of men and women.
Understanding their reasons for leaving and setting KPIs to support in areas identified as causes of turnover can help improve retention of valuable employees in future.
Download the HR in the moment research report
HR in the moment: Changing expectations and perceptions of HR
Find out why 58% of HR leaders feel they're playing a more strategic role at their organizations and how perceptions of HR are changing.
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Recruitment and career progression
The ratio of women to men being promoted and hired to a manager position is 5:8, according to McKinsey. This is even lower for black women.
HR and People leaders should be regularly reviewing recruitment strategies to address their organization’s gender breakdown of applicants for all roles, both internally and externally. This could include processes, the wording of messaging, and where roles are advertised.
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Absenteeism
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, on average, 3% of full-time salary workers are absent from workdays regularly. Do you know how much this costs your organization?
Measuring the absenteeism rate gives an indication of the organization’s wellbeing. HR and People leaders can calculate the rate from employee absence data, but it’s the results that provide the insight.
If you can spot trends between genders, you need to look at why. This could suggest an underlying issue, such as lack of flexibility, or employee dissatisfaction.
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Work-life balance
Encouraging a healthy work-life balance should be a priority, regardless of gender.
One of the key best practices for achieving gender diversity is to facilitate work-life balance. For both men and women, this includes flexible working on a day-to-day basis, such as flexi-hours, as well as supporting career flexibility as a whole, such as with extended maternity and paternity leave.
While it’s harder to track work-life balance as a metric, you can look into some of these individual schemes you have to encourage work-life balance, understand if they’re being taken up or not to build up a picture of work-life balance in your workplace.
Alternatively, creating an employee survey about work-life balance could give you additional insights and allow you to ask the questions you need answers to.
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Employee satisfaction
Arguably the most important question of them all – how happy are your employees?
Job satisfaction is a primary metric for organizations, often using eNPS (employee net promoter score) or ESI (employee satisfaction index). Gaining these insights can highlight potential gender disparity and enable HR leaders to find ways to boost employee satisfaction.
The employee satisfaction data and monitoring this over time can be used to adjust HR strategies or implement further processes, to redress the balance of gender inequality and provide further support.
Gaining value from People analytics for diversity and inclusion
With the gender gap potentially getting bigger – not smaller – in workplaces as a result of the pandemic, organizations will need to step up their game to drive diversity and inclusion forward.
Using real-time data and analysis of workforce metrics enables HR and People leaders to take fast action where opportunities are identified, allowing for flexibility in making the change and planning for the future.
Powerful analytics tools and data dashboards can help develop tailored HR strategies to create a more balanced, diverse and inclusive organization, with increased employee happiness and enhanced business performance.
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