As we recently saw in our post on female leadership and its impact on organisations, and according to numbers gathered from surveys: the more female executives are present in collaborative companies, the better their financial performance.
Nevertheless, the growing number of women in organisations continues to be a topic of discussion even in 2019, as women must face more conflicts than men when they become business leaders. In such case, having children or getting married have traditionally been major obstacles that have greatly interfered with women’s work-life balance, let alone their domestic responsibilities on top of that.
In fact, the 2017 survey “When Women Thrive,” conducted by global Human Resources consulting firm Mercer, revealed that women’s salaries continue to be lower than their male counterparts in the same positions, persistently maintaining a gender salary gap of 17% in Latin America. Even though 64% of the organisations and companies surveyed recognise the need for a more diverse workforce, very few have implemented part-time, flexible work or maternity programmes.
Impressing upon the fact that we still have a long way to go, we must recognise that Latin America has shown headway towards reducing gender inequalities in the workplace and business world.
It is up to women in executive positions to spearhead and encourage the next generation, being generous with their teachings and in creating more inclusive workplaces, and actively participating in platforms that empower women to grow personally and professionally; attributes that will positively impact the perception of interested participants within organisations, and which will be a reputational win for everyone in the end.
The response seems much simpler than what it entails: it requires a true leader that focuses on discovering what motivates each team member, their opportunities for professional development, identifying their purpose and creating conditions so that each employee is able to maximise their potential.
The message is clear: if a company fails to understand and value its employees as individuals, it won’t be able to incorporate those differences into innovation processes, improve flexibility at the organisation, or increase employee motivation and commitment.
