Just like the Fortune 500 companies, your company should be looking for ways to do better financially. Wouldn’t it be a kick if that turned out to be by promoting more women into upper management? Wouldn’t it be great if your stockholders thought this would also be good for their pockets? Well, the kicker is . . . it’s true! Now you need to get the word out. And to do that, you need proof. Catalyst, a New York-based research organization has provided the proof.
Catalyst found that Fortune 500 companies with the highest representation of women in their senior management teams had a 35 percent higher Return on Equity—a key measure of profitability—and a 34 percent higher Total Return to Shareholders—capital gains plus dividends—than companies with the lowest representation of women at the senior level.
So, promoting women up, way up, increases the bottom line. I hope you’re asking yourself, “Aren’t women being promoted?” For those of you, the resounding answer is “No.” Women are half our workforce and only 16%—that’s way less than half—of our upper management. There are many subtle obstacles that cause this situation. The Good News is these obstacles can avoided by smart women preparing for them and by smart companies taking an active role in removing them.
What could be the reasons for a financial upside to promoting women? Catalyst is careful not to try to guess at what causes these numbers. But I’m not shy, I’ll give you my thoughts. I believe women bring a different way of looking at things that a group of men may have overlooked. I’m not saying the men’s viewpoint is wrong, but asking them to consider a different direction, a different product, is valuable.
Also having more female role models will attract the best-qualified women to your company. Heather Arnet of the Post Gazette says, “Demonstrating a true commitment to paying women fair wages and providing opportunities for advancement within your corporate and board structure will enable your company to compete for the most qualified workers in the market.” And now more women than men are graduating from our universities: 6 out 10 college graduates are now women. We can’t ignore this skilled talent pool.
And also of financial importance is stemming the turnover of your female employees. As Mike Cook of Deloitte discovered (as reported in the Harvard Business Review), women were not leaving to start families, they were leaving because they saw men receiving the best new clients and men being promoted more rapidly. These practices have been curbed, and guess what, the women are staying.
It’s a novel turn of events that we now need to say, “Don’t promote women because it’s the right thing to do. Promote women because it’s good for the bottom line.”
Tip: Get the word out. Refer your CEO to Deloitte, IBM, or Johnson & Johnson to see how they’re removing obstacles to promoting women and gaining the financial upper hand. If a woman would like to take some time off to start a family, these companies now offer a 1 to 5 year sabbatical (without pay) where they keep you informed and connected to the company. And yes, men can use this time off (for any reason) as well. If you’re running your own business, as many women today are, ask a man for his viewpoint—you may be surprised. Of course, if you’re the boss, you get to make the final decision.
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