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Corporations need to embrace a holistic set of initiatives and focus on sustaining their efforts over time. According to the 2017 Mckinsey Global Institute study The Power of Parity, in Canada, best-in-class companies use five initiatives to drive progress:
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1
Go beyond a vocal commitment to diversity and build actions based on a clear business case for change.
More than half of the companies in the McKinsey survey consider gender diversity a top ten strategic priority, but very few have included business performance factors in their path forward. As a result, employees see gender equality as a social cause and they fail to understand the economic benefits for the company.
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2
Set targets, track performance, share results, and hold leaders accountable.
The McKinsey survey showed that companies are applying gender-based analysis to hiring and retention, but few take corrective action when the results show low diversity. Leaders need to be held accountable for fostering gender diversity – and they should be rewarded when their efforts pay off.
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3
Create formal sponsorship programs to help promote women to senior leadership roles.
All employees ranked sponsorship by a senior leader and political savviness as top criteria for advancement, but women appeared to have more struggles accessing sponsors.
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4
Raise awareness of unconscious bias to create a truly inclusive environment.
Women comprise only one-quarter of senior leaders, but 80 percent of employees think their company is inclusive.
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5
Although most companies offer flexible work options, many employees believe that taking advantage of a flexible work program hinders their career progress.
Women in STEM take advantage of flex-work programs (including parental leaves) at a higher rate than men do. Companies need to make using these programs compatible with promotion. This includes addressing the unconscious bias against them and improved re-integration support.
