Daily Archives: August 30, 2023

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As businesses strive to create environments that foster diversity, inclusivity, and fairness, the imperative to understand and implement effective strategies for promoting gender equality in the workplace has never been more pressing. A workplace that promotes gender equality is a workplace where innovation and productivity flourish, driving long-term organizational success. What practical strategies can leaders implement to help create an inclusive and equitable work environment where everyone can thrive?

We recently asked our leading executives for their best tips on how to promote gender equality in the workplace.

Here are their responses...

Michael Willis, Sports Business Operations Executive

No more playing it safe with surface-level initiatives or empty gestures. It's time to unleash a storm of innovation and redefine what it means to truly champion gender equality in every corner of the professional realm.

Step 1: Shatter the Status Quo - Throw out those old-school gender roles and expectations. Men in leadership and nurturing roles? Absolutely. Women in traditionally male-dominated industries? You bet. Let's obliterate the barriers that have held us back for too long.

Step 2: Pay Parity or Bust - No more excuses. Audit those payrolls and fix the wage gap pronto. It's time to show that the value of your work has nothing to do with gender. Pay up or prepare to face some significant disruption.

Step 3: Fierce Flexibility - Flextime isn't just for showâit's for real. Allow everyone to craft their schedules around their lives. Parent-teacher meetings, gym time, creative pursuitsâlet's blend work and life in a way that makes sense for everyone.

Step 4: Gender-Blind Hiring - Resumes with no names, no gender indicatorsâjust skills and experience. It's time to pick talent based on capability, not gender assumptions.

Step 5: Parental Leave for All - Parental leave that doesn't discriminate. Dads, moms, adoptive parentsâeveryone gets a chance to bond and support their families without fearing career repercussions.

Step 6: Mandatory Unconscious Bias Training - Nobody escapes this. Everyone, from the CEO to the intern, gets a reality check on their biases. It's time to level the playing field by leveling the mindset.

Step 7: Leadership Overhaul - Time to rewrite the leadership narrative. Promote women not just because it's trendy but because they're qualified. We need diverse voices at the top calling the shots.

Step 8: Transparency Talk - Publish diversity and inclusion data. Let everyone see precisely where your workplace stands.

Step 9: Speak Out, Stand Up - Foster an environment where calling out inequality isn't risky business. Encourage employees to speak up and back them up when they do.

Step 10: Disruptive Mentorship - Pair rising stars with seasoned pros from all walks of life. Gender, age, industryâmix it up. The wisdom doesn't just flow one way.

Step 11: Men as Allies - Men, it's time to join the fight for gender equality. Amplify women's voices, challenge the system, and acknowledge that when one of us rises, we all do.

Step 12: Fearless Flexing - Embrace employees who challenge the norms. Please encourage them to break boundaries and create initiatives that amplify gender equality like never before.

So, there you have itâa disruptive approach to gender equality in the workplace. It's time to shake things up, challenge the norms, and make equality more than just a buzzword. Let's create a workplace where everyone thrives, regardless of gender, because we're in this together for real change.

Michael Willis has 18+ years of experience working with accounting & sports organizations and has managed P&Ls of $10M - $125M+ with budgets of $3M-$50M+. He worked for the NFL for 22 1/2 years, mainly with the game officials working on the financial/accounting side of the business.

Kathryn Marshburn, Artist & Label Partnerships

The music industry has experienced gender inequality for decades where women are still vastly under-represented. We have an outrageous gender gap that is improving but at a nominal rate and we need more equity leadership from all music entities.

Thirty percent of music artists identify as females on the Billboard Hot 100 today. Basically, this means that there are 3.5 men for every 1 woman represented in the music industry. We have to correct this inequity, but the question is how?

The runway for men from the top 100 position to the top 20 position is much easier than the mapping of females to a top 20 position. It is painfully obvious that it is harder for women to break into music and to make it into the top where 70% of men are making the breakthrough over a longer runaway. Women are expected to go straight to the top quickly and itâs just not realistic or fair.

What are the solutions to consider?

1. Music label initiatives to sign and seek more female artists, providing better budgets to support music production and distribution.

2. Rip the Band-Aid off the issue exposing the narrative about the inequities in the industry that exist with a lack of female music engineers, music, executives, and other parallel roles within the music industry. Provide opportunities to speak on the issue and to amplify the need to have better equality.

3. Demand that streaming platforms support marketing campaigns that feature women. An amazing example of this is the EQUAL campaign at Spotify, where major marketing dollars are put to the test behind international female artists, virtually unknown music artists, that include worldwide promotions such as Times Square billboards, live events, and other marketing activations. Spotify has successfully provided support for female music artists to tell their stories through music and increased fanbase growth and overall support of women in music.

4. Providing an educational track at the elementary school level encouraging more music programs targeted at females including writing, composing, and vocal training.

5. Become more transparent about pay inequity, and close the gap.

6. Move from a mentorship mentality to a sponsorship mindset.

With a huge gap in gender within the music industry, we must become better advocates for women and female artists.

The industry has always been difficult to break through, but itâs particularly harder for women who are struggling to map their journey through unfair territory. Please leave comments and thoughts and help us to create a more equitable environment in the music.

Kathryn Marshburn has spent 12+ years in the music and gaming industries guiding teams on identifying targeted goals with an agile approach resulting in driving revenue and reducing risk.

Lisa Perry, Global Marketing Executive

Group of coworkers/professionals in a meeting for a company that promotes gender equality

Gender inequality has been a hot topic of discussion and concern lately. While progress has been made in recent years, there are still areas where gender disparities exist.

Not a single country in the world has achieved gender equality. On a global level, thereâs been little progress on gender equality since the Global Goals were signed in 2015. Source
Over 380 million women and girls are living in extreme poverty. Thatâs more than the entire population of the United States living on less than $1.90 a day. Source
Women shoulder billions of hours of unpaid childcare globally. And the pandemic just made it worse. Source
Women earn 82% of what men make in the same roles, and this gender gap has remained relatively stable over the past 20 years. Source
Less than 20% of the worldâs landholders are women. Source
Women make up 10.4% of Fortune 500 CEOs and earn 75% less than their male counterparts. Source

In the face of these staggering statistics, itâs imperative to address gender inequality in all spheres of life, including the workplace. When there is a lack of diversity in decision-making, it eliminates the viewpoint of a huge percentage of the population. So, how can organizations take concrete steps to promote gender equality in the workplace?

Equal Pay for Equal Work: Ensure men and women are paid equally for the same roles and responsibilities. Regularly review salary structures and address any pay disparities.
Inclusive Hiring Practices: Implement unbiased and inclusive hiring practices that ensure equal opportunities for all candidates, regardless of gender. Use diverse hiring panels and consider blind recruitment techniques.
Flexible Work Policies: Offer flexible work arrangements that cater to the diverse needs of employees, particularly women who often juggle work and caregiving responsibilities.
Leadership Development: Develop programs that actively identify and nurture female talent within the organization. Encourage women to take on leadership roles and provide them with mentorship and guidance.
Education and Training: Conduct gender sensitivity training for all employees to create awareness about unconscious biases and stereotypes in the workplace.
Family-Friendly Policies: Provide comprehensive family-friendly policies, including parental leave, childcare facilities, and support for caregivers, to ensure a conducive environment for both men and women to balance work and family responsibilities.
Transparent Promotion Criteria: Clearly define and communicate promotion criteria to ensure that opportunities for growth and advancement are available to all employees based on merit.

Promoting a workplace culture of gender equality empowers organizations to harness their workforceâs full potential, fuel economic growth, and foster inclusivity. Embracing gender equality nurtures an environment where every voice matters, bolstering employee satisfaction and retention. Beyond a moral duty, itâs an investment in the future of organizations and societies, propelling progress.

For a step-by-step guide on how to develop a brand strategy, check out my book How to Develop a Brand Strategy.

Lisa Perry helps companies drive revenue by using consumer trends, insights, and data analytics to innovate their approach to marketing.

How do you promote gender equality in the workplace? Join the conversation inside Work It Daily's Executive Program.

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Executive Spotlight: How To Promote Gender Equality …

In this week's edition of the Work It DAILY Weekly Update, we discuss the importance of employers offering outplacement services and briefly touch on how recent events nationally impact the workplace.

The Importance Of Offering Outplacement Services

Laid-off employee on laptop uses outplacement services in their job search

Last week, the National Bureau of Economic Research officially declared that the U.S. economy was in a recession.

For the millions of people who have lost their jobs, this doesn't come as a surprise. Making matters worse is the fact that the newly unemployed are heading into this recession lacking the basic job search skills they need to navigate the competitive job search process that accompanies a recession.

In some ways, this would be an easy problem to address if more companies offered outplacement services to the employers they let go. Unfortunately, most don't!

Work It DAILY founder and CEO J.T. O'Donnell touched extensively on the issue recently via her LinkedIn newsletter and podcast JT Talks Jobs.

Most companies offer job coaching/outplacement to laid-off executives, but not the rest of the workforce, according to O'Donnell.

As part of tax code changes made in 2017, people are no longer allowed to write off job search and coaching as an expense on their taxes, which puts even more burden on those impacted by layoffs, while companies are able to write it off as a business expense.

O'Donnell suggests that those who have been laid off should go back to their former employer and ask for assistance with job coaching, while challenging managers or business leaders who have laid people off to go back to their executive teams and ask them to find it in their budget to pay for outplacement for their staff.

There's a misconception that outplacement is expensive and will break the bank for their companies. However, this is no longer the case! Services like the ones offered by Work It DAILY are both affordable and can be done virtually through a computer or phone application.

Companies need to be more open-minded about helping layoff victims secure outplacement/career coaching services. Not only is it the right thing to do in this recession, but it's good business!

For one, the sooner your former employees get jobs, the less you pay in insurance rates. But, most importantly, employees will remember how they were treated in their time of need. Those employees will take to sites like Glassdoor and Indeed to share their experiences, and bad experiences have a way of sticking with companies and hurting their employer brand.

No one knows how long this recession will be, or the ultimate damage from it, but anything a company can do to help laid-off employees will go a long way towards putting the company on the right side of history.

Good News Of The Week

Peloton recently donated $500,000 to the NAACP

Exercise and media company Peloton was one of the first companies to make a major statement about racism in the wake of George Floyd's death.

Peloton made the poignant statement via Twitter and the message included the announcement that they were making a $500,000 donation to the NAACP.

Peloton has been praised for the tone of the message and taking immediate action with their donation. They were also praised for the way they ended their message. "We have more work to do. Will you join us?" This serves as an acknowledgment that statements and donations won't solve the problem alone and a call to action for other businesses to step up and help in the process.

Resource Of The Week

Coworkers discuss diversity and the company's role in improving society during a work meeting

As stated above, many U.S. companies are trying to figure out ways to show support and join the fight against racism.

For some companies, it's putting out public statements against racism. Others are donating to African-American causes, and many more companies are holding discussions about how to meaningfully participate in making positive changes to both the workplace and society.

Out of all these steps, having ongoing discussions about race and diversity is the most important. It's important that discussions not only happen now in these times of unrest, but they continue. The only way to make positive change is to constantly keep these issues at the forefront.

What meaningful change looks like and the timetable for it will vary by company and that company's circumstances, but one thing is for certain moving forward: remaining silent isn't an option.

Businesses are an essential part of society, and all of society must participate in making a difference. The Harvard Business Review recently linked some helpful articles and books to help discussions about race and there are also many great organizations that empower African Americans that are worth learning more about.

Give yourself an even greater edge by becoming a Work It DAILY member today! Get access to one-on-one career coaching, resume and cover letter reviews, online tutorials, and unlimited networking opportunitiesâall at an affordable price.

This article was originally published at an earlier date.

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Outplacement Is An Essential Service To Offer …

âWhat do you like least about your last jobâ is an incredibly tricky question to answer if youâre unprepared. It practically begs you to be negative, and many job-seekers unfortunately take the bait. This guide will teach you how to answer this question, and also provide you with some sample responses to help you develop […]

The post Answers To “What Do You Like Least About Your Last Job?” appeared first on Career Sherpa.

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Answers To “What Do You Like Least …

Are Strong Verbal Communication Skills Important?

Effective verbal communication can help to ensure that everyone is on the same page and avoid misunderstandings. Misunderstandings can arise when verbal communication is unclear which can lead to confusion and even conflict. According to Liz Papadopoulos, âEffective communication requires more than an exchange of information. When done right, communication fosters understanding, strengthens relationships, improves, and builds trust.â

Does your team have new team members? If so, help them build camaraderie so that they can respect, trust, and care for each other. A key attribute is for them to be able to communicate together.

For example, when having team meetings, make sure everyone has an opportunity to speak and be heard. Each team member should feel safe to be authentic and express their opinion to the group. After all, each team member is valuable and brings something different to the table. And donât forget that cultural differences can impact verbal communication styles.

Verbal Communication Components

One part of verbal communication is speaking skills. You need clarity to speak clearly and concisely to effectively communicate. Your tone, which includes volume and inflection, can also impact how your message is received. If your voice is loud and carries, are you cognizant that you may be perceived as intimidating?

Another component is listening skills. When someone is speaking to you, pay attention to and listen to understand what the speaker is saying. When you actively listen, youâll be able to understand and appropriately respond as well as ask clarifying questions. How would it make you feel if someone didnât completely listen to you and jumped to their own conclusions? According to Stephen Covey, âThe biggest communication problem is we do not listen to understand. We listen to reply.â

Both speaking and listening are important. For example, at a job interview, the organization is interviewing you about several elements including your skills, accomplishments, and fit into the organization. At the same time, youâre interviewing the company to find out about their company culture, growth opportunities, and whether the role is a good fit for you.

Ways To Improve Your Verbal Communication Skills

Verbal communication, oral communication concept

How good do you think your verbal communication skills are? Do you struggle to verbalize your ideas and thoughts clearly? Do others fairly often misunderstand or misinterpret what youâre saying? Or are you uncomfortable speaking in front of people and avoid public speaking at all costs? If so, you may benefit from improving your verbal communication skills.

There are several ways to improve your verbal communication skills including:

Record yourself â make a recording to hear how you speak. Rapidly? Monotone? Or how often do you pause thinking about what to say next and say filler words like "um," "uh," or "you know"? It starts with being aware.
Practice speaking â take opportunities to practice speaking at meetings, or even lead presentations. Practice, practice, practice. The more you practice, the more comfortable you will become.
Join a public speaking group like Toastmasters International. There is a network of (in person, online, and hybrid) clubs worldwide that can help you improve your public speaking skills.
Solicit feedback â seek out feedback from others. If youâre making your first presentation at a seminar, practice with a colleague.

Having strong verbal communication skills is important in both your personal and work life. Whether you are meeting and building a new relationship, interviewing for a role, resolving a customer service call, or collaborating with Marketing on a new service, itâs critical to be able to express and exchange information.

For more information on the importance of strong verbal communication skills, follow me on LinkedIn!

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