The proportion of female employees within an organisation is a tricky question which most entrepreneurs tend to avoid. Complaints of gender bias, unequal pay, and limited growth opportunities are quite common. There are many professional fields where the gender bias still exists and the man to woman proportion is still inappropriate.
Women can work in a professional field only when the work environment is conducive. Most women require encouragement and moral support. Proper techniques if employed to hire female employees and retain them can ensure that these proportions are definitely altered.
Simple Ways to Attract And Retain Top Female Employees:
The first and most vital step is surely to attract the right female talent to the particular vacancy and identify them during the interview process. You need to find out whether the applicant is really fit to handle the role she is taking up.
This means that during the interview process, you need to gauge her on her knowledge, intelligence and the ability to work in the particular field. Here are some suggestions that may help in this.
Advertise at the right place:
To find out suitable female candidates, you will need to advertise in forums and communities which largely cater to women with similar likings. If, for instance, your organization is into fashion, then look for communities which largely cater to women with an avid interest in hot couture. This will surely work out.
There are many websites and job portals where you can find the profiles of aspiring female employees for a particular job position. You need to check their previous experience and find out whether they are ideal options for the firm.
Speak in tone they are used to:
Female candidates are often attracted by a number of things in a job profile which their male counterparts tend to ignore. Industries such as fashion, media and film production are known for the glamour and perks they offer to gifted professionals, but most of them are often suitable for men.
If you wish to attract and retain the best female talents within your organization, stress on flexible timings and on-site manicures rather than offering free beer and indoor gaming facilities. Be particular about the words you would use to describe your ideal candidate. Avoid words like ” maverick” and ”wizards” as they are normally associated with males.
When you send email to your applicants, use Madam or the name of the person if it is a female candidate. If the applicant has feminist feelings, she would be offended if she is addressed as ‘Sir’.
Be a more considerate employer:
No matter how cool your office atmosphere is, your employees are likely to settle down and start families at one point or another. Providing special attention to working moms such as letting them bring their children to office, allocating a separate nursing room, or a four parental leave can work wonders.
Women are usually family oriented. If they feel that their professional life is hampering their family life, they may probably quit. A considerate employer understands the needs of a parent and ensures her needs are fulfilled too. Women tend to stick to such firms and organisations and stay loyal to them.
Offer ample growth opportunities:
Women often experience limited growth opportunities in their careers. The male dominated professions have still not accepted female employees or altered their ways to accommodate the female employees.
Come up with mentorship programs to create a growth-oriented environment that promises stability. This is a sure way to reveal that you are ready to invest in talented women and help them grow professionally.
Once the women have faith in their organisation, they will surely work for the organisation with single minded devotion.
Pay equally for equal work:
This is one of the basic areas which you cannot afford to ignore. Observe the payroll of your company and find out if there is a payment disparity or not for male and female employees in the same profile. Create a grading system which is linked with a job description, rather than the person who holds the position.
A gender bias in the modern organisations is sure to discourage talented female employees. Care should be taken to ensure that there is no disparity or gender discrimination and the organisation practices equality.
Flexibility matters:
The definition of a workplace is drastically changing. People can work literally from anywhere, even if it is a small hut in the Swiss Alps. This point is valid for women who are trying to maintain a balance between their roles at home and office.
You can increase the stability within your organization by offering flexible time and options to work from home under special circumstances.
This flexibility is sure to increase the productivity of women. Your goal should be to get maximum work out of the female employees without overexerting them. Flexibility can be a major key to unlock this goal.
Hire women in leadership roles:
It will easier for you to hire females with long-term prospects if you have a few ladies at the top. Opt for diversity in leadership by including women in senior managerial positions.
A woman has a natural tendency to check the prospects of other female employees in the firm and see if they have made it big. When female applicants find out that other women are heading departments or playing significant roles in the firm, they will naturally feel that the work environment is conducive for women. This will increase their chances of sticking to the firm.
Create the right channels:
Creating a diverse, vibrant work atmosphere cannot happen overnight. It is a time-consuming process. Therefore, create and maintain relationships with corporate trainers, organizations, and schools. Provide internship opportunities to give ladies the chance to discover the work environment.
Internships help the firms to identify the right female candidates without investing on them. Women wish to prove they are the best in the field and that is why they put in maximum efforts during the internship period. It is the right time to gauge a prospective female candidate.
Implement a wide range of hiring strategies:
Leave no hiring strategy unturned while looking for qualified, well-groomed talent to add to your organization. The recruitment process should have at least two ladies who will go through job descriptions and postings that stand out.
The interview round is when you get to extract maximum information from the candidate regarding the candidate’s abilities, skills, ambitions and core competencies. Make it a point to include three or four unique rounds in the interview process.
There should be one round that gauges the skills or knowledge of the candidate. After this, you may have a round to know the candidate’s IQ or intelligence. The next round could gauge the candidate’s behavioural traits. The final round should be the one with the HR or the Owner of the firm what are your salary expectations and ambitions regarding the career can be discussed.
Teach them people management skills:
Born leaders are few. In companies with a limited workforce, people usually get easy promotions without having adequate management skills. Therefore, provide managers with training to help them understand the true meaning of leadership, ways to motivate employees and ways to avoid biases.
Women should be given separate training to tackle male employees during conflicts. This is vital because men and women react to the same situation differently. Understanding how to tackle men can help them handle responsible positions in a firm or an organisation.
Safeguard Woman’s Rights:
Women employees need to feel safe and protected to work in an organisation devotedly. The first key to feeling safe is no sexual exploitation at the workplace. In every firm or organisation, there are employees who fail to understand their limit. They may just ill-treat women or try to exploit them sexually.
If a woman ever complains of such cases, strict action needs to be taken against these men. Proper disciplinary action will ensure that in future men will fret to exploit women or ill-treat them. It will also encourage women to work in such a workplace as it is safe for women.
Personal Choices Should Not Hinder Professional Growth:
Equality needs to be practised in all organisations. There should not be any kind of bias based on a woman’s personal choices, orientation or married life. Any kind of bias based on these factors would surely disappoint a woman and may even prevent her from continuing in the same firm. Losing a good female employee is never worthwhile for any organisation.
Finally :
The fairer sex is still kept bereft of the right opportunities in many male dominated societies. That is the reason why many of the intelligent and talented women are still caged within the four walls of their husband’s home.
This trend can change only when more care is taken to recruit and retain the right female talent in the organisation and ensure their growth.
