Another year, another International Women’s Day gone by. It’s important to embrace the spirit of the day, but in 2024, the taste is somewhat bittersweet. By now, celebrating and acknowledging women’s achievements and needs should be an all-year-round commitment, not a one-day job.
Women tend to feel that they have to prioritise everybody else in their lives before their own careers, but it is possible to make it in the professional world while still being good friends, partners and parents – as long as businesses support their employees in the right way. Regardless of gender, everyone should be able to “have it all”.
So, doing the bare minimum to promote inclusion, flexibility, and recognition is no longer enough for employers. These things need to be promoted continually, with positive and impactful principles put in place to support true equality.
What does that mean in practice? Having recently overhauled Sleek’s policies to foster a more progressive place of work, here are five meaningful tips all businesses should look to implement.
Eliminate bias in recruitment and promotions
Gender bias in career decisions is, unfortunately, still alarmingly common. According to McKinsey’s 2023 Women In The Workplace report, for every 100 men promoted from entry level to manager, 87 women were promoted.
Eliminating bias – especially unconscious bias – is an enormous challenge, but as an initial step, businesses should ensure every candidate meets multiple team members during the interview process.
To ensure all promotion and pay rise decisions are also made fairly, consider introducing a clear career framework that applies the same capability expectations to everybody at the same business level. This framework can also set salary bands, ensuring consistent pay equity.
Offer flexible working hours
Flexible working may have become more common since the Covid-19 pandemic, but plenty of businesses still demand that their employees adhere to a strict daily schedule. That’s a harmful mindset for anyone, but especially for caregivers.
According to research, 64% of UK mothers are the primary caregivers for their children. Last year, the Centre for Progressive Policy found that nearly half of working-age women provide an average of 45 hours of unpaid care every week.
Caregivers need the option to flex their schedule around the diverse responsibilities they have outside of work. At Sleek, all colleagues set their own working hours between 8am and 6.30pm, with the option to leave or come into the office at whatever time works best.
Redefine parental leave
The labels “maternity leave” and “paternity leave” seem outdated in the modern world. Businesses need to recognise that families come in all forms, and the burden of care doesn’t always have to rest on the shoulders of women.
Relabelling it as primary and secondary caregiver leave helps eliminate stereotypes about parental leave and who should take it. Though it’s not always possible to offer the same level of leave for both, offering an enhanced leave policy is a great step forward. All caregivers need time to adjust to parenthood before returning to work as their best selves.
Give everybody a voice
People should be encouraged to express their feelings at work, whether good or bad. This is especially important when it comes to improving conditions for women and ensuring their empowerment all year round.
A colleague engagement survey can, therefore, be a vital tool, allowing everyone the same opportunity to voice their opinions and affect change within a company.
And to ensure people’s achievements are recognised fairly, peer-to-peer awards schemes – where colleagues nominate each other for great work – can be highly beneficial.
Believe in your worth
Finally, some advice for women: believe in yourself. If you walk into a meeting with a negative mindset, already expecting to be judged for your gender, then you won’t be able to put your best self forward. It’s mind-blowing how many female candidates begin to negotiate their own salary expectations down during interviews before the interviewer has even responded to their initial request.
Believe in your worth, and others will see it too. Women need to give themselves credit for their achievements, be confident in the value they bring to a business, and strive to feel empowered every day of the year – not just when International Women’s Day rolls around.
Jennifer Davidson is the founder of Sleek Events
