A study of more than 800 business units of two companies representing two different industries – retail and hospitality – reveals that gender-sensitive business units perform better financially than those dominated by one gender: excellence is gender-neutral. Instead, it identifies skills and good management. That`s why the most respected organizations are open to a diverse and equitable work environment that promotes gender equality. Diversity of ideas and ways of thinking is crucial to a company`s success. Great leaders understand this, and they use diversity to promote growth, not to limit it. If you don`t have a product or service that targets a specific gender, your customers probably come from all walks of life. So, if you make sure your employee base reflects your customers, you`re much more likely to be able to communicate effectively with them and improve your understanding of what your customers need. By diversifying your teams and bringing together a mix of genders, backgrounds and ethnicities, think about all the purchasing power you can harness! Women, men, trans and non-binary people all have different perspectives that come from different life experiences. For example, there is no one in the world who could dispute the fact that women experience buying a car differently than men! By ensuring that gender diversity is within your team, you can benefit from these different perspectives and increase creativity and innovation within your team. Plus, it helps your business challenge gender stereotypes, which in turn can promote your corporate brand as gender-inclusive! For example, no one can deny that the experience of a woman and a man when buying a car is different. Similarly, by ensuring gender diversity, your team can benefit from diverse perspectives and foster creativity and innovation. In addition, it also helps to challenge gender stereotypes, which in turn can mark your brand as gender inclusive.
In short, we found no evidence that business performance leads to diversity. Rather, we found that diversity was a driver of the success of these companies. The McKinsey [Delivering through Diversity] report shows that companies with greater gender diversity in their leadership teams are more likely to outperform the competition in terms of profitability. The report also notes that the most successful companies had more women in revenue-generating positions than in employee roles on their leadership teams. Companies that promote a safer work environment ensure that they maintain a healthy balance between all types of genders. When this is the case, employees naturally become more attentive and sensitive to other employees. Simply put, a fair and balanced gender balance ensures a healthy work environment. There are enough people in the workforce of the kind to support all sides of the argument. This helps to create a much safer working environment where all voices are heard. Every person, regardless of gender, has a different point of view. They all gained different life experiences and knowledge. You can benefit from these different perspectives and experiences of all your employees.
If you need creative thoughts and ideas, you should cultivate gender diversity in your workplace. You`ll find innovation and creativity at their peak when working with your team. For these and other reasons, it makes sense for companies to make gender diversity a priority. Many say yes. Some researchers argue that gender diversity leads to innovative thinking and signals to investors that a business is competently managed. If employees feel forbidden, they don`t stick to it. This means that organizations that do not have gender equality run the risk of not attracting or retaining the most qualified talent for certain roles. It is also important to define leadership and management pathways for people of all genders, not just men. There are two ways of looking at it, internal and external satisfaction. When more gender-specific groups join a company, people who belong to that gender feel more empowered.
At the same time, the employee who joins the company feels a sense of belonging. And as diversity increases, these groups have more and more voices. For example, we found that the proportion of women in telecommunications companies in Western Europe, historically a relatively gendered context, was significantly related to the market value of a company. In particular, a 10% increase in Blue`s Gender Diversity Index (see more information in our box) referred to an increase of about 7% in market value. However, in the energy sector in the Middle East, which has always been gender-neutral, corporate gender diversity was not tied to corporate performance. If you make your workforce more gender-balanced, you`ll notice improved business performance. It shows that gender balance improves equity values and increases profitability. Joint boards are doing extremely well and this generates more value for the company. Keep in mind that gender-responsive companies can`t use all available talent to try to get more benefits in every way. Our research suggests that gender-specific teams perform better than unisex teams for several reasons: an employee is an employee at the end of the day, regardless of the gender, race, religion, etc.
to which they belong. The only way forward is to bring everyone together. If companies aim to create a happier and more productive work culture, then diversity, and not just in terms of gender, must be deeply embedded in entrepreneurship. It is high time for gender diversity to become a mandate. A mixed environment creates more opportunities to bring a diverse clientele on board. This is because people are then better able to understand customer requirements, are more sensitive to their needs and can therefore make better decisions. For almost all companies, however, we see investing in gender diversity as a good thing. By most standards, the business community is increasingly supporting women and the importance of women in business. This creates a positive feedback loop – companies that support gender diversity will reap these benefits sooner and allow them to outlive their competitors. An organization that prides itself on a diverse culture will attract better talent. This is the case because when they want to join a company, employees attach great importance to the work culture.
