Sheryl Sandberg, one of the technology industry’s most important global leaders, once said: ”
Having women in leadership roles does all of that and some more. In addition to increasing gender ratios and other female role models in the workplace, it has been found to have a positive ripple effect on a healthy culture across the organization.
But let’s start from the beginning. It’s no news that women’s representation in the workforce is sorely lacking. This is a problem we have been grappling with all over the world, and it has been even more acute in India for decades. A problem that only gets worse towards the top of the ladder.
We recently conducted an in-depth cultural study titled “Startups Employees Love (SEL)” and surveyed over 50,000 employees at over 150 startups. Our aim was to identify what makes employees happy at work, what the organization does well, and what needs improvement. A multifaceted measure of a startup’s Employee Net Promoter Score® (eNPS), the study yielded an unprecedented amount of data (over 2.5 million data points!) and a wealth of eye-opening insights. I was. One of the areas we looked at was how the startup ecosystem is performing among female employees. Indian start-ups were found to have better gender diversity than larger companies. Women make up 34% of the workforce in Indian startups. While there is room for improvement, this figure is significantly higher than the overall white-collar workforce.
We found that eNPS for female employees was on average 18 points lower than eNPS for men, and women in the startup ecosystem were less satisfied and satisfied than men.
eNPS Gender Gap:
There are very clear reasons for this difference in eNPS scores between men and women. Low numbers of women in companies lead to a vicious cycle of underrepresentation and inclusive policies, creating less than ideal and even unsafe workplaces for women.
First of all, many startups don’t have processes in place to adequately address sexual harassment and casual sexism. As one woman said: Leaders don’t seem to understand that it puts women at risk. ”
Women on male-dominated teams are often overlooked or ignored when it comes to important business decisions. In addition, poor representation within the team can also lead to ignorant business decisions: one lifestyle company found that male consumers were her 15th, whereas female consumption On average she took 25 days. It makes no sense to speculate as to why. Because there were no women on the team.
Women make up 34% of the startup workforce, but that number is down significantly at the top. Less than 20% of her leaders at startups are women, and many startups lack her CXO. This means that women in these companies have fewer role models and mentors for her. These organizations are also perceived to have unfair hiring and promotion practices, leading to a decline in women and an even worse gender ratio.
All of this, along with inconveniences such as poor washroom facilities, maternity policies and unsafe working hours, have resulted in workplaces not designed for women to thrive.
Bridging the Gap:
There is no silver bullet, but one obvious answer to all these problems is to hire more women, especially at the top.
Here’s why. Startups with more than 40% of her women on their leadership team have higher her eNPS overall, 7 points higher on average than startups with less than 10% of her female leaders. It’s easy to see why. Women leaders help build more inclusive policies, serve as role models for her, and demonstrate gender bias in long-term growth within organizations. All of this contributes to improving women’s well-being.
One woman told me that the presence of her manager increased her confidence in her role. “I work in her customer service business,” she said. She feels lucky that my team is headed by Ekta (her name has changed) — she was in my position before, so I made a particular call. She doesn’t feel the need to explain why she declined.
Startups should see gender diversity not just as a fair initiative, but as a win-win proposition that positively impacts the entire organization.
Disclaimer
The above views are the author’s own.
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