In yesterday’s Advisor we heard from Greg Harris of Quantum Workplace concerning research into the gender gap at work. Today we’ll hear more from him, including how that influences engagement at work.
 |
By Greg Harris
Keeping women out of these roles is part of the engagement problem. The higher up an employee climbs in a company, the more likely he or she is engaged. Our engagement trends report found that while 90.2 percent of executive employees and 75.1 percent of managers are engaged, just 63.3 percent of individual contributors, or employers with no leadership responsibilities, are engaged.
Unless women are given the chance to advance into more leadership roles, there will continue to be a gap. Aside from offering the right type of leadership training, the paths to those positions need to be clear to employees. Everyone should know what is required of them to reach whatever role they aspire to. The less subjective the criteria for advancement, the better because it ensures that everyone will be judged fairly.
The goal of employee engagement strategies is to create the best workplace possible for all employees. As long as people are treated differently because of their gender, it’s impossible to make that a reality. But as with any change, the first step is identifying where the problem lies. Only then can we begin to make a better, more engaging workplace.
What are some other ways that employee engagement strategies are failing women? Share in the comments below!
BIO: Greg Harris is the president and CEO of Quantum Workplace, a company dedicated to providing every organization with quality engagement tools that guide their next step in making work better every day. You can connect with Greg and the Quantum Workplace team on LinkedIn®, Twitter, and Facebook.