women

Discover better ways to engage with female applicants

Build a strong employer brand

Your employer brand is your reputation as an employer. Naturally, if your current and potential employees perceive your workplace positively, you’re more likely to attract top talent.

By implementing a range of inclusive, business-wide initiatives, you can help create a workplace that values women and their contributions. This, in turn, will build a stronger employer brand for your organisation.

Put gender on your agenda

Plenty of organisations talk about attracting more women, but actually turning those good intentions into action takes serious commitment.

It’s important that your organisation has female-friendly policies and processes in place that clearly demonstrate respect and the support of women in your workforce.

Create opportunities for advancement

Women are more likely to apply for a job if they can see that an organisation is committed to helping them develop new skills and progress their careers.

If you want to increase the number of women applying to work in your organisation, it makes good business sense to have policies and programs that actively create those career advancement pathways for them.

Find smarter ways for your organisation to recruit women

Create application processes that encourage diversity

An application process that’s balanced, unbiased and inclusive lets applicants know that your organisation is serious about diversity.

Simple measures, like clearly communicating that you’re seeking candidates from all backgrounds and using gender-neutral language, will encourage more women to consider applying to work with you.

Refine your interviewing process

Inclusive organisations design their interviewing process to be mindful of the different needs of men and women within interview situations. They take into account a range of aspects, such as the gender of the interviewer, the language used, the types of questions asked and the way women talk about their skills and achievements.

As a result, these organisations employ more women because their interview processes allow for a more accurate assessment of an applicant’s skills and abilities.

Onboard women effectively

A well-designed onboarding process can help female employees make a smooth transition into your workforce.

It not only sets the tone for how effectively your organisation supports employees from diverse backgrounds, it also has a significant impact on their integration and retention too.

Help your organisation retain more women

Inclusion starts at the top

Inclusive leadership sets the tone for inclusion and gender diversity in your workplace. These values trickle down, creating behaviours that inspire change, spread within the organisation, and become the new norm.

Improving female participation and representation requires consistent communication, support and actions from leaders at all levels.

Implement inclusive initiatives

Simple changes can make the world of difference for women and other underrepresented groups in your workplace.

Finding ways to implement gender-specific initiatives can help retain more female employees too – initiatives such as employee resource groups, mentoring, gender specific personal protective equipment and appropriate facilities for women.

Embrace flexibility

Flexible working arrangements give women the ability to balance their work and personal responsibilities more effectively. As a result, these arrangements can also give your organisation a clear advantage in attracting and retaining female employees.

To be implemented successfully, flexible working arrangements, and how to access them, need to be clearly outlined in your organisation’s policies.

Inclusive organisations create clear, straightforward pathways for women to gain new skills and advance in the workplace.

Key to this is providing opportunities for formal and on-the-job development, such as access to mentoring, helping female employees develop a career progression plan and programs for leadership shadowing.

Mentor female employees

Mentoring programs – both formal and informal – are a powerful way to foster female talent in your organisation and build a pipeline of female leaders for the future.

Mentors are generally female professionals who have the experience to inspire and motivate others. They can guide women through the challenges they may face in their careers and support them to work successfully in a male-dominated industry.

Set achievable targets

The key to improving the representation of women at all levels in your organisation lies with accurately measuring progress.

Set clear gender targets and put defined plans in place to achieve them. Collect data. Compare outcomes. Monitor your performance. Make adjustments where necessary. And remember – the road to gender equity relies on continuous improvement.

Build pathways to promotion

Fair pay, flexible ways of working and an inclusive culture are all contribute to women staying with an organisation however, knowing that they have the same opportunities as men to progress in the organisation is essential for female employees.

Your organisation can help by encouraging female employees to communicate their professional and personal goals, and then put in place clear actions to reach these goals as well as providing opportunities to move ahead when they arise.