What can organizations do to retain the women in their workforce?

There's no denying that the role of women in society has changed enormously in the past 50 years. Worldwide, women are not only enjoying satisfying careers, some of them are out-learning men. Despite these tremendous advances, women still face a variety of professional challenges, particularly in traditionally male-dominated careers. 

I have found, regardless of what Gen Y women expect to achieve through their work or what motivates them to do work, they report five features that enable them to do their work:

·         clear understanding of goals and expectations;

·         open communication channels;

·         encouragement from co-workers and supervisors;

·         having voice heard; and

·         clear understanding of roles and responsibilities.

Sustained interventions toward these goals should include a process of identifying high-potential women as early as 3-4 years into their professional careers. The Gen Y woman needs to be nurtured by providing development trainings and mentoring. Organizations that plant the seed early have been singularly able to grow a pool of talented women, create a wealth of role models for young professional women to aspire to, and retain the knowledge base these talented women represent.

While Gen Y women’s experiences vary, when faced with workplace challenges young working women largely apply individual solutions to workplace challenges rather than working through or with their employer. Only one in ten women discussed work-life balance challenges with their manager or human resource department. Similarly, Gen Y women’s actions to confront gender discrimination, focus on individual solutions.

More than 40% of Gen Y women have confronted managers and colleagues about the discrimination observed or experienced, 14% have left an employer over discrimination and only 13% have reported discrimination to human resources. The lack of employee/employer engagement in solving workplace challenges may contribute to the inequities experienced by Gen Y women.

I believe employers should acknowledge the needs of the workforce and gear themselves towards more effectively recognizing employees at different life stages. Maternity leaves, for example, often negatively impact performance appraisals, with women who take such time automatically deemed less competitive than their peers. This begins a chain reaction of diminished roles, significant slowdown in pay and growth, low representation in conventional reward systems (e.g., short- and long-term incentive programs, trainings, critical assignments), and finally, inevitable questions about whether the trade-off to return to work is worth it. It is at this moment that women are most vulnerable to dropping out. In order to avoid these vicious cycles, organizations need to think about recognition systems that value these women and effectively integrate them back into the workforce following leaves. Such programs should help returning women fast-track skill gaps and become mentors for others about managing work and family while providing a performance-rating system that ensures a woman can resume her career trajectory following leave.

Changing course, I am sure, will require a concerted effort by employers. Building engagement in particular – the key to creativity, innovation, and productivity – will necessitate that employers offer assistance that helps women grow their careers, navigate stress, and satisfy their desires for a balance of work and life. Those who recognize these challenges and respond to them will realize energized work forces able to capitalize on both the potential of the overall talent pool, and the considerable contributions presented by India’s increasingly career-focused and ambitious young professional women.