What is one thing employers can do to eliminate gender-based stereotypes in the workplace?
To help companies eliminate gender-based stereotypes, we asked HR leaders and business owners this question for their best insights. From performing a pay equality audit to uncovering the existing biases in an organization, there are several things that employers are doing that may help your company work toward eliminating gender-based stereotypes and providing equality for all.
Here are nine ways employers are eliminating gender-based stereotypes:
- Perform a Pay Equality Audit
- Create a Comfortable Environment for Dialogue
- Lead by Example
- Offer Flexible Work Options
- Establish Mentoring Programs
- Update Or Eliminate Dress Codes
- Set Targets for Gender Diversity
- Rethink Parental Leave for Far-reaching Benefits
- Uncover the Existing, Unwritten Gender Stereotypes
Perform a Pay Equality Audit
Before filing a claim, you should consider conducting a pay equity audit to identify potentially illegal pay disparities and correct them. An audit would collect relevant pay data, identify comparable jobs, and determine whether women are paid equally to men who perform substantially similar work.
If you find any inequities, you should investigate whether the disparities in pay are justified and, if not, correct the unjustified pay differentials. You should figure out why there was an unjustified pay disparity and take steps to correct the practices and policies that were the root cause of the pay disparities. Following the completion of an audit, you can make changes to your pay practices in the future.
Axel Hernborg, Tripplo.com
Create a Comfortable Environment for Dialogue
There are a few things that employers can do to help eliminate gender-based stereotypes in the workplace. One of the biggest things employers can do is create an environment where employees feel comfortable discussing their experiences and sharing their perspectives. This will help to break down the barriers that have been preventing employees from openly discussing these issues.
Claire Westbrook, LSAT Prep Hero
Lead by Example
One way to help eliminate gender-based stereotypes is to provide your employees with the educational training and tools to improve workplace diversity and acceptance. This should begin with the company heads that lead the company’s values and corporate responsibility efforts, followed by determining what resources the company can invest in educational sessions, events, and workshops on workplace diversity, equity and inclusion. When employers take on the role to reduce gender-based stereotypes and bias in the workplace, they lead others by example and encourage employee growth and opportunity.
Adam Shlomi, SoFlo Tutors
Offer Flexible Work Options
Offering flexible options for working from home or in the office can help eliminate workplace gender-based stereotypes. Working from home isn’t just a safer option as COVID continues to cause issues, it also allows both men and women the ability to tend to personal responsibilities. Family-friendly policies that allow everyone to maintain some autonomy and flexibility helps eliminate gender-based stereotypes and leads to higher satisfaction and engagement for female employees.
Brett Sohns, LifeGoal Investments
Establish Mentoring Programs
It’s not always enough to encourage women in the workplace. Many people want more advice and expertise to reach their job goals. Mentoring programs help to create a more diversified work environment. In our organization, we established a mentoring program to assist women in climbing the career ladder through networks, talents, and organizational expertise.
Mentoring partnerships connected women with senior executives or colleagues who could help them understand the steps and expertise required to advance to the next level of promotion or transition. These mentors don’t need to be of the same gender. Because males still hold the majority of senior leadership roles in corporations worldwide, it is helpful for men to mentor women.
Salvador Ordorica, The Spanish Group
Update Or Eliminate Dress Codes
One thing employers can do to eliminate gender-based stereotypes in the workplace aside from educating their employees is to eliminate dress codes. Most companies want you to look professional in the workplace in order to make the company look good, but in some instances, these dress codes can be taken too far. I think it is important for everyone to feel comfortable in what they wear at work, and to be able to express themselves how they want, rather than having to adhere to dress codes. That being said, dress codes don’t have to be completely eliminated, companies can try out gender-neutral dress codes as well.
Hilary Kozak, LivSmooth
Set Targets for Gender Diversity
It’s a proven fact that women require a longer time to accomplish the same goals as men in their respective fields due to the gender-based stereotypes and the notion that women first need to prove their qualifications to the vendor before securing the deal.
Even though pink feminism raised a few ears here and there, it’s time to review the section and board positions to commit to making a change. Ensuring that women are included and wanted in C-suite positions is a huge step toward eliminating gender bias. You may implement gender targets break them down by functions and business lines. Or set targets for gender diversity on the board and look beyond the existing talent pool.
Magdalena Wojdat, Spacelift
Rethink Parental Leave
Rethink your parental leave policy to be more inclusive. So many companies offer only maternity leave, creating the (flawed) expectation that the child-bearing parent will be the sole caregiver from birth. Taking care of a child while recovering from birth is incredibly difficult. By only offering leave to one parent, you create an environment that forces the recovering person to juggle self-care and a newborn because their partner is at work. That’s problematic for a number of reasons; it’s not supportive of your employee and their needs, plus you automatically create a gap where those individuals don’t have the same career opportunities or advancement.
While leave policies in the United States need a complete overhaul, companies can start implementing meaningful change that supports families with simple reframing. Instead of “mom does this and dad does that,” think of how you can equally support both parents by offering the same invaluable time off.
Amy Spurling, Compt
Uncover the Existing, Unwritten Gender Stereotypes
A lot of the antiquated and outdated gender stereotypes in the workplace are so deeply ingrained they can easily slip by, either with a ‘head in the sand’, complicit denial, or even sometimes without people even being aware.
The first step to eradicating them is to uncover them. Carefully framed workshops, facilitated professionally, to encourage positive cultural change, and a ‘let’s all evolve together’ mindset, could have teams working together to uncover and clarify the gender stereotypes that need to change.
Awareness and communication of something is a powerful first step. Then the team workshops could be to create and design positive ways for the culture to incentivize better behaviors and create a more psychologically safe environment.
When people feel that they are all a part of the improvement together, it’s easier for them to hold each other accountable to the ‘behavioral upgrade’.
Jem Fuller, Jem Fuller
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