Bloomberg’s Gender Equality Index can help those concerned about women’s issues know how their employers, or employers they are considering, stack up against their competitors as a place to work.
Generic ‘Unconscious Bias Training’ took off in 2017/2018 and few firms in the Fortune 1000 category failed to participate. What’s been missing is an indication of how well we’ve embraced the learning going forward. Any investment deserves a measure of its success if it is going to last. 2019 may be the year when we see the rise of independent, objective, measurable and observable indices similar to the Gender Equality Index applied widely – especially to firms claiming to be family friendly, fair to all candidates, focused on gender equality, committed to hiring veterans, valuing diversity as a business necessity, etc. etc.
[An overlooked diversity hiring opportunity]
Transparent data shines a light on gender equality
In the past, an Employer’s Brand has in part been influenced by “Best of” rankings in print publications or by awards given at conferences. Too often a company’s thoughtful investment in buying relevant advertising or tables at galas helped to make these lists possible based on aspiration rather than transformation. Form over function. That may be a thing of the past when data transparency is accessible to all.
[click_to_tweet tweet=”Are you ready for where your employer ranks? ” quote=”Are you ready for where your employer ranks? ” theme=”style5″]
One only needs to take a look at the work being done by the Bloomberg Gender Equality Index to see the direction this may take. Their Data Fact Sheet offers specifics around the following categories making up the index:
- Cracking the Glass Ceiling (% in executive positions from 2014-2017, Comparison of board representation year-over year vis-à-vis their competition)
- Progress towards parity (% revenue producing roles held by women, % promotions earned by women, return to work programs)
- Speed of progress by the Employer’s Industry (% pull-through…an interesting concept)
- Driving Accountability (% gender diverse slates required at management level, D&I is on Sr. Managers’ performance review, Company conducts audit of gender pay variations, Company resolves disparities)
- Best in class benefits (Varied)
- Strategy to Scale (Supplier diversity programs, Evaluates all advertising and marketing content for gender bias prior to publication)
Consider how much of your data is already public. Are you ready for where your employer ranks? How would you answer specific questions for ‘evidence’ posed by top quality diverse candidates?
We are impressed with this Index and expect similar efforts to be made elsewhere.
