Women at Work: Practical Steps to Greater Gender Diversity in the Workplace

Companies are increasingly recognising the benefits of having more women in their organisations and leadership teams. In Singapore, a study conducted by the Ministry of Manpower and the National University of Singapore revealed that the gender pay gap had narrowed from 8.8% in 2002 to 6% in 2018. This reflects the growing value that companies place on female employees.

However, it also found that women continue to be under-represented in well-paying sectors and at leadership levels. Higher-paying roles, such as company heads, production managers and software developers, are dominated by males, while women remain in lower-paying, traditionally female occupations like teachers and nurses.

Women tend to conform to the societal expectations of gender roles. As a result, they may opt out of certain professional occupations and careers. In Singapore, women formed the majority of residents outside the labour force largely due to family / care-giving responsibilities. The common reason cited by women aged 25 to 49 who are not working is the need to take care of their child aged 12 and below¹.

Evidently, women remain an untapped source of talent and companies that choose to offer fair opportunities and embrace gender-diversity benefit from a wider talent pool for recruitment, as well as different perspectives and approaches to issues.

The key to attracting women, especially in traditionally male-dominated industries and retaining them even as they move through different life stages is to intentionally build an inclusive workplace.

“Having a mix of male and female employees provides a balanced approach in the working environment and business situations. This combination works very well, and we have applied it to a variety of situations including customer engagements where we need to uncover details of challenges and develop frameworks for new initiatives,” says Ms Alicia Chua, Industry Cluster Leader - Consumer Industries and Discrete Manufacturing, SAP Asia Pte Ltd, who has been working in the IT industry for 24 years. 

Ensuring Fair Opportunities for All

Here are three measures companies can implement to be gender-inclusive:

• Audit for bias: Review HR practices and processes − from job advertisements, interviews and compensation to training opportunities, succession planning and promotion reviews − to eliminate potential bias and ensure fair opportunities for both genders.
• Track and monitor employee demographics and find suitable solutions: Identify teams / departments that lack gender diversity. Study gender-based trends to identify possible gaps and develop strategies to help women succeed.  Some examples are mentoring programmes for potential female leaders to build the next generation of leaders and ensure diverse representation at the management level; Returnship programmes to support female employees who took a career break to readjust to work. 
• Train hiring managers: Train managers on possible unconscious gender bias, and how this can affect their decision-making. This could help them to relook at female suitability for roles that are traditionally filled by men. 

Ms Koreen Teo, the Deputy Director of Quality Audit & Improvement at Boustead Projects E&C Pte Ltd, is one individual who has benefited from such practices in a traditionally male-dominated construction industry. She explains, “Boustead Projects has provided opportunities and the necessary training for me to thrive and excel. I am grateful to have a supportive supervisor and management team that provide me with guidance, mentorship and a listening ear, and who appreciate the perspectives I bring as a woman.”

Creating a Supportive Environment 

To ensure effective and sustainable implementation of gender-inclusive HR policies and programmes, it is crucial to get management’s buy in as they set the tone for the company. For example, a CEO who supports and enables female participation and progression in the workforce serves as a role model to rank and file employees, who will then emulate this same behaviour. This support from the leadership also signals to employees that the company is committed to providing fair opportunities to both genders. 

Employers can take specific steps in the hiring process and employment journey of their workforce to support greater gender diversity in the workplace: 

Before employment,

• Recruit and select candidates based on merit: Focus on the relevant skills and experience of the candidates and avoid stipulating factors such as gender as requirements for employment. 
• Respect your candidates: Refrain from asking sensitive questions or making non-job-related comments during interviews. Instead, ask questions that allow you to assess and identify a potential candidate who is the best fit for  the role, and aligned with the corporate values. 
• Share with candidates the relevant policies to demonstrate your company's commitment to support employees' needs at different life stages.  
• Collaborate with institutes of higher learning to increase the number of women in the talent pipeline. 

During employment,

• Practice open communication: Create a safe enviroment for employees to voide their concerns, challenges and ideas. This can be done through formal and / or informal feedback channels. 
• Offer work-life programmes and greater flexibility: Identify suitable work-life programmes that meet the business needs and support the diverse needs of employees at different stages of life.
• Rethink career pathways: Career ladders have been the de facto standard for many companies. To support the changing needs, norms and expectations of today’s workplace, redesign career ladders to lattices instead, to broaden career pathways for your employees.
• Review appraisal and reward systems: Adopt systems which are fair and objective, with measurable standards for evaluating job performance and promote based on merit.

“Besides supportive and encouraging managers, success stories of other female colleagues are crucial to help female employees thrive,” says Ms Chua. “The company must also be open to providing the opportunity to onboard females into these [male-dominated] roles and have sincere and open conversations with them. Managers who possess mentoring skills and are sincere in helping their team to grow will be able to better retain them. In SAP, there is a strong learning culture. Other than internal programmes, it is also very supportive of individuals taking up external programmes that can value add to their learning.”

¹_{MSRD, MOM. Labour Force in Singapore 2019.}