Female Friendly Workplaces – Our top tips!

Amanda Cole – HR and Wellbeing Coordinator

According to a report recently published by McKinsey, one in four women believe their gender negatively impacts them in the workplace, with most examples surrounding the topics of pay, promotion and simply how they’re treated day-to-day.

I’m proud to work for a company that is championing gender equality in the technology space and beyond. At Roq we have a completely fair equal pay approach, and our leadership team of six is a 50/50 split male to female. The gender split across the entire team, however, is just a little higher than average at 27%, and this is something which we will continue championing.

There’s much more we can do, and will continue to do as a business. But here are some of my top tips to include in your diversity and inclusion strategy to encourage a more female-friendly workplace.

The flexible approach

Childbirth is a physically, mentally and emotionally testing experience. More often than not, working mothers are expected to juggle work life and home life. Introducing a flexible approach to work can help ease these struggles for most; this includes remote working and flexible working hours to ease challenges associated with childcare, and also a generous maternity leave policy to support new mothers in being with their child during that important time.

These simple yet effective tweaks to your company policies will improve wellbeing and create a culture of trust and mutual respect. Women will be more engaged through the provision of flexibility.

Maternity leave engagement

Research conducted by That Works for Me, an organisation that aims to keep women in the workplace, found that only 24% of women go back to work after having a child. We need to increase this number, and we can do this by increasing engagement throughout the period of maternity (mat) leave.

Before your colleague goes on mat leave, you should agree with them the level of communication and support they wish to receive from the business and how they wish to receive it, whether that be email, phone or even in-person visits if that suits your business model. Colleagues on mat leave should be kept up to date with any company changes, roles or opportunities available to them, as well as anything fun or adhoc that you think they may wish to know about.

By communicating effectively with your employee, you could hugely increase their levels of engagement and overall likelihood of returning to work and continuing to excel in their role.

Welcome back!

Another way in which you can increase that 24% return to work number is simply by easing that pain of returning to work. Be flexible, be communicative like we’ve spoken about already, but also let them know you’re happy for them and are ready to support them through their return.

You can do this through birth announcements on your company intranet or newsletter (if your colleague is happy for this to happen), welcome back announcements, a re-induction session to get them up to speed with anything that may have changed in their absence, and regular catch-ups during their return to work period so they have an opportunity to raise any concerns and questions they may have.

Menopause awareness for all

Everyone at Roq has recently taken part in menopause awareness training to help them understand what some of their colleagues, family members and friends may be going through. The training helps to eliminate stereotypes and discrimination, educates around the stages of menopause, breaks down communication barriers and helps give some top tips for people managers.

We also have posters and information available for those who need it.

Taking these steps helps any of your employees who may be effected by the menopause feel more at ease in the workplace and once again, more likely to excel in their role.

Promote from within

This, of course, applies to all genders but by applying a promote from within policy, you can ensure you maintain and develop your best talent and encourage your female colleagues to continue working for your business, remain engaged, chase opportunities, and achieve their aspirations.

Regular office meet-ups

At Roq, we operate a remote-first policy in which most of our colleagues choose to work from home. We do, however have an office space available to work from for anyone who wishes to do so, and arrange regular ‘office meet-up days’ in which we encourage our colleagues to work from the office, socialise, get to know each other and build on our already fantastic team rapport.

If your business also works remotely, I strongly encourage regular meet-ups to allow not just the women, but all colleagues to feel part of your organisation.

There’s so much more

These points above are just some of the things I believe you can apply to your business to encourage a more female-friendly workplace, but it doesn’t stop there! Here are a few more things we do at Roq which you may wish to think about…

·       Gender proof office

·       Readily available sanitary products

·       Breastfeeding room

·       Unconscious bias training

·       Zero tolerance policy

I’d love to hear if there’s anything else that you do within your workplaces that I may have missed off! And also happy to discuss this topic in more detail/answer any questions you may have – so please do reach out to me on LinkedIn or at amanda.cole@roq.co.uk

If you’re interested in learning more about a career at Roq, head to our careers page.