Women in Business: 5 Benefits of Gender Diversity for Your Company

International Women’s Day is coming, so it’s a great occasion to celebrate women in business!

Although we’ve come a long way dealing with this issue, with the number of female CEOs is increasing (with big players like General Motors Company, The Hershey Company, Best Buy Co., etc., appointing female leaders), there is still room for gender inequality in business. Women only make up 6.0% of all CEO positions in the S&P 500 companies. Moreover, the good old gender pay gap is still there: it is reported that a woman only earns 0.82 cents for every dollar a man earns. Generally, there are still many struggles female workers face: glass ceiling, sexual harassment, gender stereotypes, work-life balance problems, etc.

In this blog post, we will see what businesswomen can bring to the table and why gender diversity in the workplace is so important:

· Different POVs. The same situation could be approached in many various ways if you have males, females, trans, and nonbinary people in your team. Different perspectives and insights create room for innovation and originality, leading to a more effective decision-making and problem-solving process, ultimately producing better results and increasing the company’s performance.

Diversity also provides the opportunity for exchanging experience and knowledge inside the teams leading to better productivity and stronger bond between employees.

· Better soft skills. According to Korn Ferry research, women excel in nearly all emotional intelligence competencies (except emotional self-control, where no gender differences are observed) when compared to men. What does this mean for your company? First and foremost, soft skills helps improve customer service (employees who possess soft skills are more considerate and empathetic. They are also great at dealing with «difficult» clients, because they are composed and are able to put themselves in other people’s shoes, thus solving their problems more effectively). Soft skills are essential when establishing a strong cohesive team: people in such teams are collaborative, optimistic, and attentive to each other’s opinions, thus are more successful.

· Improved reputation. Socially responsible organizations with fair and equal attitude towards employees are perceived as more progressive and reputable. And appointing employees of all genders puts you into a position of an open and bias-free company, making you a desirable workplace and causing a massive inflow of talented and highly qualified specialists seeking out working for you and with you.

· Greater profits. This is the result that stems from all the previous advantages we’ve mentioned. At the end of the day, it’s all about the company’s bottom line. And the companies that put their effort into creating a gender-diverse team are generally more successful financially: according to a report by McKinsey, organizations with better gender diversity are 21% more likely to produce higher profits.

· Decreased turnover. Being an all-inclusive company gives you many competitive advantages, one of them being better employee retention.
The diversity in the workplace creates a positive atmosphere and enhances employee satisfaction, making them stay longer with the company. This leads to lower turnover rates, thus saving you a lot of recruiting costs and keeping competent staff in the company.

Whether your company is operating online or brick and mortar, diversity is something that should always be present in your team. It provides many opportunities for growth, helps achieve better financial results, and creates a more positive image of your brand.