Those who lose their female leaders now risk the future of their company
The FKi has been dealing with the figures, data and facts surrounding the careers of women in companies since 2011. Over the years, we have been able to accompany many companies, some of them through the first major restructuring phase after the financial market crisis. In addition to the question of the business model, the main issues were, of course, the necessary staff reductions and the reorganisation of structures. We observed a disproportionately high number of women leaving companies in this situation – up to a third more than men.
On the one hand, this has to do with the fact that part-time and flexible jobs are often counted in a headcount, and thus the calculation to cut one of these jobs is advantageous for the companies. But it also has to do with the fact that women leave more quickly in these phases because they do not tolerate everything and often cannot be blackmailed to the same extent as men (“He’ll do it, he has a wife and three children” – here it would be nice to have a woman who also earns well – just a side note :-)).
The companies we accompanied at that time were able to break through this negative development through precise tracking and measures, for example by significantly increasing transparency in the processes, more flexibility and a professionalisation of the evaluation and promotion tools, the important employees could be retained and developed. In this way, these companies managed to maintain the successes already achieved for more diversity in the company and thus continue to drive forward the realignment of the company. Because crises always carry the danger that the (still) existing, monotonous structures will prevail and important aspects of the corporate culture and transformation capacity will be lost.
This danger exists again for companies today, because in the necessary structural changes they lose above all the employees who do not find themselves in these monotonous structures and processes. As a result, the company runs the risk of losing much of what was invested in modernising the organisations and building a new culture, and possibly being set back by years.
The FKi supports you with figures, data and facts as well as clear recommendations for action and measures to prevent this development and ensure that your diversity efforts are not lost! Protect your investments and actively build a modern, diverse and successful corporate culture – also and especially during downsizing phases.
