The 'Onlys': The Pipeline Problem Putting Corporate Women Farther Behind
thestreet
Prospects that women in corporate America will achieve equality in hiring and promotion are dim and haven't improved in the last year, according to a study by consulting firm McKinsey & Co. and nonprofit LeanIn.Org.
Many women as they advance in their careers find themselves the only female in the room, the effect of unfair hiring and promotion practices which have generated a pipeline of talent that skews male, the Women in the Workplace study found.
"It's unfortunate that we're not seeing greater progress over a four-year period of time," Lareina Yee, chief diversity and inclusion officer at McKinsey, told The Deal in a phone interview. "We still have one in five C-Suite executives is a woman and one in 25 is a woman of color. So, unfortunately, we have a progress-is-stalled situation."
The Women in the Workplace study by LeanIn.Org and McKinsey found that two of the biggest drivers of representation are hiring and promotions, yet companies are putting women at a disadvantage in these areas. Even though women earn bachelor's degrees at a rate that's about 34% higher than men, they fill a minority - 48% -- of entry-level jobs.
Then, at the "first critical step up to manager, the disparity widens further," the report said, as women are less likely to be hired or promoted to a manager role.
"For every 100 men promoted to manager, 79 women are," said the study, written by 12 women including Yee and Rachel Thomas, president of LeanIn.Org. "Even though hiring and promotion rates improve at more senior levels, women can never catch up -- we're suffering from a 'hollow middle.'"
"What we don't see is systematic and consistent efforts in fair promotion practices and policies," said Yee, noting that people need to sponsor women through their career and open opportunities for them to help balance the playing field.
If companies were to start hiring and promoting women and men to manager at an equal rate, management-level positions could come close to a ratio of 48% women to 52% men over the next ten years, the study found. However, should companies hire and promote at their current rate, the number of women in management will increase by just one percentage point over the next decade.
Without fair hiring and promoting practices, it creates the so-called "only" experience for women, meaning that these women are the only representation of their gender in the workplace.
"It's a pipeline problem fundamentally," Thomas told The Deal, because fewer women being promoted at lower levels means a dearth of women candidates for promotion at higher levels. LeanIn supports women in achieving their career ambitions.
One in five women said they are often the only woman or one of the only women in the room at work, the study found. The Women in the Workplace study surveyed 279 companies and more than 64,000 employees.
"I think too many companies -- and probably not even intentionally -- are falling into a one-and-done trap," Thomas said. "They are working so feverishly to get more women and more people of color and more underrepresented groups on teams that they just so badly want one person on a team that they put the one person on the team and don't realize that that person is having a markedly worse experience than if they were on a more diverse team or surrounded by more people like themselves."
Being an "only" is more common for senior-level women, women in technical roles, women of color and gay people. And women who are an "only" experience more microaggressions, defined as everyday sexism and racism, at work.
"Over 80% [of women "onlys"] are on the receiving end of microaggressions, compared to 64% of women as a whole," the study found. "They are more likely to have their abilities challenged, to be subjected to unprofessional and demeaning remarks, and to feel like they cannot talk about their personal lives at work."
To be sure, about half of men have experienced microaggressions as well, and the problem is more pervasive for men of color and gay men.
"What the microaggression is trying to point out is that over the course of multiple years in a career, it becomes a bigger issue over time, and we also know that women who experience greater microaggression in the workplace are less likely to be satisfied or happy with the current company they are working with and more likely to leave," Yee said. "And, in a world where very few women are leaving the workforce that's not a good thing for companies."
The Women in the Workplace study found that 15% of both men and women left their jobs in the last year.
As companies work to increase the representation of women, they should consider how they women are hired and placed on teams.
"One approach is to hire and promote women in cohorts; another is to cluster women on teams," the study said. "As opposed to staffing one woman on a number of teams, companies should consider putting groups of two to three women on teams together."
"We need to get beyond a one-and-done mentality and realize that diversity comes with real numbers," Thomas said.
Join influential dealmakers from Tyson Foods, General Motors, Bain Capital and more in New York at The Deal Economy Conference on Nov. 29 for a full day of discussions on a wide variety of topics. Gain insights into the latest activist trends, perspective on the future of private equity and analysis of the latest corporate moves in the world of M&A. Request a complimentary ticket.