F/M diversity: why hire all talents?

When we talk about accelerating gender diversity at all levels of organizations, it is essential to engage all employees. Simply because it is a subject that concerns everyone. It's not just women's business.

When this subject began to be addressed within companies, it tended to be approached a bit in this caricatural way but we quickly realized that The subject, when it started, it might have started a bit like that, but we quickly realized that it could not work.

First, it is a social issue and afterwards, it becomes a business subject and an organizational subject, so it is fundamental to engage all stakeholders, from the employee to the manager. Knowing that the manager has an excessively key role in the process. In other words, having your approval and commitment will contribute considerably to implementing the action plans behind them.

Engaging all employees in a mixed F/H approach, of course, but what for?

What does engaging everyone mean? It is not a question of just setting goals to say to yourself: “We are going to develop gender diversity because a law has just been passed”. No, it's saying to yourself, “What are we looking for and for what purpose? ”. So explain the meaning, the purpose of what we want to do, why we want to do it and how we are going to do it.

And behind that, it means setting up communication acts, it also means steering actions, setting goals that are concrete and that are also “monitorable” and that are also goals that are ambitious but accessible. And behind that, set up action plans for different targets and different populations.

What type of actions should be put in place to engage all talents in a mixed F/H approach in companies?

For example, if you start at the level of all employees, there is often a lot of work to be done on inclusive dialogue. Or, for example, how do you get out of ordinary sexism? Typically, how do you work on ways to avoid this sexism by ensuring, for example, that every wrong step will be systematically reframed by anyone in the organization...

Within the Human & Work group, we have a company called EQUILIBRES that can very well intervene on this type of subject. They specialize in D&I, Diversity and Inclusion, and they set up programs and support on this type of subject.

Then what can we do? We can also work with managers. Managers work on a daily basis to develop their talents and to manage their teams. What is the framework they want to give to this management? How can we help them to promote more diversity in their recruitment process, in their work on mobility, in the promotion of women? And now, it can happen through webinars, it can happen through workshops, through communication actions.

The same goes for leaders. What might be of interest to them? Is it thinking about what leaders can do about it? There is a subject of awareness to fully understand where the benefits are for them. Indeed, what does working on diversity develop? The performance of the company because there is better complementarity, but it also works on the retention of talent, on the attraction of talent. It also means making sure that there are rules that are in place throughout the organization, such as taking paternity leave when you are a young man. Raise awareness among managers about all this so that they can set a roadmap for engaging the various stakeholders and changing the subject in each company.

Can we be optimistic about the acceleration of gender diversity within companies?

The subject evolves with, as in any other subject, a bit of a throwback. It is a subject that will take a long time to work on and that is normal, there are still obstacles that are normal, that are natural.

In particular, there are generations of men who feel a little disadvantaged today.

So yes, it is a complex subject but one that is progressing and that is why it is important to work together and to engage everyone.0

And that's the only way the subject, at one point or another, will evolve.

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