It’s Women’s History Month, and in celebration of all the women who have contributed to the success of Kerusso® and our wonderful Retail Partners, we present 5 Ways to Encourage Women in the Workplace.
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Include girls & women in job shadowing programs/career days. Mentoring high school or college students is an awesome way to network and tap into future business talent. Encourage girls and women in your area to consider your business for opportunities like this, and if you have a daughter, niece, granddaughter, or neighbor who would benefit from learning the ropes of retail management from you, open the door for them. You’ll be glad you did!
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Track and measure the career progress of women on your staff.How can you know whether the work you do supports and uplifts women, if you don’t measure results? Keep a log of the personnel who join your team, where they’ve come from, and where they go next. Do you notice any trends or patterns? Is there room for improvement in terms of recognizing or promoting women to a greater degree? If one of your goals as a business person is to leave people better than you find them, keeping track of your role in the success of others is key.
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Encourage worthy employees, and give them a voice. This is valuable advice when dealing with every member of your team; studies have shown women, in particular, are more likely to lack confidence in their workplace abilities. Seek opportunities to involve women in the process, and ask for their input.
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Flexibility makes all the difference. Offering flexible shifts, lunch hours, start or stop times is not always possible in the world of retail sales, but bending when you can helps employees achieve better work-life balance, and can lead to increased job satisfaction and productivity. Moms, in particular, are better able to stay in the workforce, and give their job their full attention, when they have the flexibility they need to take care of business at home, too.
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Meet with each member of your team on a consistent basis.Whether that’s once a month or once a quarter, regularly scheduled open dialogue helps every employee feel supported, gives opportunities for positive feedback and ongoing training, and will allow you to check in with individual employees to ferret out any concerns, reward performance, and help them plan for a successful future on your team — or even somewhere else.
These practice will let you impact women, and all of your employees positively in the long term — no matter where they go. Managing the talent on your team this way will contribute to the growth of your organization, and create a rich work/learn/grow environment for everyone on your team.
