8 March was International Women’s Day. This annual occasion celebrates women’s social, economic, cultural and political achievements around the world. It also draws attention to the need for gender equality. Women’s groups, anti-discrimination organisations, governments, political parties and businesses put these subjects on the agenda through countless activities. How can your business highlight gender equality and diversity, and inspire other organisations to do the same? Here are four steps.
Why get involved?
First, why should a business take part in International Women’s Day? There are several reasons to encourage diversity and gender equality within an organisation. A diverse workforce helps employers respond to different customer groups and stimulates innovation. Employees who feel they can be themselves at work also tend to stay with the same employer for longer. Lower staff turnover can bring cost savings. In an employee-driven labour market, a diverse organisation can also find it easier to attract new talent. In short, there are plenty of reasons for businesses to put diversity and gender equality on the agenda.
1. Get the foundations right
Before communicating externally about diversity and gender equality, you need to make them a real priority within your organisation. Better still, adapt your policies and make them a measurable part of your business objectives. Our client Accenture, for example, had set the ambitious goal of achieving a 50/50 split between male and female employees by 2025, with equal opportunities and pay.
2. Share your intentions
Dutch organisations can also sign the Diversity Charter to encourage diversity and inclusion in the workplace. This declaration of intent is aimed at employers in both the public and private sectors who want to take an active role. At the end of 2016, our client Microsoft organised a signing session for the Diversity Charter, bringing various organisations together to sign. By the time this article was written, more than 123 organisations had signed the declaration.
3. Approach the media
Does your company have a well-developed diversity policy? Then you can approach the media to explain why the topic matters to your organisation. There are various ways to do this, such as press releases and interviews about research into diversity and gender equality at work, or an opinion piece or guest article for a newspaper or trade publication. Our client Accenture released a major European study on the subject during the week of International Women’s Day. Our approach resulted in two high-profile interviews with Het Financieele Dagblad and BNR Nieuwsradio, alongside more than 15 articles in other media.
4. Look further and broaden the subject
Creating a culture of diversity does not benefit women alone. Accenture’s research found that men had better career prospects in diverse organisations, with a 23 per cent greater chance of promotion and twice the likelihood of reaching the executive level. When Microsoft announced six weeks of paternity leave, it also became a major news story. Our PR approach generated almost 20 pieces of coverage, including an interview with the Dutch director on Hart van Nederland.
Would you like to know how we could help share your company’s diversity message through the media? Let us know. We would be happy to explore ideas with you.
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