Post-COVID, companies need to prioritize retaining and promoting women leaders

Meaningful action can prevent women from opting out

The good news is that it’s still possible for organizations to make sustained and meaningful progress on gender equality at work.

The turmoil brought about by the pandemic has increased the desire among employees for a more empathetic leadership, with workers increasingly looking for organizations which prioritize their wellbeing. Research shows women demonstrate higher levels compassion than men, meaning employees who work for women leaders are often more engaged and productive, and a recent study by McKinsey found women scored higher for providing emotional support, such as checking in on overall wellbeing, helping to navigate work/life challenges, managing their employees’ workloads, and taking actions to prevent burnout.

Keeping women in the workforce, therefore, and helping them progress to leadership roles represents a huge opportunity to improve company performance. But sustained change will only come when women experience truly inclusive workplaces – whether virtual or in-person – where statements on the importance of gender equality are backed up by meaningful actions, goals are set, and progress is measured.

Women who work for companies that provide an inclusive work culture where women feel supported by their employers to maintain a healthy work/life balance and sustained career development ­report better mental wellbeing, motivation and productivity, and are more loyal to their employers. Notably, they are far more likely to stay with their current employers for longer than two years.

At the banking group UniCredit, where I am Head of Group Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, we are committed to supporting our colleagues in their daily personal, family, and professional challenges; flexibility, wellbeing and caring for our people play a crucial role in our DE&I and Welfare strategy.

This is why, in 2020, we launched the Family Board to support individual and family needs stemming from COVID-19 with concrete initiatives on flexibility, management of remote teams, support for home schooling, and work/life balance, and in 2021, we went on to define a group-wide minimum standard for parental leave offering mothers at least 16 weeks, and fathers four weeks, of paid leave, which contributes to a more inclusive workplace by enabling career continuity and a healthy work/life balance for both parents.

Other policies to shift the bias of caring responsibilities include upgrading and strengthening the flexible working model and focusing on a wider definition of a caregiver. In addition, we launched several dedicated leadership and development programs across the organization to enable our people to further develop an inclusive and supporting culture and to empower our most promising colleagues, enhancing their leadership capabilities and maximizing their career progression.