Special Section
Women @ Work
Diversity Executive staff, 01-17-2010
Continued from 2 Article Beginning
Ernst & Young
Most people would agree that troubled economic times call for heightened innovation and growth. But, according to Ernst & Young, what might be less obvious is that “such growth depends on the world’s ability to expand women’s participation in the global workforce.”
In addition to fostering formal and informal learning opportunities through its professional women’s networks, the company also sponsors a Women’s Leadership Conference, which unites top female executives with the Americas Executive Board and selected senior male leaders to build relationships and assess gender-equality strategies.
Ernst & Young also runs a development program called the Women’s PLAN — Partner Leadership Alliance and Network — which provides mentoring for key women leaders by the Americas Executive Board.
In 2008, Ernst & Young cemented its position as a leader in gender equality with the launch of its annual Entrepreneurial Winning Women program, a competitive award designed to connect women entrepreneurs with the people, resources and insights to become market leaders.
The firm also rates managers on the number of multicultural women employees advancing and uses an outside recruiter to focus on finding multicultural women candidates, according to Working Mother magazine, which ranked Ernst & Young one of the 2009 Best Companies for Multicultural Women.
Ernst & Young
No. of employees: 144,400
Revenue (FY09): $21.4 billion
Headquarters: New York
Percentage of women: 43% (client-service professionals)
Percentage of women executives: 20%
General Mills
To effectively market its vast and varied repertoire of brands, General Mills must leverage an equally diverse workforce. This critical need became clear more than a decade ago, when the company came face to face with the bottom-line impact of a proactive diversity and inclusion strategy.
Today, General Mills fosters a culture that promotes women and minority advancement in numerous ways. For example, “to help Hispanic women better navigate the workplace, the company brought in a career coach to address their specific professional challenges; now other coaches are on deck for African-American and Asian employees,” according to Working Mother magazine, which named General Mills one of its 2009 Best Companies for Multicultural Women.
Further, the company’s Co-Mentoring Pilot Program pairs women and minority leaders with top management to create mentoring relationships.
The company also allows for flexible work schedules and has established a work-life benefits team to assess its workforce needs.
These gender-equality and advancement efforts have paid off. Today, more than half of General Mills’ workforce is female, and women comprise roughly a third of all executives.
General Mills
No. of employees: 30,000
Revenue (FY09): $14.7 billion
Headquarters: Minneapolis
Percentage of women: 50%
Percentage of women executives: 33%
Gibbons P.C.
It isn’t every day that a firm with fewer than 500 employees can boast a nationally acclaimed, award-winning diversity program; however, law firm Gibbons P.C. has channeled much of its resources, time and effort into creating a sustainable initiative for its female employees. The program, The Gibbons Women’s Initiative, started in 1997.
“The Gibbons Women’s Initiative is a successful platform for new and senior Gibbons women attorneys to participate with each other, clients and high-level representatives from business and academia in quality educational, mentoring and social programs that improve knowledge, foster teamwork, provide vital networking and business development opportunities and promote the role of women in business,” said Patrick C. Dunican Jr., chairman and managing director at Gibbons P.C.
Further, the initiative seeks to enable the advancement and retention of women at the firm by making mentorship opportunities largely available, and Gibbons Initiative is intertwined with the firm’s business strategy.
“The initiative helps women attorneys establish, maintain and expand close relationships with one another, clients, colleagues throughout the professions and potential clients in a strategically defined demographic,” said Dunican. “And the proof of its value can easily be seen by the improvement in the numbers of women in leadership positions within the firm.”
Gibbons became the third law firm ever to receive the 2009 Catalyst Award for its ability to support and advance women in the workplace.
The firm also has received accolades from publications, including Working Mother magazine, for its efforts to retain women, such as “innovative work-life and women-friendly policies, including part-time policies, child care and women-focused mentoring programs,” said Dunican.
Gibbons P.C.
No. of employees: 426
Revenue (2008): $112.3 million
Headquarters: Newark, N.J.
Percentage of women: 51%
Percentage of women executives: 21% (senior attorneys at the director and counsel levels); 50% (C-level executives)
Goldman Sachs
Goldman Sachs was named one of the 100 best companies by Working Mother magazine in 2009 to recognize the organization’s commitment to a variety of family-friendly benefits, which include options such as flextime, on-site lactation rooms and telecommuting, according to a Goldman Sachs press release.
Additionally, in 2007, the organization created Returnship, which is similar to an internship and is targeted toward women who have been out of the workforce for a longer period of time and are trying to return, according to the press release.
The Goldman Sachs Women’s Network develops programs that allow female employees to network with their peers and community.
Goldman Sachs was also a 2007 Catalyst Award winner for several of its initiatives, including Securing Talent and Excellence in the Pipeline: The Senior Women’s Initiative. The program was implemented on a global scale to support female professionals and to try to remove any obstacles that would prevent them from advancing professionally, with the ultimate goal of boosting the number of senior women business leaders.
Much emphasis is also placed on training and developing women at the organization as well as providing them with the necessary mentoring resources.
Over time, the initiative has produced tangible business results, such as a marked improvement in the number of women managing directors and partners, according to Catalyst.
Goldman Sachs
No. of employees (2008): 30,067
Revenue (2008): $53.6 billion
Headquarters: New York
Percentage of women: N/A
Percentage of women executives: N/A
