Retaining Women in the Workplace
Contributed by Maureen Frank, Managing Director, Emberin
Become a ‘marketer’ to women
In order to successfully retain and attract female employees, employers have to be successful ‘marketers’ to women. We are trying to ‘sell’ to our female employees the concept that they really want to work for our organization. So how can we do that?
Why not try applying some of the principles associated with marketing to women generally? The concept is the same – how do we get women to buy our concept? Women are the largest customer segment group for retail products and there is a body of research on the rules and techniques that apply when marketing to women. Since women make 80% of all purchasing decisions, marketing to them has become a science.
Meet your customer’s needs…
Start seeing recruitment and retention of female employees as a sales and marketing plan. We need to see our potential and existing female employees as customers and potential customers. Your product is working at your organization. Women are generally brand loyalists. Your product or service must address their complex, multiple lives as home managers, home-workers, caretakers of elderly parents, and professionals. Your product must meet the needs of your customer – especially in an environment where your customer perceives that she has lots of similar products to choose from. You need to change this perception – she needs to believe that you meet all her needs and that you are unique in the market place.
So what are the rules of marketing to women and how can they be applied to your female retention and attraction strategies?
The first rule is : connecting your female customers to each other connects them to your brand
Women appreciate a community in where they can talk to each other. If your brand is marketed in such a way that it connects women to each other as a community, a group, sisters, mothers and daughters and friends, they will embrace your brand in their everyday lives.
There are far more websites that specifically target women and create community around like-minded women; The Glass Hammer, for example. Why? Connecting works because many women love sharing their ideas, feelings, dreams, fears and most of all information – by forming spontaneous communities, whether it’s in the playground, gym, or out in cyberspace.
But women can’t be stereotyped or pigeonholed into a pink ghetto. Forget old fashion notions of femininity – instead of thinking pink, its time to think link.
Connecting – it’s natural for women
A woman steps into an elevator, hits the button for the tenth floor, and before she reaches her destination, she’s busily chatting to some woman next to her.
A woman sits down for dinner in a restaurant, and by the time the glass of wine arrives, she knows the name of the waiter’s hairdresser and is booked in for a color and cut.
A woman knows all about who in the office, who on the senior executive team, who in the social club, who on the tennis team, is seeing a therapist, dating a former boyfriend, being investigated by the tax department, or thinking about changing jobs.
The uninitiated may call it gossip, but I call it connecting. Women are often good at looking for the threads that weave us together. Women cross-pollinate. They take the powdery fine residue from one story and dust it on the next.
Women are also great at ‘brand- passing’ – international marketing research shows that 70% of women believe they learn the most about a product or service from someone who already owns and uses it.
To anyone in the business of marketing to women – and as organizations facing skill shortages and the dilemma of retaining their female employees, we all are – you must rethink what women want from brands. Your brand must be differentiated not in the way you bring the components together, but in the way you bring women together.
What about the P&L implications?
Think about also including your female customers in this mix. Would that also add another very significant component to the business case for gender diversity? In most instances it will – organizations often forget that many of their product and service buyers are now women – connect to them in a meaningful way and that can result in a very clever and successful business development strategy.
Many factors need to be taken into account in applying this approach to your organization:
- What your female staff want
- Geography
- Technology
- Budgets
- Culture
In conclusion, the best way to embark on this approach is to think creatively about how this may apply – hold some workshops, do some research – investigate the customer connection. A general feeling amongst your female staff of lack of connectivity is not a good omen if you a serious about wanting to attract and retain women. So start implementing these recommendations and see how it helps retention and recruitment of women at your workplace.
