Breaking Through the Glass
Ceiling
Although progress is being made, women are still
finding it difficult to permeate the invisible barriers
keeping them from reaching top-level positions in much
of corporate America says the Society for Human
Resource Management. And according to Cari Dominguez,
President Bush’s choice to head the Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission, a lot of misleading
data is adding to the problem.
“While you will find women in top
ranking government and corporate positions,” says
Dominguez, “they are more likely to be in social
or communications roles rather than defense or
finance.” Furthermore, although the data shows
women making strides by achieving higher ranks in
organizations, the difference in pay is still
substantial. “The classification system used to
compile the data relies on job titles instead of
compensation,” she says. “It would be
better to examine the pay gap between men and women as
a statistical measure of how many top-level management
positions are held by women.”
It is a tough culture to break because the
issue is rarely analyzed from a social standpoint.
“Government, families and corporations all can
help by encouraging nontraditional roles for men and
women,” says Dominguez. “Breaking through
the glass ceiling,” she adds, “is about
giving women opportunities and not simply getting women
jobs in corporate America.” Until change occurs,
we will be stuck in the grip of a revolving
condition.
A Boost From the
Top
Amid all of the layoffs American business has
suffered, those who have remained behind to keep the
companies afloat have lost a bit of confidence. How can
they be sure that they aren’t next? Enter the
chief executive officer. According to a recent article
in the Wall Street Journal, CEOs across the land have
stepped in to personally see their employees and boost
morale.
How do they do this? In one case, James
Griffith, president of The Timken Company, Canton,
Ohio, recently met with 12,000 employees online through
a streaming video hook-up for a pep talk after the
announcement of two plant closures. Says a Timken
benefit analyst of the message, “You can hear his
concern.”
DaimlerChrysler CEO Dieter Zetsche has
joined the brigade as well. Planning to visit all 36
North American plants, he is holding town hall style
meetings with employees answering concerns and rallying
support.
Although having a CEO join the line
workers is assuring and motivating, companies cannot
stop there. As the article states, “Some
businesses are trying to do more for workers who stay
on.” That includes DaimlerChrysler. They offer
employees free lunches and time off to see car exhibits
at their headquarters. Whitehat Inc., a software
company located in Tempe, Ariz., seeks out employees to
volunteer at local soup kitchens. Says human resource
manager Joyce Corley, “Hopefully, seeing how bad
it can be for others will improve our
morale.”
Diversity for
Sale
As awareness of diversity grows along with the benefits
it produces, companies continue to realize the
importance. Different people of varied backgrounds
coming together bring so much to the table—if you
can get them to the table. This is the difficulty. How
can an organization raise diversity without being able
to reach an assortment of multi-cultural job
candidates?
According to the Wall Street Journal,
“Some executive recruiters are exploring the idea
of charging corporate clients an extra fee for placing
a minority or female candidate.” Paul Czamanske,
president and CEO of Compass Group, Ltd., a provider of
faculty-management services, saw the beginning of this
trend. One organization offered his company an
additional 5 percent commission for every diverse
candidate recruited and placed. He is now discussing
the possible premium implementation with other clients,
in part because these searches can take longer.
Chris Clarke, president of Boyden Global
Executive Search in New York, understands why some
oppose the premium. “One reaction is that search
is about searching and that’s what we get paid
for anyway,” he says. “And one has to be
sympathetic to that view.” However, he has also
gotten a very positive response from many companies and
is talking with several clients about an extra fixed
percentage for diverse candidates.
Diversity in itself can be considered
experience. If it is the kind of experience a company
is looking for, they’ll have to pay a price. It
is supply and demand at its simplest.
Slow Economy, Bold
Opportunities
While talks of deteriorating stock prices, major
corporate downsizings and tight-pocketed consumers have
saturated the business world for the first part of
2001, this has not stopped a certain segment of
executives from using this time as an
advantage—an opportunity to be bold. According to
a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, whether
the economy recovers or not, they want to take
advantage of what is happening now.
David D’Alessandro, chief executive
of John Hancock Financial Services, is one of those
bold leaders. He scoffs at competitors who have cut
advertising budgets due to the slowdown.
“They’re being penny wise and pound
foolish,” he says. “While our competition
uses old ads, we’ll take the opportunity to be
bold and visible—and reach new
customers.”
He isn’t the only maverick taking
chances. These slow times are offering many companies
chances to expand the reach of their brands—more
than even prosperous periods. The economy has caused
weak competitors to leave the marketplace opening up
room for new, savvier companies to move in. It is
survival of the fittest.
“Those who don’t devote more
attention to maintaining the health and strength of
their brands in such times risk falling behind once a
recovery occurs,” D’Alessandro says.
Brendan Ryan of Foote Cone & Belding agrees,
“The notion that any brand can sustain itself
without support doesn’t make sense.” In
addition, Fred Langhammer, president and COO of Estee
Lauder believes that, “during downturns, when
disposable income is tight, consumers gravitate toward
brands they feel they have an emotional connection
to.”
So, what is the best way to achieve bold
initiatives in a time when money is fairly scarce?
Starbucks executives have found a way. They routinely
visit their stores to watch and listen to customers in
order to find out what they like and might like.
“Some of the most powerful ways to reach
consumers and gain access to their hearts and minds are
actually the cheapest,” says Nancy Koehn, a
Harvard Business School historian. “Listening to
consumers is especially critical during economic
transitions,” she adds, “because that is
when tastes change.”
