Workplace Mentoring Programs for Women

Mentoring Women in the Workplace

Companies need to close the gender pay gap to perform at the highest caliber. According to research by MicKinsey & Company, companies with greater gender diversity at the executive level (more than 30 percent women) are more likely to outperform their less gender diverse counterparts. Diverse companies are also known to be more innovative and creative.

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McKinsey & Company, Women in the Workplace Report, 2023.

But companies who want to improve their gender diversity need an intentional strategy to hire, develop, and retain talented women employees. This is especially important when it comes to improving diversity at the top. Senior and experienced women employees are unlikely to want to stay at a company that pays them less than their male counterparts, and doesn’t provide opportunity for learning, growth, and career progression.

Companies have made inroads toward gender diversity in recent years, but there is still a long way to go. And as the pandemic caused around 2 million women to consider leaving the workplace or reducing their workload, companies need to be intentional and put systems and policies in place if they want to retain (and attract) talented female employees.

Developing a meaningful mentorship program for women can go a long way in doing just that. According to research published in the Academy of Management Journal, career development for women is tied more to attachment and relationships. In contrast, career development for men means increased autonomy and separation from others.

Mentoring in the workplace allows mentees to engage in experiential learning, so they can apply concepts immediately and help them to understand and adopt new skills. This can lead to better employee engagement over time, making them more likely to remain loyal to the company and potentially attract more talented women to join your organization.

Traditionally, mentoring means a formal and structured one-on-one relationship between a junior and senior employee. But with the addition of technological innovation, mentoring has moved on beyond that. Now, there are formats and arrangements that allow employees of the modern workplace to drive their own development while creating a highly scalable model for organizations.

Read on to learn more about why it benefits your company to institute workplace mentoring programs for women, examples of the different types of mentoring models that you can potentially adopt in your organization, and what a successful mentoring program looks like.

Why Gender Diversity in the Workplace Matters

Companies that make gender diversity and inclusion a priority have a lot to gain. Anita Woolley and Thomas W. Malone from Carnegie Mellon University conducted a study in 2011 that gathered subjects, gave each of them an intelligence test, and randomly assigned them to teams. Each team had to complete several tasks—visual puzzles, brainstorming, and decision-making—to solve a complex problem. The teams were scored based on their task performance.

They found that the most successful teams had more women on them. Researchers discovered that “when women made up more than 50 percent of a team, the team’s collective intelligence rose above average.” Gender diverse groups provide varied points of view, which make for better decision-making, which in turn creates more innovative and impactful teams.

These benefits ultimately have a positive impact on the company’s bottom line. A 2019 study by McKinsey found that companies that had more women in leadership positions were more likely to have above-average profits compared to companies whose executive teams were less gender diverse.

Benefits of Mentoring Women

This is where mentoring can help. Companies who take the time to implement a mentoring program for women will reap the following benefits:

Time is of the Essence

Women continue to be under-represented at all levels of management. Despite making up 48% of entry level-hires, they constitute just 38% of first-level managers.

These statistics show that women fall behind in promotions early. That’s why getting them engaged and building skills and networks as early as possible is crucial. Whether new hires or existing employees, there’s no need to wait until women reach a certain level before mentoring can be of value.

In a study by global leadership firm DDI, 67% of women rated mentorship as very important in their career, yet 63% of women surveyed said that they’ve never had a mentor.

Why is this? Many reports point to women asking for mentorship less than men. Perhaps women are reluctant to do so because they aren’t sure how to find a mentor in the first place. Or perhaps they are wary of the response they might receive if they do raise their hands.

This lack of involvement can increase as women move into the later stages of their careers, but formal mentoring programs can give women access to influential peers early on. Formal mentoring programs, or company-sponsored programs with designated mentor pools and facilitated relationships break down silos and ease the connection process.

Mentoring women reminds them that their career development is vital to their employer and can help women progress through the mid-career drop-off and into leadership positions.

Developing Key Skills

To excel within their careers and through the mid-career marathon, women (unfortunately) will have to challenge and overcome obstacles and preconceptions to crack the glass ceiling. Mentoring can be a space to discuss how they can approach these matters head-on (and do so confidently).

Here are some of the critical skills and objectives that a women’s mentorship program should aim to tackle:

Networking

Making initial connections and building a network within a new job or industry can be overwhelming with little instruction on where to start—especially within male-dominated sectors such as science, engineering, or technology.

Mentoring relationships can break down barriers, allowing mentees to approach mentors irrespective of gender, seniority, or function. It also connects women to executives who can guide them through the skills and connections they’ll need to advance in their careers.

Negotiations

Negotiating can be difficult for anyone. The good news is women in the workplace are negotiating for promotions just as much as men. But despite this, women are, on average, less likely to be promoted than men.

Mentoring allows for an open discussion around this topic that can empower women to be more prepared at the negotiating table and help an organization review its own policies and personal reactions when it comes to negotiating with men and women.

This discussion can alert co-workers and leadership to any potential bias within themselves, helping to build more inclusive behaviors at work. Mentoring also promotes skill development in this area, allowing women to hone successful tactics for approach from both male and female co-workers.

Providing constructive feedback

Constructive feedback is something all employees should receive regularly. But Stanford professors Shelley Correll and Caroline Simard found women are less likely to receive explicit feedback related to outcomes.

Poor specificity leaves women questioning what it was about their actions that was liked or disliked. It can stunt a women’s progression when review time comes around. “Vague feedback is correlated with lower performance review ratings for women—but not for men. In other words, vague feedback can hold women back,” Correll said.

Mentoring provides regular intervals of feedback between mentor and mentee. Consistent interactions allow women to be better prepared to handle ambiguous feedback.