RESEARCH CENTRE: Why you should hire more women

It appears that gender equality may not just be good for national cohesion; it may be also good for business. PHOTO| FILE| NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Men and women usually have different ideas and market insights which lead to better problem solving and ultimately more profits for the business.

It appears that gender equality may not just be good for national cohesion; it may be also good for business.

A new study commissioned by Sodexo, a multinational catering company, has found that having more female executives in a business leads to greater profits. Sodexo hires 419, 000 employees in 80 countries.

The study lasted a period of two years. At the end of it, the researchers found that the units with an equal number of men and women in management consistently delivered larger profits than those units dominated by the men.

HOW IT WORKS

A gender balanced management team represents the diversity of the society. Such a team will make better decisions because a wide range of views will be considered.

Men and women usually have different ideas and market insights which lead to better problem solving and ultimately more profits for the business.

The other possibility could be that women have an edge in understanding the consumer market. They make up to 80 per cent of all the consumer purchases. This means that a team will have more sources of information, wider industry knowledge, and a more diverse customer base and will be able to better attract talented women.

“Companies cannot afford to ignore 50 per cent of the potential workforce and expect to be competitive in the global economy,” says Rohini Anand, who heads the diversity programme at Sodexo and who headed the study.

THE HURDLES

While some companies are catching on and getting more women into their top management levels, it is still a struggle for the women to stay in these jobs because very few companies have adapted to accommodate women in the different phases of their lives, especially motherhood. Most work palces do not cater for a woman’s role as a mother.

Few give the option of her working from home. In such an environment, once a woman becomes a mother, her prospects for promotion significantly reduce.