“The woman who follows the crowd will usually go no further than the crowd. The woman who walks alone is likely to find herself in places no one has ever been before.” – Albert Einstein
“Never underestimate the power of a woman.” An advertising agency coined this slogan in 1941 to market Ladies Home Journal, and it worked well as the magazine sold in good numbers.
However, this slogan predicted the bright future of women in the offices nearly 80 years after its inception.
Women are rising and shining across various sectors across the globe today. But this success has come after a long toil; nothing came easy.
For decades, women have fought for their rights and earned their place after a relentless struggle against male dominance, discrimination, social and cultural factors.
Kamala Harris, MacKenzie Scott, Mary Barra, Christine Lagarde, Marry Bara…the list of powerful women continues.
Statistics show that women represented 49% of the total labor force in 2019.
As the world witnesses gender diversity in the workplace, the statistics mentioned above show how women play a decisive role in modern workplaces.
Women bring unique skills and ideas to workplaces, including different responses and attitudes to varying situations.
Women’s feminine touch, brilliant soft skills, empathy, optimism, and intuition can work in favor of organizations they work for.
Critical Skills That Women Bring To The Workplace
Contrary to popular belief, women don’t need to emulate men to succeed in the workplace, and this is a false notion that women have proved wrong as they bring their unique skills to the workplace.
Let us find out more about these USPs that make women what they are; skillful, tactful, strong decision-makers, and highly determined individuals.
Smart communication
It’s amazing how women can easily win people’s hearts and convince them quickly with their communication skills! Whether in-office or remotely, they play an integral role in maintaining seamless communication with peers.
One of the main reasons women are excellent communicators is that they are excellent listeners. They excel at assimilating information setting the right tone for conversations with individuals or groups.
Efficient task management
Women are brilliant organizers, which shows in their adept task management skills in the workplace. Yes, guys are good at multitasking, but women are more organized, which is a valuable skill when tasks are allocated within a large team.
Companies running short of staff assign multiple tasks to women, who can take on many roles and perform them efficiently, within set deadlines.
Great control over emotions
Women are more patient while dealing with stressful situations. Unlike men, women have more estrogen, making them more calm and composed when dealing with upset clients or angry team members. The ability to suppress frustration is a valuable skill that can save many businesses valuable time, money, and resources.
Empathy
Women’s empathetic nature allows them to understand others’ feelings better. This skill also helps them have a good rapport with colleagues at the workplace. Empathy will enable women to bring down misunderstandings and conflicts at the workplace, proving costly for any business of any scale and size.
Inspiring leadership
Women are hardworking, zealous, and driven to succeed. Their intrinsic ability to inspire others sets them apart from others. They take full responsibility for their actions and do not sit back and take things easy. They lead from the front and set the right example for others. Also, female leaders are least likely to exhibit partial behavior or misuse any privileges meted out to them.
Team spirit
Men tend to be more competitive and aggressive at work and have that ruthless streak, which carries them to the top of the corporate ladder. However, women are natural team players who believe in working together to achieve a friendly team goal. This is useful for businesses that need to have a cohesive, closely-knit team that can work together to perform quality work.
Diversity in the workplace
While this might not be a unique skill of women, having them at the workplace helps to bring much-needed diversity to the workplace. A few decades ago, the workplace was a playground only meant for men, but times have changed and how!
Women have made the corporate world a more inclusive and diverse space through sheer hard work, grit, and steadfast determination.
The unique personality traits that women bring to the workplace have made them achieve significant progress at work. They have helped make businesses more productive, vibrant, peaceful, and successful.
Moving ahead, let us now look further than the quintessential traits of women and find out how companies across the world are benefiting from their presence.
6 Reasons It Pays To Have Women In The Workplace
A 2018 study by McKinsey & Company showed that women stay at jobs as long as men. Businesses are stepping up and improving gender parity as women continue to pull their weight. The number of women running Fortune 500 businesses today is more significant than ever before in the 63-year history of the Fortune 500.
Want to know how women benefit businesses across the world in more ways than one? Read on to learn more about it.
1. Versatility at the workplace
More women at the workplace have brought about many positive changes, and one of them is adding inclusivity and versatility to the workplace. Organizations have also changed their male-dominant attitude and are recruiting more women, even in senior positions.
Employers today make workplace programs and strategies keeping varied working styles and unique personality traits of both men and women in mind. Some facilities offered at the workplace by the management, like childcare, elder care, ATMs, etc., are provided by organizations especially keeping women in mind.
2. Improved work-life balance
Women are efficient organizers, a trait that helps them maintain a healthy work-life balance compared to men. Women play multiple roles in a day and hardly complain about it. From taking care of kids and the elderly at home to fulfilling workplace commitments, women employees can do multiple things yet achieve a healthy work-life balance.
Women give importance to non-work-related activities to relax and rejuvenate. They realize that giving too much importance to work and ignoring other aspects of life can lead to a potential burnout, poor personal life, and below-par performance at work.
3. Increased employee retention
More women in workplaces mean less gender discrimination, which further supports the noble cause of women’s empowerment. Organizations with more women also draw in and retain more female employees.
When the average employee exit is likely to cost the employer somewhere between 16% to 213% of their annual salary, women employees can help businesses bring down employee churn costs. Improved employee retention rate is also because workplaces with women employees experience more minor conflicts than organizations with more men.
4. Women add creativity to the organization
Organizations with women in senior management positions experience innovation intensity and create 20% more patents as compared to teams with male leaders. This statistic clearly shows that women use their creativity to leverage innovation in organizations they work for.
Increased female representation in organizations also leads to an upmarket business image, which further helps to create more brand awareness while firmly establishing the business’s status.
5. Better problem-solving
Problem-solving is one of the essential skills to have in the workplace, and women employees are better at this crucial aspect of work. Women can manage stressful and adverse situations with controlled emotions compared to testosterone-driven men.
Also, women are excellent listeners with a better understanding of others’ perspectives. Their ability to grasp different views, analyze, and use them for problem-solving makes them a valuable asset for any organization.
6. Great motivators
Women are self-driven, and they have an unparalleled passion for succeeding. Women encourage people around them and offer every possible support to others, which leads to team members putting in more effort at work. They better understand others’ emotions and channel their talent, enabling them to perform better.
The generosity and friendliness of women at the workplace make them everyone’s favorite. Women help create an open and friendly work environment, which leads to better productivity.
The Final Thought
It’s no secret that women are a force to reckon with in modern workplaces. With each passing day, they prove themselves to be at par or even better than their male counterparts. Women are empowering workspaces like never before, from excellent work ethic to utmost professionalism, collaborative problem solving to collaborative working style.
With so many virtues and skills, they bring to the work, it would not be an exaggeration to say that they genuinely are the rockstar of contemporary workplaces.
