Working Harder: To What End?

A survey from global human capital consultancy Lee Hecht Harrison Penna reveals women feel more obliged to go above and beyond at work compared to men. Some of the key findings from the survey of UK workers include:

• 60% of women say they always work hard, compared to 45% of men who say the same
• 28% of women say they always deliver over and above to impress, compared to just 19% of men
• 15% of women have attended a course or studied for a qualification to increase their credentials, compared to 9% of men

Despite this extra effort women are still significantly outnumbered on the senior leadership teams of the UK’s top companies; they hold only 29% of FTSE 100 board positions.

These findings go some way to explain why 76% of organisations that believe advancing women is a critical business issue are unsatisfied with their ability to demonstrate the individual actions, organisational practices and cultural attributes that cultivate gender diversity and elevate women in leadership.

LHH Penna’s latest study sheds new light on the advancing more women in leadership and what successful organisations are doing differently to make real progress. The catalyst for elevating women in organisations comes down to what managers and leaders do every day. The daily behaviours of the people managers who are known champions of female talent have the greatest impact on an organisation’s ability to get and keep women in their leadership pipelines.

The top five behaviours that people leaders demonstrate to champion female talent that make a real difference are:

1. Provide coaching and feedback that builds business acumen

2. Support flexibility to manage work schedules or location of work

3. Provide equal access to meaningful stretch projects that are tied to strategic business objectives

4. Give females exposure and profile to senior leaders and decision makers

5. Recruit and promote from a diverse pool of candidates

Learn more about the research and download the full report here.