Grant Thornton and Ais Group launch Women Pulse

This article was written and published in Spanish and has been translated into English via Google Translate. Click here to read the original article.

Professional services firm Grant Thornton and talent consultancy Ais Group announce the launch of Women Pulse: a leadership program for women whose methodology combines an exhaustive diagnosis of each company's starting point, with the key levers for women to develop successful managerial careers.

This program, pioneering and adaptable to companies of any size and sector that want to promote gender diversity in its staff, benefits from the experience of Grant Thornton in the diagnosis of the labor reality of companies and the design of plans and policies of equality and reconciliation and salary gap audits, as well as the more than 15 years that the firm has been analyzing the role of women managers in Spain and around the world through reference reports such as Women in Business. Ais Group provides extensive experience designing and promoting business cultures that promote women's leadership, through training tools, coaching and mentoring aimed at top management.

According to Aurora Sanz, Partner Director of Labor of Grant Thornton, "The advance of female leadership not only responds to a greater awareness that companies should be a mirror of the diversity of the societies in which they operate, but because it is also profitable. The most diverse companies are achieving greater benefits, reputation and emotional, although there is still way to go, because only 30% of management positions in our country are occupied by women," adds Sanz.

The first step, a double diagnosis of the situation and the culture of departure

Women Pulse is structured in seven services designed to accompany companies, whatever the stage of development of female talent is currently in their templates. At the beginning, the diagnostic program evaluates the present situation, and the starting culture.

For this, it resorts to interviews and focus groups, to the analysis of promotions or to the calculation of ratios of conciliation, training or absenteeism, and culminates with the validation of a report by the steering committee. According to Isabel Perea, Partner of Grant Thornton, "companies should be aware of where they are in terms of gender through an exhaustive diagnosis, which identifies both negative aspects that prevent or hinder the professional development of women and their access to high address, as positive. "

Regarding the cultural diagnosis - that is, the behaviors, beliefs, symbols, systems and processes that exist and are accepted in an organization - Grant Thornton's Women in Business study proves its relevance in the transition towards greater diversity of genre. In its 2019 edition, 45% of the executives surveyed considered that one of the main obstacles to women's access to leadership positions in Spain was the existence of a male-dominated culture in the company, and 47% did extend that culture to the entire sector.

"The diagnosis of the starting situation of a company in terms of gender diversity must be complemented with the analysis of what its culture is, as it is the origin of the gaps, dilemmas and paradoxes that its directives face," says Sara Ais, Partner Director of Ais Group.

After diagnosis, progress towards greater gender diversity

Based on the level of maturity identified in the situation and cultural diagnoses, the five remaining Women Pulse services allow for the deployment of cultural plans, leadership programs for women, coaching activities, equality plans and business policies, and salary gap audits for women. Progress in terms of gender diversity.

Regarding cultural plans, 40% of the respondents in the Women in Business study of 2019 considered that one of the main actions to be carried out by Spanish companies to improve or preserve parity in their management teams was the establishment of a culture inclusive According to Sara Ais, "this type of cultural plans serve precisely as a roadmap to move from the current cultural to the desired in terms of equality between male and female leaders."

In relation to leadership programs for women, 12% of respondents considered that one of the causes of the stagnation of female leadership in Spain was the lack of women with an active role in their improvement, something that, according to Ais, "can be solved with programs that help the women of an organization to become more aware of their capacities and leadership strengths."

Regarding the coaching service, the IBR study by Grant Thornton showed that 29% of its participants consider them necessary to promote gender diversity. For Sara Ais, this coaching "should be aimed at maximizing the skills and competencies of women managers, bringing out the best in each one, taking advantage of their strengths and turning weaknesses into opportunities."

There is also much evidence about the importance of equality plans and policies, which also includes Women Pulse. In the 2018 edition of Women in Business, 38% of Spanish managers surveyed referred to the lack of company policies defined as one of the causes of the stagnation of female leadership in our country, and 26% said that, Despite the existence of these, their organizations had relaxed in their application. For Aurora Sanz, "it is important that the measures defined in this type of plans are not merely cosmetic and that they are in line with the regulations on equality". Sanz also points out that organizations must verify "that the rest of their transversal policies, regarding training, teleworking, flexibility or digital disconnection, are aligned with their goal of equality, conciliation and empowerment of women".

Finally, Women Pulse also includes among its services the performance of salary gap audits to verify the absence of gender discrimination in the remuneration policies of organizations. For Isabel Perea, it is very important that this type of audits "not only include fixed salaries, but also variables and voluntary improvements and social benefits offered by the company". In Spain, the National Institute of Statistics (INE) places the real wage gap in the country at 23%: a parameter similar to that of Germany (22%), but at a considerable distance from international benchmarks such as Denmark (15%).

This article was written and published in Spanish and has been translated into English via Google Translate. Click here to read the original article.

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