Why is it important to have a women’s network in your workplace?
Over the past few decades, the number of women in the workplace has risen. Find out why it’s important to have a women’s network in your workplace.
There are excellent reasons why companies should encourage more women to join their workforce. Research shows that organizations that actively support gender equality tend to make better business decisions. And as a result, make more money.
So how can businesses not just encourage more female applicants for roles, but ensure those women thrive and are happy? One way is to start a women’s networking initiative in the workplace. In this article we explore some of the benefits of launching a women’s network in your business.
A women’s network can help to promote better work-life balance
As a generalization women seem to struggle with creating a healthy work-life balance than men. And over time this can lead to unhappiness at work, reduced productivity and even burn out. Left unaddressed, a poor work-life balance can lead to poorer results and a higher turnover of staff.
A women’s network can help you to counter this by modelling and sharing positive examples, and encouraging and empowering women to fight for what they need to enjoy a healthier work-life balance. And as a result, you’ll find it easier to retain highly valued staff members, and have a happier and more productive team.
A women’s network can help to grow connections within your organization
A women’s network can help build bridges between women on all levels of your company through networking, mentoring, and knowledge sharing. Even if you already have networks, a network that is specifically established from women will give the women in your company something they often can’t get in ‘typical’ professional networking spaces.
Women are better able to understand the issues other women face, and can share what has helped them overcome them. Not only will this have practical benefits for your company by ensuring that everyone can work to the best of their ability, but you’ll have happier employees with a greater sense of belonging, which can help to reduce staff turnover.
A women’s network can help to build a more inclusive business
Simply having a women’s network in your company will help you to attract more (and higher quality) female candidates for your roles, which in turn will enable you to build a more inclusive business. And remember: the stats show that more inclusiive businesses tend to be more successful, so this should have a positive impact on your bottom line.
A women’s network can help create a more giving and supportive business culture
While most business networking events tend to put more emphasis on selling yourself, and seeing what you can get out of any connection, women’s networking groups often focus more on supporting others. They’re often more friendly and welcoming and centered around a philosophy of giving back.
This will have a knock-on effect in the rest of your workplace, as these women not only help each other, but can help to influence your business culture with less of a selfish ‘me-me-me’ approach to one of true teamwork in which everyone supports everyone else.
