Highlights

• Diversifying workforces yields plenty of benefits, but enacting plans is difficult and time consuming.
• Companies like ESDS Software Solution are excellent case studies for what to do as they rolled out various programs to re-hire women, scout more women at college campuses, and support women in their careers.
• Reworking company culture and biases is another solid strategy to obtaining a 50:50 gender ratio company.

One of the biggest challenges to achieving an appropriate gender ratio of women to men is the change in dynamics. Between gender stereotypes and industry stereotypes, it’s easy for people to get set in their ways and actually change or be open to having more female coworkers and leaders.

However, companies like ESDS Software Solution (ESDS) are up to the challenge. With over 1,100 employees, 22 of them are women holding leadership positions - excluding two women who are Board members. They believe through great efforts that they can bring their current 25 percent gender ratio to 50 percent by 2027.

This is how they’ll be doing it.

Remove Biases

One of the biggest roadblocks is our own biases. From familiar hiring practices to gender biases, training to remove those during the recruiting process is key. How this would look like at ESDS would be removing the name and gender of the candidate on their resume and applications manually.

Alternatively, it trains people to be more open minded about a higher gender ratio. Women are often mitigating risk, more compassionate and empathetic, and overall have characteristics and qualities that can balance out male characteristics.

In the end, companies can grow further when they’re more diverse.

Have Incentives

ESDS also launched a special referral bonus for anyone who refers female candidates. While ESDS already has a referral system in place (started in 2020), employees receive 10 percent extra when doing this over a regular referral amount.

This new initiative started in 2022 and within the 2022–23 cycle 10 women were hired. That amount grew to 34 thus far in the 2023–24 cycle.

Referrals are effective in bolstering employee ranks, but offering more incentives only encourages the behaviour. ESDS is the cloud-computing and managed cloud services space, meaning the industry at large is male dominated. Encouraging more women to join tech spaces and given more of a chance to grow in that space is more appealing.

Re-hiring Ex-Employees

ESDS calls this program "Returnship Rhapsody", where, starting in 2021, they began inviting ex-women employees back to work, if they wanted to. Even when there was a 3 or 4 year gap. The program would also help them train and offer more guidance until they’ve settled into their positions.

52 women have been hired or brought back on through this program, which is promising in a male-dominated space like this. However, companies outside of this space can set up something like this in the future.

With so much uncertainty across industries, having companies reach out to former employees is a good thing. Especially if there is a job waiting at the end of it and especially if the company is working on making changes to overall business practices.

Scout For Hires At All-Women Colleges

From all-female colleges to female dominated colleges, a good source for future hires is those locations. Offering both part-time and full time positions would be ideal as that can attract a variety of student, not just those that are on the verge of graduation.

Companies can also be open to accepting students from Co-op programs if the college offers those opportunities.

Special Leadership Programs For Women

ESDS has leadership programs for all employees, however, for women who have high potential, there are special leadership programs. These programs have female employees assigned to mentors.

Those mentors would go on to enhance female leadership skills, improving women’s overall performance in those leadership roles.

All in all, this program provides more opportunities for employees to work more with women and helps them thrive in those positions. It shrinks the gender ratio gap as not only will women show the skills for leadership roles, but excel in them once they are in those positions.

Bridging The Gap

At the end of the day, supporting women employees and closing the gender ratio gap takes a big commitment. Seeing ESDS roll out various programs, we’re seeing that their efforts are promising but also moving the needle slightly towards their goals. Nevertheless, having these kinds of programs and incentives is something all companies can take a page from if their goals is to have more diversity in leadership.

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