3 Ways to Make Your Business the Place for Hiring Women

In the spring of year 1 of the pandemic, I made an optimistic (but in hindsight, dumb) prediction. I pondered aloud to a friend: “I wonder if the pandemic will present more attractive opportunities for hiring women. Now that everyone is working from home, maybe this will level the playing field and allow women more flexibility and opportunities for advancement.” I repeat: silly and naïve little me.

And then in 2021, McKinsey’s released their Five Fifty report, citing that 23% of women with children under 10 years old were still considering leaving their job (compared to 13% of men). 23%!! And 17% were considering downshifting their career. Amazingly, but not surprisingly, the reasons are all actually quite solvable by employers.

In this, I see an opportunity for small businesses! For we have the autonomy, flexibility, and creativity to fill a need for hiring women in a way that enhances their lives and our businesses. Here are 3 ways to make your business the place for hiring women…

1. Always present the opportunity.

I wrote about this at length for International Women’s Day in 2020. Here’s the gist: do not make assumptions on anyone’s behalf. If someone should be invited or included for an opportunity (be it for a job or simply a meeting), don’t decide on their behalf. Extend the invite. We are so thankful that we were able to do this recently with our newest colleague (hint hint, more coming soon!!), who happens to be a braaaaaand new working mama. This woman first inquired about working for us when she was 1 month away from giving birth. Two weeks after her babe was born, she applied to be our Client Strategist. As a potential employer, it’s natural to have unconscious assumptions about what a woman in this position would want or be available for. So you must consciously acknowledge: “it is not my right to decide for her.”

Though I’ve had many opportunities to practice this in the last few years of hiring women, this isn’t just for bosses. If you’re a bystander and observe that a colleague should be included in a meeting or considered for an opportunity, speak up! Be an advocate for those (especially women and mamas) who are not in the room. “If you see something, say something.”

2. Invest in your employees’ future selves.

There are many ways to do this: from learning and training opportunities to financial ones. About 50% of small businesses offer a retirement plan; and most of the time, it’s a 401K (please don’t get me wrong: something is always better than nothing)! But for an employee to get that benefit, the onus is on them to contribute, and then perhaps the company will match. I totally understand this; you want their skin in the game. But when it comes to hiring women, what about single mothers who need every bit of their earnings? And people of color, who are likely to send money home, supporting their parents and extended family? (This insight comes c/o Dorothy Brown).

For this reason (and a few others having to do with equity), we offer a SEP IRA to our employees. I have to warn you: it can be a b**** to administer (I think I’ve streamlined the process down now – ha), but in my mind, the outward good outweighs the administrative bad.

It mandates that the employer contributes to its employees’ retirement accounts; and it requires that everyone receives proportionally equal contributions. So in our company, everyone receives 5% of their salary: EO’s gift to our people’s future selves, as I like to say.

3. Reframe, structure, and embrace “flexible” working.

First on this point, I have to give credit where credit is due. When I was playing around with our employment model in 2020, I had 3 (extremely progressive!) male friends validate it. My theory: most of us grew up understanding that a career is a linear and upward climbing trajectory, until you retire in your mid 60s. Each step forward should be a step up on the proverbial ladder, with more responsibility, more time invested, and more money.

But why!?

That’s so black and white. So predictable. So… undynamic.

Why shouldn’t a career have chutes and ladders? Times of intensity and times of ease? A little less worldly expectation and a little more choose-your-own-adventure. To me, flexibility should mean time where one can prioritize life over work, then work over life, then back again without penalty.

One friend told me that his husband would happily take a 30% pay cut to work 30 hours a week instead of 60. Another friend resigned cold-turkey from his 25 year career track to hit the pause button and reconsider his career phase 2. And these are men. So how much more should this be at the forefront of our minds when hiring women? How can we flip this around and make it a win-win for all?

In 2021 we introduced a variable career model at Ellevated Outcomes. In our business today, our most important role on the org chart is our Client Strategist position. These are the people who work one-on-one with clients in our Advisory Practice and do the deep analytical and emotional, up close and personal with clients. This work and role is deep and intense, but actually, there’s no reason that one of our Strategists has to carry a full 15-client load.

For example, perhaps someone’s personal goal is to maximize their personal income for the next year, then chill a bit in 2023. (Or take care of kiddos – obviously, the opposite of chilling). They can carry a full load now and maximize comp, then lighten up next year. And then fill up their work capacity again when they’re feeling it. We’ve designed our capacity, staffing, and compensation model for this. There’s no demotion, no judgment, no penalties for prioritizing life over work. I know what work needs to get done, but it doesn’t matter to me how and when someone accomplishes it.

Though we are not committed to only hiring women, we want to be a role model for it. It’s another practical application of our inclusion value. When it comes to employees, I want Ellevated Outcomes to be magnetic in attracting the right people. Hiring women (especially those we have) is one of the greatest privileges and areas of meaning in my life. So join me, won’t you? Let’s model a new way of doing business.