Why investing in women is good business

Investing in women makes good business sense because diverse and inclusive workplaces are essential in meeting the needs of today’s diverse clients, communities and other key stakeholders.

Bank of America recognizes the significant role women play in advancing thriving economies – with women owning 37% of all businesses worldwide. It’s why we continue to invest every day in helping them make meaningful contributions within our company and in their communities at large. Here in Colorado, for example, we partner with the Colorado Enterprise Fund, a Colorado-based CDFI, to provide loans and small business support to veteran and women entrepreneurs. We also are an engaged member of the Colorado Women’s Chamber of Commerce through our sponsorship of the Powerful Voices Conversation Series, which highlights the inspirational stories of perseverance and success of women in business.

A snapshot of Bank of America’s current employee demographics shows that women make up 50% of our global workforce, 32% of our global management team, more than 40% of our managers and 35% of our board of directors – exceeding industry benchmarks.

So how did we get here? By bringing talented women to our company, investing in their career growth and providing a range of supportive benefits, while also supporting the economic empowerment of women in communities around the world.

The bank partners with more than 350 colleges and universities around the world to recruit diverse talent, and our most recent summer intern class was 47% female. We have programs designed specifically to support the retention and career development of female employees such as our LEAD (Leadership, Education, Advocacy and Development) for Women Employee Network, which is more than 36,000 members strong. Locally, we sponsor Girls & Science, which offers young people the opportunity to explore what a future career in science, technology, engineering, art, and math (STEAM) entails through mentorships with women in STEAM. We also support transitional employment programs serving women who have struggled to obtain and maintain employment or need training or reskilling assistance through our grants to organizations like Women’s Bean Project, Ready to Work Aurora, Center for Work, Education & Employment, and Mi Casa Resource Center.

But an effective diversity and inclusion program goes beyond recruitment and development and includes progressive workplace policies and benefits so all employees feel supported in managing responsibilities at work and at home. For example, to support working parents through the coronavirus, Bank of America offered its employees childcare reimbursement of up to $100 a day. Similar support was also offered to employees caring for aging parents.

As a leader in financial services, Bank of America also supports women entrepreneurs with capital and resources to help them grow their businesses. I’ve seen first-hand the impact of our support when I helped mentor women business owners through the bank’s partnership with the Cherie Blair Foundation. The program has matched more than 2,700 women in developing and emerging countries to online mentors, including more than 500 of my Bank of America colleagues.

Through our commitment to a diverse workforce, we hope to make a positive and lasting impact on our company, and the communities we serve.

Melvinacarrick1 Melvina Carrick is the Colorado Market Leader for Bank of America.

Why women are the makers of culture equality

The COVID-19 pandemic has had an outsized impact on gender equality. Although both men and women have been negatively impacted, women have been hit much harder.

Women have less work, less income, and less job security now than before the pandemic, and the gender gap has widened, extending the estimated time to gender equality by 51 years, according to research by Accenture.

Society, including business, has largely been made by men for men. In the wake of COVID, women have an opportunity, really the obligation, to take on the role of “culture equality maker.”

Years of research show that greater gender equality benefits all of society: men and women, rich and poor, young and old. Not just the right thing to do, gender equality brings more inclusive and accurate decision-making; more innovation resulting in growth; better health; increased education; greater economic stability, and stronger workplace cultures.

Additionally, expectations for equality will only increase as younger generations, who are more concerned with culture, continue to join the workforce.

Shouldn’t all of these benefits mean that diversity is a top strategic priority for business leaders? So far in our history, that has not happened.

The new W20/Accenture report, “If Not Now, When?” unfortunately finds that most business leaders still rank diversity and workplace culture low on their list of priorities (34 percent and 21 percent respectively), favoring their top focus on financial performance and brand recognition (76 percent and 72 percent respectively).

What we need at this moment is bold business leaders who believe in and prioritize diversity and are committed to developing workplaces based on equality, empowerment, and other factors that help workers thrive.

I believe that women are well suited to this role based on our lived experience with inequity and our leadership aptitude (outscoring men on 12 of 16 outstanding leadership competencies in recent Harvard Business Review survey data).

Why Women

Although there has been progress here and there, the decades-old statistics related to gaps in pay and opportunity still reflect women’s reality in 2021. It’s not just wages that are lopsided for women.

Although women-owned businesses continue to grow at a fast pace in our country, they lag behind businesses run by their male counterparts in funding, number of employees, and revenue.

This, despite the fact that companies with the most women on their executive teams outperform companies with the fewest women.

You’d be wrong to assume that companies seek out skilled leaders who could increase performance—at least if they are women.

Instead, women are more likely to be promoted to leadership positions during times of crisis or economic downturn where there’s a higher risk of failure, in what’s often known as “falling off the glass cliff.”

Most adults believe that male and female leaders have different leadership styles, but few think one gender’s approach is better overall, according to Pew research.

However, while men are seen as more willing to take risks, women leaders are perceived to be stronger in traits like compassion, empathy, and compromise. These traits make women highly suitable to lead in the most challenging situations.

In 2020, a record number of women replaced males as CEOs of Fortune 500 companies because they were seen as better able to help steer their companies through the volatile pandemic environment. There’s plenty of room at the top for women; we need to create a cultural path to get there.

The fact is that discrimination in pay, hiring, promoting, and funding are, and have always been, typical and accepted business practices when it comes to women.

As a result of the pandemic, many more companies are finally realizing that people can be trusted to work remotely. What else have they learned that may lead to more gender equality? I believe that as we recover, women have a unique opportunity to drive culture equality and make sure that all boats rise in workplaces across the country.

Navigating the new normal: A note to professional women

It’s hard not to have panicked feelings as a professional woman these days. Though we see signs of a phased return to ”normal,” the economy is still struggling, work from home remains the recommended course of action, and the return to our previous ways of living and working may be many months away. Our news feeds tend to be doom and gloom and the world feels like it’s falling apart. Even the most serene among us are likely feeling anxiety on some level.

And these feelings are justified; coronavirus has disproportionately affected working women. This fact is partially due to where we work, as the industries most impacted by the virus (such as lifestyle, healthcare, and hospitality) tend to have a higher proportion of female workers. Additionally, as a recent article in Forbes outlines, working women are hit particularly hard by the virus because they are also trying to manage their professional careers while acting as COO of their households. Women tend to manage most parenting duties and household responsibilities and it can be a lot to manage.

I am balancing work with Lego time and other mom duties. There just isn’t time in the day to fully focus on work like I did pre-COVID. This new life is slow, and different; and different can certainly be anxiety producing. We may not be able to change our situation, or ever find a true balance between work and home life, but we can find peace.

Here are my tips for all the go-getting professional women out there who are struggling to find their stride during COVID-19.

Accept change

As a business owner whose company relies primarily on face-to-face, person-to-person interactions, the COVID-19 crisis has required a major shift in my business model. It is hard, difference and scary, but the first step toward finding any type of serenity in our new normal is accepting the change. I repeat mantras to myself, sometimes saying them out loud helps.

Some of these mantras include: I cannot devote a full, uninterrupted eight hours to my work right now and that’s OK.; I did not get through my to-do list today, but I did get spend some special time bonding with my son over a puzzle.

Use downtime to reflect

In our normal pace of life, we are constantly running; running to work, to drop kids off at school, to meet friends, to soccer practice, to take care of errands. With all this running, there is hardly a moment to sit quietly and reflect. Now that we have nowhere to go, use this time to reflect on your position.

Ask yourself what is it that you want in life? What are your priorities? Is your work fulfilling? Do you feel good about your personal health? Are your relationships what you want them to be? Is your mental health a priority? If any of your answers indicate that you need to make a change, why not do it now? Take advantage of this time to work on what needs fixing. Though therapists can’t meet with you face-to-face, telehealth counseling is a great way to start healing from the comfort of your home.

Breathe

It feels as though the world is imploding, but let’s all take a moment to breathe and remember, nothing is or ever was guaranteed in this life. Other factors could have caused your business to close or your company to adjust its course. As a professional woman, it’s hard to watch everything you’ve worked for come to a screeching halt. But take a moment to ask yourself, how are things at this exact moment? What can you control or change today? Focus on the present, take it one day at a time.

 

We must remember that in times of uncertainty, necessity can be the mother of invention. During the 2008 Recession, many new businesses and business models were created, including Airbnb, Warby Parker, and Spotify. All of us have had to start from scratch at some point, perhaps this strange pause in life is a time for us all to course-correct and think of ways to live our lives in a better, healthier way. Perhaps this is a sign that we can and should spend time working on our mental health, personal wellness, families and relationships. Perhaps it is a good time to accept our circumstances and, both literally and figuratively, clean house and start fresh.