The jig is up. The era of cut-throat, micromanaging leadership is nearing extinction. In today’s business landscape, the bullying and intimidation tactics—which in times past were effective in cultivating fear-based loyalty and growing business bottom lines, are virtually impossible to keep under wraps.
Technology and social media has given customers and employees a spotlight to expose the dark underbellies of organizations, which is not to suggest the callous Miranda Priestly, Logan Roy cult of personality types don’t still helm organizations, only that their iron-fisted chokehold on corporate culture is losing its grip. “We’re in an environment where it behooves business leaders to shift mindsets from being profit driven only to profit and purpose-driven,” management consultant Christie Lindor told ESSENCE.
Toxic workplace environments diminish customer loyalty, erode business bottom lines, and cost businesses billions in employee turnover. Substantial losses incentivize companies to go beyond simply making money to creating long-term value for employees, customers, and communities. “We’re seeing more organizations transitioning to what we call the triple bottom line, which measures success not only in terms of profit but by their impact on the environment and society at large. It’s a fundamental change in how business is run,” Lindor said.
This paradigm shift places emphasis on corporate purpose, the assumed responsibility for companies to act in ways that positively impact society—including focus on environmental sustainability, social responsibility, and addressing structural inequities that adversely impact marginalized communities. Women’s issues are one of many on the scroll of priorities today’s leaders face.
Change of this magnitude doesn’t happen overnight. “These issues are just too large for any one individual organization to solve on its own,” said Kwasi Mitchell, Chief Purpose Officer at Deloitte. Moreover, the breakneck speed at which the landscape continues to evolve has driven many chief executives out of the C-suite. To mitigate the toll on human resources, more and more companies are turning to firms like Deloitte for strategic guidance.
“Our focus, and what we’ve been talking about as an organization, is that Deloitte is phenomenal as a convener—and us being able to be an engine for collective action,” Mitchell said. Ranking among the world’s leading consultancies, with clients spanning top organizations—including Procter & Gamble, JPMorgan, and Apple, the firm is well-positioned to facilitate collective action on corporate purpose.
ESSENCE spoke with Mitchell who said women’s issues will play a defining role in the future of corporate purpose. We discussed the inequities causing many women—particularly Black women, to opt out of the workforce, and what it will take to win them back.
The Disruption of Women in the Workforce
According to labor market data, 20.5 million jobs were vacated between March and April 2020. While employment rates are stabilizing, women have been slower to return; an estimated one million remain missing from employment rosters. Their absence costs companies innovation, productivity, and financial growth. According to a McKinsey & Company report, if declines continue, the cost to the economy could reach an estimated $1 trillion.
Long-standing inequities like unequal pay, stalled career advancement, and a lack of accommodation for caregiver responsibilities, are largely to blame. The disparities are even more pronounced for Black women. For many Black women, whose careers were disproportionately disrupted by the pandemic, it was the final push to lean into entrepreneurship.
Black women are the fastest-growing demographic of business owners in the US. While their mass exodus is a blow to corporations, Mitchell says he understands the decision. “I think women, particularly Black women, are just tired,” he said. “If you’re in a situation where you’re looking at an overarching corporate structure and you don’t see yourself in leadership, you know that D&I is a work in progress, and understanding the different aspects of the gaps in pay equity, you feel that you are working harder and being paid less,—it’s a challenging situation for a woman to decide that she wants to remain in,” he said.
A report by LeanIn.Org and McKinsey & Company found that while women of all races and ethnicities face challenges in the workplace, Black women in corporate America face barriers their White and Asian counterparts don’t. Black women leaders are more likely to be subjected to microaggressions, demeaning behavior, and having their competence called into question.
C-suite leaders must reshape social-impact initiatives to address the sexism and
misogynoir keeping many women away.
The Caregiver Penalty
Family Leave Policies, the reversal of ‘Roe v. Wade,’ and responsibilities for providing unpaid care, in many cases, materially impacts women’s ability to participate in the workforce fully. The International Labor Organization estimates that women spend three times as much time as men engaged in the work of unpaid care, forcing many to choose between careers and caregiving responsibilities. Mitchell says it’s a conundrum no woman should have to face. “I feel like those [offering caregiving benefits] are the things that make people understand, ‘this organization is invested in me. I have a pathway here.’ It’s about having a built-in support structure for people to be successful,” he said.
Offering support, flexibility, and benefits for caregivers goes a long way toward attracting and retaining women in the workforce. It’s an issue Mitchell has championed at Deloitte. “If you sit back and look over the course of someone’s career, particularly women—let’s say you have a Black woman who’s entering the workforce at 20, or 21 years old who’s likely going to be retiring at 60+, right? Forty years of work experience is going to take place. There are probably ten years that we need to have focused intervention from a caregiving standpoint to ensure that person can succeed and stay in the workforce,” Mitchell said. “If we can’t figure out how to help somebody for ten years, over a forty-year career—shame on us.”
Pay Equity: A Moral Imperative
Women earn only 84 cents for every dollar men earn. For Black women, it’s less. According to a National Women’s Law Center report, Black women make only 63 cents for every dollar earned by men. Addressing inequities in pay is a mission-critical for attracting and retaining women in the workforce.
To be sure, fixing pay disparities is both challenging and time-consuming, but a necessary undertaking nonetheless; the Society for Human Resources Management offers a process overview. Organizations should first conduct an audit to identify what gaps exist; from there, developing a plan, budget, and a timeline is essential. It’s a process with which Mitchell is familiar. “We hire an external firm to interrogate our data, to look at different aspects, from our jobs to what positions people are in, to really make sure we have no gaps in any way, shape, or form,” he said.
Keeping employees informed throughout the process is equally important. “You need that level of transparency to say, Hey, here’s what we’re working on. We’re going to pay you fairly, and here are the steps we’re taking to get there,” Mitchell said.
People of different races, ethnicities, religions, life stages, and abilities have unique needs—and women intersect with them all. The shift toward corporate purpose requires an understanding of interconnectivity. To create a better future for women in the workplace, companies must create a holistically inclusive work environment for all.