New Decade, New Chance to Close the Gender Gap

Evaluating candidates purely on experience and technical skills risks leaving many highly qualified candidates out of the recruiting process. Further, it significantly hinders diversity of thought.

Given the right support and training, candidates with the right attitude and a desire to learn quickly make up for any gap in skills and experience.

Further, employees with positive attitudes — team spirit, optimism — create a halo effect, inspiring those around them. While we are seeing some firms move in this direction, there's still a lot of progress to be made to broaden the lens through which we evaluate candidates.

Build a culture that matters to all and welcomes all.

Women value teamwork, empathy and supportive work environments. They want their work to have meaning and offer healthy work-life balance.

These factors have arguably become more pronounced in the aftermath of the pandemic, where burnout and mental health issues have affected not just women but all employees.

A workplace culture that puts the well-being of employees first, offers them not just a job but a purpose and an environment where everyone is empowered to succeed — and find their unique path — is the only way to build a successful talent strategy and a diverse workforce.

Power career development, yet understand that everyone has a different path.

Firms that want to build a diverse workforce and leadership have to embrace the different ways men and women approach and progress in their careers. Therefore, they need to:

• Create more flexible career paths and growth opportunities so they can keep women engaged and productive.
• Look at performance more holistically — not as a one-time or once-a-year scenario, but over the course of an employees' tenure, as well as within the context of external circumstances.
• Be more resourceful about providing the support women — and all employees — need in times of stress, be it through corporate wellness programs, group activities (virtual and, eventually, in person) that foster a sense of belonging, camaraderie and purpose.

The pandemic magnified the challenges faced by working women, causing many to leave the workforce and reversing decades of progress. If we miss the opportunity to reengage women, the damage will be irreparable and felt by all those involved.

The financial advisory profession has a huge stake in how it grapples with the rising financial power of women who are potential future clients on one hand and their largely homogeneous and aging workforce on the other.

Christina Townsend is head of relationship management, consulting and platform strategy for advisor solutions at BNY Mellon| Pershing.