{"id":230401,"date":"2018-03-08T15:00:22","date_gmt":"2018-03-08T13:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=230401"},"modified":"2018-03-08T15:00:22","modified_gmt":"2018-03-08T13:00:22","slug":"company-culture-is-key-to-unlocking-gender-equality-and-narrowing-pay-gap-new-accenture-research-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/industry-news\/230401\/company-culture-is-key-to-unlocking-gender-equality-and-narrowing-pay-gap-new-accenture-research-finds\/","title":{"rendered":"Company culture is key to unlocking gender equality and narrowing pay gap, new Accenture research finds"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>New research from\u00a0Accenture (NYSE: ACN) has\u00a0identified\u00a040 workplace factors that create a culture of equality \u2014 including 14 factors that matter the most. The research, published today in the company\u2019s \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.accenture.com\/us-en\/gender-equality-research?c=glb_intwomdfy17accn_10000004&amp;n=smc_0117\"><strong>Getting to Equal 2018<\/strong><\/a>\u201d report, details the most-effective actions that business leaders can take to accelerate advancement and help close the gender pay gap.<\/p>\n<p>The research is based on a survey of\u00a0more than 22,000 working men and women in 34 countries \u2014 including 723 in South Africa \u2014 to measure\u00a0their perception of factors that contribute to their workplace cultures. The survey was supplemented with\u00a0in-depth interviews and a detailed analysis of\u00a0published data on a range of workforce issues.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur research shows that in companies with cultures that include the workplace factors that help women advance, men thrive too, and we all rise together,\u201d said Ntombi Mhangwani, Head of Women\u2019s Forum and Director for Integrated Marketing &amp; Communications at Accenture in Africa. \u201cWe see this research as a powerful reminder that building a culture of equality is essential to achieving gender equality because people, not programs, are what make a company inclusive and diverse.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Accenture\u2019s research found that in companies where the 40 factors are most common, everyone benefits:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>92 percent of employees are satisfied with their career progression<\/li>\n<li>93 percent of employees aspire to get promoted<\/li>\n<li>97 percent aspire to become senior leaders in their organizations<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>And, everyone has a better opportunity to advance:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Women are 43 percent more likely to advance to manager or above and 3.5 times as likely to advance to senior manager\/director or above.<\/li>\n<li>Men are 25 percent more likely to advance to manager or above and nearly twice as likely to advance to senior manager\/director or above.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>While both women and men advance in companies in which the 40 factors are common, women have the most to gain.\u00a0If all working environments in South Africa were like those in which the 40 factors are most common:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>For every 100 male managers, there could be as many as 87 female managers, up from the current ratio of 100 to 46.<\/li>\n<li>Women\u2019s pay could increase 122 percent, or up to an additional $17,560 per year.<\/li>\n<li>Women could earn $87 for every $100 a man earns, helping to close the pay gap and lifting women\u2019s total earnings by $11.4 billion nationwide.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Setting clear diversity targets, the research found, is a crucial step for leaders who want to strengthen their cultures.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCulture is set from the top, so if women are to advance, gender equality must be a strategic priority for the C-suite,\u201d said Mhangwani. \u201cIt\u2019s critical that companies create a truly human environment where people can be successful both professionally and personally \u2013 where they can be who they are and feel they belong, every day.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The report, which builds on Accenture\u2019s 2017 research on how digital fluency and technology can close the gender gap in the workplace, grouped the 14 core factors proven to influence advancement into three categories of\u00a0<strong>bold leadership<\/strong>,\u00a0<strong>comprehensive action<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0<strong>an empowering environment.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Key South African findings in the three categories include:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Bold leadership: <\/strong>Women are more likely to be on the fast track in organizations where leadership teams are held accountable, both internally and externally, for improving gender diversity (65 percent compared to 52 percent).<\/li>\n<li><strong>Comprehensive action:<\/strong>\u00a0Involvement in a women\u2019s network correlates with women\u2019s advancement, but the vast majority (62 percent) of the women surveyed for the report work for organizations without such a network. In companies that have a women\u2019s network, nine in 10 women (91 percent) participate, with most (89 percent) of those women in a women\u2019s network that also includes men.<\/li>\n<li><strong>An empowering environment:<\/strong>\u00a0Among the factors linked to advancement<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>are not asking employees to conform to a dress or appearance code, and giving employees the responsibility and freedom to be innovative and creative.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Read the global report here:\u00a0<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/accenture.com\/gettingtoequal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">accenture.com\/gettingtoequal<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Getting to Equal 2018\u201d report identifies 40 key factors that help all people thrive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":230415,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10459],"tags":[2107,26],"class_list":["post-230401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-industry-news","tag-accenture","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=230401"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230401\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":230417,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230401\/revisions\/230417"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/230415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=230401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=230401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=230401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}