Applying the Science of Happiness at Work™ to make talented women thrive in your organisation

For reasons more commercial than moral – companies are realising the benefits of recruiting, developing and retaining women in their organisations. However, despite the growing keen commercial interest in achieving gender parity (and the proposed Women Empowerment and Gender Equality Bill) companies are not retaining women in their talent pipeline. Women start their careers with the same level of intelligence, competence and commitment as men, yet still find themselves lower on the career ladder with significantly less women in executive positions than men.

SOURCE | MC KINSEY STUDY ON CENTRED LEADERSHIP – HOW TALENTED WOMEN THRIVE
A recent Mc Kinsey study identified 5 Leadership Essentials to attract and retain women.
1. Meaning – to love what you do and feel it matters (Dave Ulrich)
2. Positive Framing – learning to view situations as optimists do (Martin Seligman)
3. Connecting – supporting each other and leveraging the collective “power of many.”
4. Engaging – getting and taking opportunities
5. Managing Energy – a sense of being so engaged you don’t notice the passage of time (Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi)

BRG, the global partner of iOpener Institute UK, recently analysed over 2000 South African employees’ responses to the iOpener Institute’s iPPQ based on our Performance Happiness Model™ analytics and it was found that women:
– report they feel less able to raise issues that are important to them in the workplace
– report they are less listened to than men at work
– score themselves lower when asked if they are respected by their bosses
– and also score lower in respect of being recognised in their organisations

On the flip side, women:
– score higher than men in terms of level of engagement at work
– on the whole, believe they are doing something worthwhile and that their job has a positive impact on the world; more so than men.

A key element of the Performance Happiness Model™ is for employees to have a sense of purpose at work. Are women aiming too low? Their sense of achieving their potential is just 5.9 out of 10. This shows they have a lot more to give.

Over and above our findings in the Science of Happiness at Work™ studies, there is still a stark reality. The reality is that women account for only 10% of CEO positions, 32% CFO’s and 15% of board positions in South Africa. 21% of SA organisations have no women representation in senior management positions. A recent study by the Nielsen Company that examines the consumer and media habits of women in emerging and developed countries rated SA #7 out of 21 companies in terms of stress levels – with 64% of SA women diagnosed as stressed. Another reality is that companies who have successfully achieved gender parity are the happier companies.

If you are serious about leading, attracting, developing and retaining women in your organisation, you can scientifically diagnose why some women in your organisation are achieving their full potential and others are not.
The research determines the levels of CONTRIBUTION | CONVICTION | CULTURE | COMMITMENT & CONFIDENCE linked to the 3 overarching criteria of TRUST | RECOGNITION & PRIDE. The Science of Happiness at Work™ strongly correlates with the McKinsey findings.

Jessica Pryce-Jones, the founder of The Science of Happiness at Work™, will be presenting the latest findings for South African companies at the 2nd Annual FNB Progress Conference on Happiness@Work on the 17th September 2013 in Johannesburg.