Digital and social media have helped in reaching new and different audiences, acting as a vastly magnified shop window for clients, talent, and employees. But digital is also being used to hold up a massive mirror to businesses, and when you get it wrong the effects have the potential to damage your organisation's reputation from outside and within.
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We saw this in full swing in 2022, when a slew of companies treated International Women’s Day as a brand-building exercise. The Gender Pay Gap Bot, a fully automated Twitter account, used, and posted conflicting, publicly available, and factually correct, government gender pay data in response to businesses sharing what they had achieved and what they were doing to close the gender pay gap.
Despite many publishing well-intentioned content, businesses were called out for their platitudes and accused of mistruths leaving them to climb a steep hill in their quest to rebuild trust – not just externally but internally with their people.
So, what can HR professionals learn from this? In simple terms, put your money where your mouth is. Gender pay data can be a minefield for companies operating in matrices or cross-geographic locations so be sure you are reporting a full and transparent assessment.
Organisations need to stress test what they are saying and be prepared to be accountable. Before doing anything ask yourself the following questions:
- If you shared the content internally, how would employees react?
- If you shared the content externally, are you leaving yourself open to challenge?
- Are you prepared to respond in the face of challenge, and do you have evidence to back it up?
This isn’t intended to scare you into paralysis, however if you can’t answer these questions confidently, and there’s a mismatch between the perception and reality, the cost of doing nothing is, in this case, a much more favourable option. However, there are other options you can consider.
It’s a fact that women are still not on an equal footing with men, so IWD, which has been running for over 100 years, is a brilliant platform and cause to support in the fight for gender parity. So, why not take people on your journey? This is not about proving you’ve fixed the ‘problem’.
It is entirely acceptable, and often welcomed, to share what steps you’re taking to overcome barriers towards gender parity…providing this is what you’re doing and what you’re saying is realistic, and measurable.
Enable your employees to share their own authentic stories, celebrating equity and what it means to them. There’s even a ready-made IWD toolkit of assets and guidance available online. This can be a far more powerful tool than a carefully curated ‘voice of the business’.
To maximise impact, share initiatives with your employees first. It’s a common mistake to let employees read about things that matter to them, and more importantly impact them, on external channels first. If your people are involved, engaged and aware of what’s in plan, they will be your biggest advocates, amplifying messages positively through their own networks.
And on a final note, IWD is one day, a moment in time. Legislation is driving companies to be more accountable, but we are still over 100 years from achieving global gender parity so consider what you’re doing as a longer-term strategy and don’t wait another 365 days to talk about the steps you’re taking.
Think about your internal engagement plan and consider other moments in the year that might be equally, or even more powerful to talk about what you’re doing.
Hillary Brown is managing director of Forty1
In celebration of International Women's Day HR magazine will be posting articles throughout March highlighting ways to challenge barriers to gender equity in the workplace. Read more here.
