Only one fifth of companies achieve full equality
Companies around the world are paving the way for a fairer future by promoting diverse talent and narrowing the gender gap - but Switzerland still has considerable potential. This is shown by the study World of Work Outlook for Women in 2024, published by ManpowerGroup on International Women's Day.
Equal rights in Swiss companies
As part of its quarterly labor market barometer, ManpowerGroup conducted an additional survey on the topics of diversity, equality, inclusion and belonging. This continues to be a priority for Swiss companies: in order to retain talent, counteract the skills shortage and increase the proportion of diversity in the recruitment process, four out of five companies have introduced specific measures to promote the proportion of women in middle management, frontline management, professional/technical, administrative and operational areas. On average, 43% of Swiss employers believe that these initiatives are currently working as planned or even better in their company.
Inspire Inclusion: Women should empower each other
Becky Frankiewicz, President and Chief Commercial Officer at Manpower Group, emphasizes the importance of role models and collaboration. Not only must the paths that women have already taken to be successful become more visible. They also need to empower each other more, for example through internal groups and communities led by women at executive level. "These groups can take responsibility for each other, support each other and maintain open communication," emphasizes Frankiewicz. Ideally, young women should be integrated into these groups at the start of their careers - long before they fall behind in terms of promotions and pay.
Technology supports equality
Although measures have been introduced, there is still considerable potential in Switzerland: the results show that only 22 % of companies currently have full equality. However, 63% are confident that they will achieve this almost or completely in the next two years. Technology is likely to play an important role here: 66 % of respondents believe that companies have become more flexible as a result of technological progress and are therefore promoting gender equality. In addition, 61 % believe that qualified candidates for IT positions are more diverse today, and 55 % state that artificial intelligence is helping to recruit the best candidates regardless of gender.
Focus on internal measures
According to the survey, the role of HR departments is becoming increasingly important for Swiss companies, especially when it comes to diversity and inclusion strategies. 62 % of companies say they will continue to invest in and expand diversity, equality, inclusion and belonging programs and policies. Flexible working, internal leadership development programs and internal mentoring/coaching programs appear to be particularly effective in this regard.
Source: www.manpowergroup.com
