What really works for women in the workplace?

Only two strategies lead to success

Catalyst, a not-for-profit research organization, has released a new report called The Myth of the Ideal Worker: Does Doing All the Right Things Really Get Women Ahead? The researchers looked at nine ‘typical’ actions of career advancement and analyzed whether or not these tactics actually work equally well for women and men.

Nine highly effective habits

The researchers studied 3,345 high-performing workers, each of whom completed a full-time MBA program and went on to find full-time jobs in professional companies. The researchers found that the proactive strategies these people used to advance themselves in their career could be summed up as these nine tactics:

1. Gaining hands-on experience – asking for a diverse range of work assignments in order to increase knowledge and skills.

2. Continuously upgrading skills – seeking out formal training to develop new skills through course-work and training workshops.

3. Plotting out a career path – developing long-term career goals and communicating aspirations to others.

4. Seeking advice from others – talking to coworkers, friends, family and others about how to handle work challenges and prospects for future work.

5. Building access to power and influential leaders – maintaining a network of contacts with important people in the company; seeking out those who can help their career and getting involved with high-profile projects.

6. Blurring the boundaries of work-life balance – being willing to stay late, work long hours and weekends.

7. Being aware of opportunities within the firm – staying abreast of job postings and career opportunities within the company.

8. Being aware of opportunities beyond the firm – keeping an eye on competitors and the industry to know what jobs are available; maintaining a network of colleagues outside the company; staying in touch with recruiters and knowing their own market value.

9. Making achievements visible – making sure that management is aware of accomplishments; asking for performance feedback; requesting promotions and credit when it’s due.

Having studied both men and women employing these career advancement tactics, the researchers found that generally, men benefitted more than women by using them. According to the report, “Even when women used the same career advancement strategies – doing all the things they have been told will help them get ahead – they advanced less than their male counterparts and had slower pay growth.”

A big gap

The study compared data from 2008, 2010 and from the individuals’ first post-MBA jobs. They found three areas where women’s careers significantly lagged behind men’s:

• Men were more likely than women to have reached the senior executive / CEO ranks.

• Regardless of the size of the organizations, men had achieved a higher level than women.

• Men had greater compensation growth than women. In 2008, the gender pay gap between these men and women was $31,258. Looking back at their first post-MBA jobs, the gap had been $4,600.

Myth-busting

While some might assume that women are seeking out slower career tracks on purpose and are satisfied with having less power and earning capacity, the researchers say it isn’t so. Across all the individuals in the study, 77 percent of men were somewhat or very satisfied with their progress, compared to only 66 percent of women.

The study also debunks the notion that women “don’t ask” for pay raises, while men do. The researchers found that roughly the same number of men and women had asked for a higher salary and/or a higher job level during the hiring process. The only exception was when the individuals were straight out of MBA school - 50 percent of men countered their first job offer by asking for a higher salary compared to 31 percent of women.

Three best tactics for men

Men advanced further and faster by employing all nine tactics, while women did not have as much success. Women who employed the proactive tactics did, however, advance “slightly better than not doing much at all.”

Of all the tactics, three were most effective in helping men climb the corporate ladder and earn more money faster:

• Knowing their market value, networking among the industry and being aware of opportunities outside the firm;

• Being willing to blur work-life boundaries and work long hours and weekends; and,

• Gaining access to the firm’s leaders, networking with influential people in the firm and being involved in high-profile projects.

Two best tactics for women

According to the report, “proactively networking with influential people and involvement in high-profile projects helped both women and men climb the corporate ladder to achieve greater advancement.”

However, blurring the work-life boundaries and working long hours did not have the same pay-off for women as it did for men.

Ultimately, the tactic that had the single most effect on women’s career advancement was making their achievements known – ensuring their manager was aware of their accomplishments, seeking feedback and credit, and asking for a promotion when they felt it was deserved. The researchers make it clear that of all the tactics, this “was the only one associated with compensation growth.”

Being visible

The researchers at Catalyst concluded that: “When women were most proactive in making their achievements visible they advanced further, were more satisfied with their careers and had greater compensation growth than women who were less focused on calling attention to their successes.”

So there you have it. The secret to your success and happiness is not merely to do a great job, but to make darn sure that people know you did a great job. Start talking, honey!

 

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