Do Women's Corporate Networks Really Work?
April 15, 2015 12:07 PM
Corporate women's networks are meant to help put more women in power. But they've caught a lot of flak in recent years for failing to deliver results. Writing in the Harvard Business Review in 2013, Avivah Wittenberg-Cox argued that such networks serve "more to placate women than to promote them." The best way to advance women in male-dominated industries, she wrote, is for the men who are already largely in charge to commit to creating more balanced teams. A Financial Times article last year echoed these concerns , warning of the dangers of "creating a female ghetto." Yet women's networks are a mainstay at many national and regional banks, from JPMorgan Chase , Bank of New York Mellon and Bank of America to KeyBank and PNC Financial .
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Women want internal networks.
Seventy-seven percent of women who worked at financial firms without an internal network said that they would join one if they could.
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Corporate women's groups can help companies retain newer employees.
Among women who had worked for their current firms between one and four years, roughly half said the network would make them more likely to stay with their company. This effect declined the longer women had been with their companies. Just 35% of workers who had been with their companies for more than six years said the network would compel them to stick around.
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Women's associations are good at helping lower-level employees rub elbows with top brass.
Respondents who currently belong to an internal network said they were most satisfied with the way that it had helped them gain internal networking opportunities and form mentoring relationships. They also reported high levels of satisfaction with the networks for supporting diversity and getting employees more face time with executives.
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But the networks could do more to help women climb the career ladder.
Respondents reported the lowest levels of satisfaction with the networks' ability to help them get a raise or improve their performance reviews. They also had lower levels of satisfaction with the networks when it came to learning new skills, developing networking opportunities outside the company and finding out about new business opportunities.
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Leaders and employees agree that networks should focus more on business coaching.
Almost 100% of respondents in both categories said women's internal networks could improve by offering counseling to help workers raise their game.
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Women's network sessions should concentrate on educational topics rather than issues like work-life balance.
Female employees said they were most interested in networks that would help them learn more about opportunities for advancement, gain new skills, and provide a platform for discussions about finance, the economy, industry and trends. They were least interested in sessions focusing on parenting and children, fashion, social relationships and work-life balance.
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Inviting men into the fold might help women gain more allies in the workplace.
Forty percent of respondents said that men should be able to join an internal association, primarily so male colleagues would gain a better understanding of the need to advance women in their companies. But 60% want to keep the networks women-only.
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If firms want their employees to join networks, they've got to give them the time to do it.
Eighty-three percent of leaders surveyed by the FWA said the biggest obstacle their networks faced was that employees were too busy to participate. Forty-three percent of employees agreed that a lack of time was their major barrier to getting involved.
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