Background

2000 employees located across Canada.

Workforce sales-oriented, highly educated, non-union, male-dominated.

Engagement surveys and other indicators found female employees were materially less engaged than male employees.

Diversity was a core company value; management needed to retain and grow the number of female employees.

Raising the level of engagement among the women in the company was a business imperative.

Lack of trust was a major issue among the women.

Employees were located across Canada, so some discussions were done via teleconference.

The Collin Baer Group was hired to ensure the confidentiality needed to build trust and have the initiative succeed.

We created a forum where all women across the company could meet to network and share ideas.

As a precursor to the forum, we held smaller group discussions to better understand the women’s key issues and to ensure the forum would be a meaningful first step. Results of these discussions were used to determine the forum’s content.

At the forum, the women were divided into groups to discuss 7 key themes and, for each theme, identify key tactical steps.

An executive then took ownership to ensure the next steps were implemented.

The level of trust among the women improved dramatically.

Issues raised by the women, such as Codes of Behaviour, new hire orientation and transparency of communication, were relevant to all employees, not just the women.

A Women’s Task Group was formed as an ongoing advisory group to the executive team to ensure issues raised by women continue to be heard and acted on.

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