Chapter 3: Create fair employment and work for all
Opportunities for sustaining diversity gains for women and business in post-pandemic recovery
During the pandemic, we embraced new ways of working. By learning from these experiences, we can improve working lives for individuals and address inequalities.
| Embracing flexible working | Reviewing location and working patterns has proven to be effective and should no longer be a barrier for progression. Companies must ensure that choice of flexible working does not result in unequal support or opportunities. |
| Rebuilding the workforce with diverse candidates | Redoubling efforts to attract and retain diverse candidates is crucial for business when having to adapt to rapidly changing customer expectations. |
| Reviewing parental leave and childcare | As caring responsibilities are increasingly shared between both parents, policies, practices and ways of working must adapt alongside. |
| Inclusive leadership | Managing remote teams inclusively will be critical to women's progression and should move towards assessment of performance and management based on outputs and results over presenteeism. |
| Accelerating change | As organisations have proven the ability to adapt quickly to changing circumstances and priorities, this should be channelled with a lens on diversity to create more opportunities for all. |