Retaining Talented Women on a  Global Scale

Moderator: Jennifer Brown, PresidentJennifer Brown Consulting, LLC

Consulting Team with training, consulting, and coaching expertise

10 years specializing in Leadership, Communication Skills, and Diversity in the Workplace

Corporate and non-profit clients; variety of industries

The importance of life stages: women are impacted globally by personal and family life changes such as children in the home, responsibilities for aging parents, etc.

The importance of supportive managers: supportive managers rather than mentors crucial for retention and advancement of women.

(From a recent study entitled “Women in a Global Workforce”, done by Sharmila Rudrappa at University of Texas at Austin’s Center for Women’s and Gender Studies, regarding feedback from a summit sponsored by Dell and Diversity Best Practices)

Two Key Aspects for Women

Recruiting talent: Factors for the recruitment of women

•76% look for good compensation and benefits packages•58% look for strong market positions for the company•51% look for opportunities for challenging work•44% look for opportunities for women to advance•42% look to identify with company values

Retaining and advancing women workers: Factors for retaining women after they are part of your organization

•63% Supportive Managers•54% Supportive Networks outside the workplace•50% Flexible work hours, job share, ability to work from home or work part-time•42% Commitment to diversity and culture•40% Access to challenging assignments

Recruitment and Retention Factors

Obstacles to advancement and retention•Obligation to family (Asians looked to extended family and hired help; other women sought flexible hours)•Perception of women’s obligations outside the company•Perceptions of womens’ capabilities•Stereotyping•“Being unwilling to relocate hurts my advancement”

Reasons for leaving the workforce•Personal/family obligations•Excessive work hours hindered familial obligations (particularly for American women)•Personal choice to stay home and be a wife, mother•Inadequate salary compensations•Forced choice to stay at home to be a wife, mother

Obstacles, and Reasons for Leaving

•Perceptions on Position, Culture, and Career

•Differences in particular between Asian women and other regions in importance of career and access to career advice. They had a higher response rate in being willing to relocate to a global assignment, especially compared to women in North America and Europe.

•Networking groups

•Even though 31% of the women said that their companies sponsored a women’s network, only 53% of them took part in these networks.

Additional Points of Note

Attracting, Developing and Retaining

Talented Women on a Global Scale

Monica DiazMerck - Diversity Director, Global Constituency Groups & Work Environment

October 29, 2008 2:15 – 3:35 pm

Mary TatarianIBM - Global Dependent Care, Work/Life Fund & Life Works Program Manager\

Vera ChotaIBM - North America Leader, Workforce Partners

• The world's largest technology innovation company, offering software, hardware and services in areas ranging from mainframe computers to nanotechnology

• A leader in work/life programs, dating back to the 1950s

• Approximately 386,000 employees in 170 countries

• Over 40% of IBM global employees work virtually

• 72% of IBM global women executives are moms

IBM’s Reality: The Current Environment

• 43% of global population has less than 5 years of service

• 19% of global workforce joined IBM via acquisition or outsourcing arrangements

• Continued growth in EO legislation – 69 of the 73 countries in which we operate have

anti-discrimination laws … and the number is growing!

• Employees at every level are increasingly interacting with customers and colleagues in other countries/time zones– Globally Integrated Enterprise

1975: 50%+ revenue from outside the US

1985: 50%+ employees outside the US

2006: India has the second largest IBM population

Why should business be concerned about developing women leaders?

It makes good business sense:• Extends the portfolio of skills at the top of

the organization• Provides female role models and mentors• Creates an organization that is reflective

of its customer base

*2004 Catalyst study, The Bottom Line: Connecting Corporate Performance and Gender Diversity

It drives business results:Companies with the highest representation of women on their senior management teams had*:

•35% higher Return on Equity

•34% higher Total Return to Shareholders

•42% higher Return on Sales

IBM’s Advancement of Women Strategy

Input on Barriers

DevelopStrategies

Measure Results

- Encourage girls- Recruit the best talent- Mentor / Network- Formalize the process

- identify- grow the talent

. Challenge the system

. Surveys

. Focus Groups

. Roundtables

How Does IBM Develop Women?

1. Enhance the pipeline Encourage girls to be engineers Recruit the best talent

2. Make women feel welcome Women’s networks Women’s programs

3. Support their growth throughout their career Identify talent and make it a formal process Formal and informal programs to grow talent Aggressive mentoring and career development

programs

4. Challenge the system

5. Measure results

Filling the Pipeline with Women Technical Leaders

EX.I.T.E.

WIT Chapters

Take Your Children to

Work DayIntroduce a

Girl to Engineering

GlobalMarathon

External Partnerships (SWE, WITI, MentorNet)

Recruiting Events

Mentoring

WIT Subnets

ConferencesWebinarsClasses

Top TalentWomen’s Technical

Leadership Forum

Outreach

Recruiting

Development & Retention

WIT Campus Liaisons

Women’s Communities

Women’sCouncils

Proportional representation across all levels Enhance the technical, professional and personal development of

women in IBM Facilitate IBM's commitment to the advancement of women Create a vision for women as future leaders Successes:

– Networking events• Top Talent …. “How to have your cake and eat it too!”• Taking the StageTM series• Women’s Speaker Series• Women’s Communities• Mindset Workshops• Roundtables/Town Halls/Panels• Social Events

– Communications• Executive updates• Newsletters• Web sites• On-line communities

– Women’s Conferences

Focus on inclusion … all women, at all levels, across IBM -- regardless of their definition of success

IBM’s Women’s Councils

NE &SW IOT: Seeds for Development

Brazil: Advancement ofWomen Town Hall

NE & SW IOT: PwD Academic Partnerships

Hungary: Inspiring Talented Roma Students, The Hungarian Business Leaders Forum

Japan: Career Development For Women Engineers

UK: Career Development for 14-15 Year Old Black and Asian Students

GBS: Diversity Fusion

SWG: Super Women’s Group

IBM Global Winning Plays

India: Winspiration ‘08 South Africa,

Slovakia & Vietnam: Ex.I.T.E. Camps

US: Focus on Black Talent

• Merck is a global research-driven pharmaceutical company dedicated to putting patients first.

• Established in 1891, Merck has a long-standing tradition of developing innovative new medicines and vaccines to improve the health and well-being of patients around the world.

• Merck also strives to improve the world’s health through programs that help ensure patients have access to our products.

“We try never to forget that medicine is for the people. It is not for the profits. The profits follow, and if we have remembered that, they have never failed to appear. How can we bring the best of medicine to each and every person? We cannot rest until the way has been found with our help to bring our finest achievements to everyone.”

- George W. Merck, 1950

Our Case for Change

• Nearly 60,000 employees; half ex-U.S.

• 70% of U.S. population is white – an increasingly multicultural market

• Merck products are sold in over 150 countries

• Market growth is faster outside the U.S., and multicultural in nature

• 5,000 employees (mostly U.S.)

• Ex-U.S. employees – unknown

• U.S.A. Population was 89.5% white, 10% black

• Merck operated in 21 countries, but primary focus was on U.S.

Merck in 1950

Merck in 2008

The Business Imperative

• Women are entering the medical and professional health care community in record numbers

• Women can be patients, but in most cases, they are also stewards of family health and wellness decisions - making most pharmaceutical decisions

• Demographic trends suggest that the need for flexibility is greater for women and is likely to grow in the future

• Merck’s workforce is young – close to three-fourths of the total workforce under the age of 45

• Most of our female employees are mothers

• The family situations of Merck workers, the nature of work and the size of the Merck workforce in locations around the globe vary dramatically

Our Customers

Our Employees

Employee Resource Groups

The Approach

AsianBlack

Differently Able

Generational

Lesbian / Gay/ Bisexual /

Transgender

Inter-Faith

Latino/Hispanic

Native/Indigenous

Women

Men

Global Constituency Groups

Multi-cultural and Multi-dimensional Women

as part of the model

What else Merck does to Develop Women?

• Make the attraction, retention and motivation of superior talent an integral part of how we measure the success of our leaders

• Focus on women’s needs and identified barriers for career progression (i.e.: Mentoring, Flexible work arrangements, etc.)

• Leverage external opportunities for networking and development (i.e.: Working Mother events)

• Monitor progress through employee engagement and culture surveys

The Outcomes

• Continuously improved the number of women in key roles

– Currently, global female representation at the senior manager level (typically within two reporting levels of our CEO) is 29%; our target is to reach 36% by 2012

• Women are being fully developed and engaged, as vital leaders in the most important aspects of our business

• Merck Women Network (MWN) - one of Merck’s largest and most active organizations is the with roughly 1,300 active members across the United States

• Women Global Constituency Group (WGCG) – made global recommendations to Executive Committee in November 2007, on key areas of talent development and customer engagement

IBMIBMMerckMerck Your Your CompanyCompany

Most relevant programs / initiatives in attracting, developing and retaining women

Representation: Focus on Senior Leadership PositionsFormal Mentoring to support development of women leaders

Flexible Work Arrangements for all employees, globally

What is different?

Not a new “what”, but a different “how”:

- Multi-cultural & Multi-dimensional

- Business Alignment

- Senior Sponsorship - Voice of globally diverse leaders

Global women’sadvancement

Formal and informal mentoring programs for women

Flexible Work Options

IBM Global Work/Life Fund

IBM Corporate Service Corps

5-Minute Drills

Global Jams/Surveys

Global Opportunity Marketplace

PLEASE REMEMBER TO HAND IN YOUR EVALUATIONS!!!

THANK YOU!