The Diversity & Flexibility Alliance is a think tank dedicated to creating work environments centered on inclusion and innovative thought leadership. The Alliance empowers organizations with the tools necessary for advancing women, fostering flexibility, and retaining top talent.
To learn how we can help your organization, please get in touch.
Action Step – Gaining Gender and Racial Parity at the Top
The Alliance’s Action Steps are designed to assist organizations with implementing practical strategies and policies related to diversity and flexibility. Members can access full versions of all of the Alliance’s Action Steps in the Member Resource Center.
The concerning results of our recently released 2020 New Partner Report, combined with the recent studies showing that women will be forced to leave the workforce due to the pandemic, could signal a step backwards for gender parity at top leadership levels. Our report shows that the share of women among new partners dropped slightly this year (40.9% in 2020 vs. 41.3% in 2019) and is only the second time over the last nine years when there was a year over year drop. Furthermore, according to NALP, the share of women minority partners at 3.45% is significantly lower than the share of total women partners (24.17%), indicating that cautionary trends uncovered from our 2020 New Partner Report would impact this group even more drastically. Organizations need to double down efforts now to increase the gender and ethnic parity at the top.
Action Step – Incorporating the 4 Es As Part of the Future of Work
The Alliance’s Action Steps are designed to assist organizations with implementing practical strategies and policies related to diversity and flexibility. Members can access full versions of all of the Alliance’s Action Steps in the Member Resource Center.
One long-lasting effect of the COVID-19 pandemic is that the future of work will be different. Organizations needed to adjust overnight and offer flexible work to all employees, and many saw employee productivity and satisfaction go up during this time. Organizational leaders are now thinking through how to continue offering flexible work post pandemic and create a successful flexible work environment. What additional skills, experiences, and resources do employees need? What types of flexible work should we consider?
Flexible work is clearly now a business need to retain and acquire top talent, as well as an important way to foster employee productivity and satisfaction. However, organizations need to be intentional in how they lay the groundwork for flexibility in order to reap the full benefits. We recommend your organization’s pandemic task force use our 4Es Discussion Framework to discuss building or revamping your flexible work initiatives post-pandemic.
Continue Reading in the Member Resource Center
To read this entire Action Step become a member of the Diversity & Flexibility Alliance. To further discuss your flexible working initiative during and after the pandemic, contact Manar Morales.
Action Step – Training & Flex Support During the Pandemic
The Alliance’s Action Steps are designed to assist organizations with implementing practical strategies and policies related to diversity and flexibility. Members can access full versions of all of the Alliance’s Action Steps in the Member Resource Center.
The Alliance has always recommended having robust training, education, and support structures around flexible work in place in order to have a truly inclusive flex culture in your organization. However, our 2019 Law Firm Flexibility Benchmarking Study found pre-pandemic flex support to be too weak – only 6.1% of respondents had a flex affinity group, and two-thirds did not offer flex education. We recommend that organizations invest more resources to ensure flex programs are properly utilized and valued. During the pandemic, our Pulse Poll: COVID-19 & Reentry Study found that significantly less than a majority planned/launched trainings focused on remote work best practices.
While training and flex support is always necessary to make flex successful for both workers and their managers, it’s even more crucial during the pandemic as many employees are first time teleworkers, and many managers are leading remote teams for the first time too. Organizations must allocate resources to this area in order for their workforce to succeed in this new environment.
Continue Reading in the Member Resource Center
To read this entire Action Step become a member of the Diversity & Flexibility Alliance. To further discuss training during and after the pandemic, contact Manar Morales.