Becker's Hospital Review

32 WOMEN'S LEADERSHIP POPULATION HEALTH Considering a workforce reduction? Don't undo your gains in diversity now By Molly Gamble E ven companies that upheld diversity as an im- perative will risk harming it when downsizing their workforce. e reason is simple. In an effort to be fair and trans- parent, companies oen resort to formal rules to decide which roles are eliminated and which remain. e problem is that because these considerations heav- ily factor position and tenure, organizations can "wipe out most or all of the gains they've made in diversity" over the last several years, according to Alexandra Ka- lev, PhD, professor of sociology with Tel-Aviv Universi- ty, in an article for Harvard Business Review. As part of her study of more than 800 U.S. companies, Dr. Kalev found organizations end up with an imme- diate 9 percent to 22 percent drop in the proportion of white and Hispanic women and black, Hispanic, and Asian men on their management teams when they cut positions rather than evaluate individuals. When com- panies approach layoffs with the philosophy of "last hired, first fired," they lose almost 19 percent of their share of white women in management and 14 percent of their share of Asian men. Dr. Kalev recommends the following approach to avoid compromising diversity during a workforce reduction: • Consider laying off managers with the poorest performance. Companies that do so experience no reductions in diversity. "is individualized approach has the added benefit of keeping strong performers regardless of what positions they cur- rently hold or how long they've been with the firm," wrote Dr. Kalev. • While bias in appraisals and performance re- views is a real concern, Dr. Kalev says these ritu- als are perceived differently as part of a workforce reduction. "It appears that within the context of downsizing, the process of evaluating each man- ager on their merits creates awareness and ac- countability among executives, motivating them to think deeply about who they should keep." • Look at diversity numbers before proceeding with layoffs. "Looking at the numbers reminds executives that they can use tools such as repo- sitioning and retraining to maintain managerial diversity aer they've made performance-based cuts," advised Dr. Kalev. n US ranked 53rd globally for gender parity by World Economic Forum By Emily Rappleye T he U.S. doesn't even break the top third of 153 countries for gender parity, and its rank has continued to fall over the past 15 years, according to the World Economic Forum. The lack of progress knocked the U.S. down two places since last year's ranking, and since 2006, it has fallen 30 places, while other countries have improved. The U.S. does not score well on a global scale in terms of income and wage gaps or representation of wom- en in the top business positions and political leadership roles. WEF reported that women account for just 21.7 percent of corporate board members in the U.S. The country does score well on health and educational attainment. On a global level, WEF estimates that it will take more than 100 years to achieve gender parity. It deems this "a timeline we sim- ply cannot accept in today's globalized world, especially among younger generations who hold increasingly progressive views of gender equality." n Will COVID-19 disproportionately affect women? By Kelly Gooch W ith women holding 76 percent of U.S. healthcare jobs, ex- perts are concerned they could be disproportionately af- fected by the COVID-19 pandemic, CNBC reported. In a March 18 "CNBC Make It" report, author Courtney Connley cited early studies from China that found men are more likely than women to die from COVID-19. But she said some experts wonder if women are at greater risk of contracting the disease in the U.S. U.S. Census Bureau data shows American women hold 76 per- cent of healthcare jobs and account for more than 85 percent of the nursing workforce. Nancy Nielsen, PhD, former president of the American Medical As- sociation, told CNBC it's important to understand "healthcare work- ers are at risk, and they need to be protected with protective gear to prevent infection." Dr. Nielsen said there have already been "tragic deaths among health- care professionals, both doctors and nurses, abroad." Women are also overwhelmingly the primary caretaker in their families, CNBC reported, and are balancing demanding work and home lives. Ds. Nielsen told Ms. Connley: "These women [in healthcare roles] also have responsibility to take care of parents, who are older, and school- aged children. So, their lives are enormously impacted by worrying about elderly relatives and by school closures." n

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