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Half The Workforce Is Leaving: Here’s What You Can Do About It

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Dr. Julie Silver, a physician at Harvard Medical School is on a mission to make sure that her women mentees do not leave their jobs. “Since women make up most of our healthcare workforce, the loss of physicians, scientists, nurses, staff, and other personnel, will have a profoundly negative impact and likely affect nearly everyone in the country in one way or another.” She’s not taking this issue lightly as she feels individuals and organizations can help solve this problem. Dr. Silver developed the “Give Her a Reason to Stay in Healthcare” campaign, so that everyone can take an active role in ensuring we don’t lose the majority of our healthcare workforce.

The statistics about women earning less, getting promoted less often, and now with Covid, leaving the workforce in mass, are not new. Hearing that we are not leveraging our top talent does not get easier the more times it is repeated. For years, research has shown that there is a real business case for diverse teams. Goldman Sachs has shown that gender-diverse companies outperform their competitors on every key measure. Catalyst shared that companies with three or more women directors achieve better financial results. A McKinsey report showed that companies with gender diversity delivered 21% greater profits.

Yet still, there is an entire segment of the workforce that is being overlooked, passed over, and exiting the workforce.

In her book, Why Men Win At Work, Gill Whitty-Collins looked for immediate

solutions to this pervasive problem. While the solutions are described for women, they are equally useful for those who are quieter, more introverted in nature, first-generation college students, and underrepresented groups.

Self-promotion is not a four-letter word

If you want people to notice your work, you need to make sure it is visible to those in positions of influence. You need to partake in self-marketing and image management. Research has shown that your success is based 10% on your performance, 30% on your image, and 60% on your exposure. If you are head-down all the time doing great work, and nobody knows about it, how do you expect to get recognized for it? 

Consider what you can do to spread the word about your work.

Networking is for relationship building

If you are working through lunch, you might be getting more done, but you are not developing key relationships (See my previous Forbes article on how to start a conversation with a stranger). Going out to eat is not a waste of time, it is access.

Find a sponsor

Who is talking about your work when you are not in the room? You need a sponsor to nominate you for promotions and opportunities. 

While there are many things individuals can do, there are solutions that organizations can implement as well.

Instead of hiring for fit, hire for add

If you hire for fit, you will have more of the same. That means the same ideas, thoughts, and perspectives. There will be a gaping hole of creativity and innovation will be stifled. If you hire for add, you will identify gaps in your team’s knowledge or skills and find someone who can fill that gap, thereby raising the potential for the entire team.

How do you measure performance?

Is performance measured based on objective results or perceptions? How are you making sure you don’t lean into your unconscious bias if it is the latter? How can those who don’t show up to every social hour still have their performance measured equally?

Look for red flags

Look at who are running your teams. How are they recruiting and engaging the team? If they have a retention problem, that is a red flag.

When you leverage all of your potential talents, you will remove your blind spots, build trust, have an engaged workforce, and see your bottom line improve.

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