Think, Act, Report: Genesis Housing Association

The Think, Act, Report campaign helps companies address gender imbalance in the workplace.

Issue

Genesis commissioned an internal review that considered equality and fairness in the workplace. This revealed that only 17% of senior managers were women, despite women making up 63% of the Genesis workforce.

Genesis Housing Association’s Diversity and Inclusiveness team looked at the underlying reasons for a lack of women in senior management positions and at developing a programme to address these issues.

Action

A range of issues were identified, including a lack of female role models, low awareness of the problem amongst male staff, and a lack of understanding amongst female staff of ways to progress their career. Genesis Housing Association then introduced a range of measures to increase the number of female leaders in the workplace. They:

introduced and increased flexible working, staggered hours and opportunities to work from home

ran a series of career seminars targeted at female staff, including on Women in Leadership, Presence and Running Teams, Networking and Planning Your Career

gave diversity greater prominence in the organisation’s recruitment process in order to help attract and identify the best female recruits

launched a learning programme which used theatre skills to create living case studies, helping staff reflect on their behaviours in the workplace, including potential unconscious bias and made the business consider how diversity can help us achieve better customer service

Result

The number of women in senior management positions has increased from 17% to 40% since the scheme was launched 3 years ago. Genesis Housing became the first social housing provider to be featured in The Times Top 50 Companies to Work For.

Find out about the Think, Act, Report campaign which helps companies think about gender equality in their workforces and how your company can sign up.