According to the latest business climate survey of state CEO’s and company presidents released this week by CohnReznick and the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce, 87 percent reported that gender diversity in the workplace makes a company more competitive and is a priority in at their company.
Another 62.4 percent added that they have gone as far as to promote initiatives to recruit and retain women such as schedule flexibility and executive skill-building programs.
"Diversity is not just the right thing, it is a profitable thing,” said Chamber president and CEO Tom Bracken. “An inclusive workplace leads to fresh business approaches and opens doors to clients, contacts and customers that also value diversity."
Asked if their employer should be doing more to promote gender diversity, 25.4 percent of women and 12.1 percent of men responded yes.
But the majority of respondents, some 71.8 percent of women and 85.4 percent of men, indicated that they felt as if their company’s gender diversity business practices are “about right.”
There was a larger disparity, however, over whether or not women and men have the same opportunities to advance at a company. While 75.6 percent of men said they believe there is, just 54.9 percent of women agreed.
And while 61.5 percent of men said there is a mentoring program in place for women at their companies, just 37.2 percent of women responded the same way.
“This survey reveals a disconnect when it comes to how male and female executives perceive what needs to be done to diversify the workplace," said Philip Mandel, a regional managing partner at CohnReznick. "Still, it is heartening to see that nearly nine in ten business executives, men and women, consider gender diversity critical to business success, and they are taking steps to achieve it. At CohnReznick, we've realized it benefits our people, and our business overall."
Executives were optimistic overall about an upward trend in gender diversity with 68 percent of all respondents saying they expect to see more women in positions of leadership in the next five years.