ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Kelly Miller of Regent Apparel in San Francisco is part of the fourth generation of family leadership in the uniform and napery rental business.
Miller is vice president of business development, and she and her two sisters represent the first generation of female leadership in the company. She quickly learned that female leaders in textile services aren’t common to find.
“It was pretty early on that I realized, going to different events, that I was one of the few women at these events,” she says.
The Textile Rental Services Association (TRSA) formed the Women in Textile Services Committee to get more women in industry leadership positions, and Miller is part of that committee.
Miller and Camille Peters, president and CEO, Mobile Computing Corp. in Mississauga, Ontario, discussed this subject and what textile businesses, and women, can do about it during a TRSA webinar called Encouraging Women to Thrive in the Textile Services Industry.
BENEFITS OF GENDER DIVERSITY
The When Women Thrive 2016 report by Mercer found that women are perceived to have different, but critical, skills needed in today’s market, Peters says. Nearly 600 organizations were surveyed and see women to be much stronger in terms of flexibility and adaptability, inclusive team management and emotional intelligence.
“Companies with women represented in senior management had a higher return of equity than those with a lower representation,” says Peters. “This is a clear business rationale for improving gender diversity. A workforce that includes strong female talent effectively engages new and future clients.”
“Organizations with strong gender diversity are able to attract and retain talented women,” Miller says. “This is especially relevant as more women join the labor force.”
Miller goes on to say that having a gender-diverse workforce and leadership team is not about outside perception: checking the box, doing the right thing, being able to say the company or the team is diverse.
“It’s plain, old good for business,” she says. “Numerous studies and polls over the years have shown that having a gender-diverse workforce, where women leaders thrive, is good for businesses and teams across all industries. Companies with the best record for promoting women outperform industry revenue averages by 46%.”
Miller says that Gallup has conducted a variety of studies on gender-diverse workplaces. Some of the advantages that the research cites is that men and women have different viewpoints, ideas and market insight. This, she says, enables better problem-solving, ultimately leading to superior performance at the business unit level.
Another benefit Miller sees is that a gender-diverse workforce provides easier access to resources, such as various sources of credit, multiple sources of information and wider industry knowledge. It also allows companies to serve an increasingly diverse customer base.
STEPS FOR TEXTILE SERVICE BUSINESSES TO TAKE
With the benefits having a gender-diverse workforce brings, and the fact that more and more women are entering the labor force, Miller says that everyone in the industry, both men and women, should be looking at the team and organization as a whole and evaluate how it can encourage women to thrive.
“It’s really important to foster women leaders throughout every area of your organization,” she says.
Miller says textile service companies should think about the following questions and start a dialogue with its team:
- Where are the women in the talent pipeline?
- What skills are we helping women build?
- Do we provide sponsors along with role models?
- Are we rooting out unconscious biases?
- How much are our policies helping to develop women leaders?
Miller says that the first place a textile services company should start is to look at the business units and the team. Identify those units that are less gender-diverse.
Longer term, she says, a company will want to develop a hiring strategy that increases the gender diversity in those units, without reducing or ignoring merit and skills. Also, create an engaged culture that enables men and women to form trusting relationships that motivate both men and women to perform at a high level. Finally, Miller says, set some goals in the company and hold managers accountable for diversity.
“Businesses, now that we can see the differences, look for areas where you can change your business management practices to take advantage of the different skill sets that women have to offer,” says Peters.
Check back Thursday for the conclusion, including steps women can take to be recognized for their different skill sets and what they can bring to the leadership team.
Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Matt Poe at [email protected].