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How have you tackled gender diversity at
Cisco?
Noni Allwood: We started our work in gender diversity
in somewhat of an unconventional way - by first looking at its
implications to the business. Rather than setting a quota for
representation, promotions or hiring, our approach was to identify
barriers. What were barriers to hiring or promoting more women?
Why were a few women leaving the company? Understanding those
barriers created a very rich dialogue in terms of our culture
and our attitudes.
What are some of the barriers you have identified?
Noni Allwood: When we began this journey we found some
hard barriers that were unwittingly included in our policies and
process - the way we were posting jobs or recruiting, for example.
But we found another set of barriers that are more difficult to
overcome - around preconceived notions of capabilities, ambition
and career commitment by women employees. There were also barriers
imposed by the technology industry's culture of overwork - in
other words, viewing how many hours you work as equivalent to
how committed and valuable you are as an employee.
Is gender diversity something you can implement with policies,
or are we speaking about a cultural shift?
Noni Allwood: It's both; policy and cultural change have
to go hand in hand. Let me give you an example. You can have a
part-time work policy, but if you don't change the attitudes towards
the culture of overwork, any employee - man or woman - may be
uncomfortable taking advantage of that policy, because they'll
be afraid of being viewed as less committed, or less valuable
to the company.
What are some of the specific efforts you have undertaken?
Noni Allwood: We started off with a focus on executive
commitment: we created a gender diversity council, which includes
representatives from every function at a very high level. They
have been responsible for developing plans, understanding the
challenges, and driving communications and sponsorship. We also
introduced a gender diversity balance score card, which measures
our plans and progress.
When you have the opportunity to sit down with senior executives,
what are the key points you try to get across?
Noni Allwood: I articulate the business case for gender
diversity. For example, we anticipate a reduction in the work
force that will create a gap of 10 million workers by 2010. Cisco
will be competing for the best employees, so if we keep searching
for candidates in a narrow segment of the population, we're not
going to get the top talent. I also emphasize something we know:
that the best teams are the most diverse teams. They bring creativity
and innovation, factors which we depend on heavily for our future
success. Finally, Cisco serves very diverse markets, and we want
to reflect the needs of those markets. The only way to do that
is to have an employee population that understands those diverse
needs.
The concept of the 'glass ceiling' - a company's fear to promote
people because they won't be able to handle the work-life balance
- has been a factor in the American work force historically. How
do you change ingrained cultural attitudes like that?
Noni Allwood: With education, first and foremost. We are building
awareness that some of the challenges for women such as work-life
integration are also faced by men. The important thing is to have
role models at all levels of the organization, so you can say,
'See, we have these fantastic employees, they are delivering excellent
business results every day - and oh, by the way, they happen to
be women.' These role models also need to reach out to and champion
other women, so strengthening the women's network is important,
too.
What are you doing to strengthen that network at Cisco?
Noni Allwood: We're working at three levels. The first
is visibility: internally and externally, we want our female leadership
to be visible. Number two is strengthening our women's networks
around the world. We have 33 networks that contribute to the success
of the business in their local offices; contribute to the community;
work to develop themselves; and make sure that they build sustainable,
growing networks. The third focus is building a culture of mentoring,
in which rising talented women can get support from role models.
Is striving for gender diversity more or less difficult in the
technology sector, and why?
Noni Allwood: It's more difficult, I think, because we
face challenges from the start. We don't have the number of women
graduating from engineering and technology programs, because many
girls lose interest in careers in technology early on, most by
the age of ten. The 'cool factor' is a big reason: careers in
technology and science are not considered cool.
So how do you affect the pipeline?
Noni Allwood: This is where the women's networks come
in. They are taking an active role in engaging young girls - introducing
them to technology and technology careers. This year alone, the
33 women's networks have reached out to around 5,000 girls worldwide
- helping high schoolers evaluate colleges, mentoring college
students and then helping on-board graduates when the come to
Cisco. Surveys taken before and after these girls engage with
role models clearly demonstrate a change in the girls' attitudes.
What about the different generations in the work force today -
are there differences in the way they weigh the importance of
gender diversity?
Noni Allwood: Yes, we see noticeable differences. For
example, Generation Y employees (in their early 20s) don't know
anything other than having a very diverse set of peers. They want
flexible work hours and a great work-life balance, to have time
for skiing on weekends or other interests outside work.
Generation X, generally those in their 30s, are challenged with
children - so you find parents who want time to dedicate to the
families. Finally, baby boomers are also seeking flexibility and
work-life integration, but typically for different reasons - perhaps
to care for an ailing parent. Some are also beginning to think
about retirement, and often a first approach to that is reducing
work hours.
Looking at diversity globally, and gender diversity in particular,
paint us a picture of your vision for Cisco going forward.
Noni Allwood: I would like to see us removing do additional
work on some key barriers in the next few years. Let me give you
a few examples. I'd like Cisco to be seen as an employer that
provides its employees with even more choices. I would also like
to have clearer career paths for all employees. I'd like to have
a way to find talent everywhere around the world - and make sure
we're surrounding that talent by the right ecosystem of support.
I'd like to think that we're able to have very effective dialogues
around work-life integration between managers and employees.
At the end of the day, I'd like diversity to become so embedded
in our culture that we don't even have to think about it specifically.
In other words, I'd like to work myself out of a job
This can be found in full at http://newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/2006/ts_091406.html |
