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It's funny - today one of our male members of staff in Sri Lanka, a new recruit, wanted to not work at a client's because he saw the father of his ex-girl friend visiting the client's office. He managed to avoid being spotted but he was scared that the girl's father was going to blow his top if he saw him. We told him that he had been hired to work at the client's office and we would support him if he got yelled at, which means the police would be called if the situation became threatening in any way, but basically he was told pull yourself together and man up. I can't help thinking we would have been forced to adopt a different response if our employee had been a girl who was scared of being yelled at. Maybe a female employee would have "manned up" and continued to go to the client's office or maybe she would have folded and chosen the safe route of working in our office rather than go to clients and that would have had implications for her career progression. That's the reality.
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So, in your employment practices, you discriminate on the grounds of sex?
(At least, in Sri Lanka.)
Not sure - possibly. If someone becomes an emotional mess, obviously just repeatedly telling them to just get on with it and do the job they were hired to do doesn't really work. Not sure if a lot of women in the work place have been conditioned possibly by culture to respond in a different way from men to being told to suck it up and get on with it. Clients tend to just want the job done as quickly, efficiently and accurately as possible in order to reduce their costs, manage their cash flow, and to meet their regulatory responsibilities so they don't get penalised by the Revenue or their creditors or investors.
I haven't actually come across the men who become an emotional mess, but they do have other issues. Nearly Sane said he had seen men cry at work - I never have. But it's definitely good to have a mix of men and women from various backgrounds on a board of directors as they usually bring different perspectives, which inhibits group think. My husband runs every investment decision by me, because I am more risk-averse in investment decisions and so I research the issue more whereas he relies on what he thinks he knows or what his business associates tell him about the investment.
Not sure how to help more women get to the top if they actually have a healthier approach to work and clock off and go home at a reasonable time. We will pay someone (male or female) more if they are willing to work at client premises when required - the extra client fees it brings into the business will be reflected in that employee's salary and they will be a more valuable employee with better career prospects. The reality is the more you can do for a business, the greater the responsibilities you will be given, the more valuable you will be as an employee, and the more you will get paid. Not sure if a woman who wants to go home to her family and actually have a life can still do as much for a business as a man who is focused more on his career than his family. If she can work smarter than the man then yes, she can get more done in the shorter time she is in the office. But deals are often made outside of the office, at social events in the evening so going home to your family in the evening isn't going to help.
IME there are definitely increasing numbers of women who realise that being available to work and socialise when needed is a favourable impression to create if they want to get ahead at work.
Once you get to a certain level though, you also need to be capable of making good strategic decisions for the business and in our case, you need to be capable of meeting clients by yourself in Sri Lanka and closing deals in order to progress further.
