Half (51%) of the manager positions (vp and above) within the U.S. are ladies. Globally, it’s 48%. Girls additionally make up practically half of the board and 50% of CEO Tony Capuano’s direct reviews.
That’s in stark distinction with the market common.
Per McKinsey’s 2024 “Women in the Workplace” report, ladies maintain simply 29% of C-suite roles and 34% of vp positions. The Convention Board discovered that ladies accounted for less than 29% of board seats at the Russell 3000 as of 2024.
One thing totally different is going on at Marriott, an honoree on this 12 months’s Fortune Best Workplaces for Women™ List.
“It’s not simply in regards to the illustration of these individuals within the senior management roles; it is usually how do they allow you to navigate getting there,” says Frid Edmond, senior vp of buyer engagement at Marriott and incoming govt sponsor of the Women’s Associate Resource Group (ARG).
That’s why profession growth conversations play such a vital function. At Marriott, leaders are anticipated to usually speak to their direct reviews, as a part of their annual efficiency overview cycle, about their profession aspirations and the way they will obtain their targets. Inside these conversations, a delicate shift has been a game-changer — what Edmond describes as a transfer from mentorship to “profession acceleration.”
Earlier than, mentors would preserve an eye fixed out for alternatives, and if the celebs aligned, they have been anticipated to assist associates take the subsequent step of their careers. Leaders have a brand new expectation: “Inform us what you need, and we’re holding ourselves accountable to serving to you to get there.”
This shift may be seen in examples from Edmond’s personal profession, together with one indelible profession dialog with a supervisor 5 years in the past.
“I used to be required to give you three roles that I may see myself in throughout the subsequent three to 5 years,” she says. “There was by no means a promise that these roles would come into play, however it was the artwork of prospects, for me, the place I noticed myself.”
It’s an train she now repeats together with her personal direct reviews, and a key ingredient in Marriott’s tradition of entry to alternative. “We’re required at each single stage inside our group to make sure that we’re creating the leaders of the long run,” she says.
In consequence, associates at Marriott are having a significantly better expertise than these at a typical U.S. firm.
Affiliate useful resource teams
The Girls’s ARG at Marriot, which is open to all associates, helps its 5,500 members by providing mentorship and academic assist round subjects from monetary wellness to govt presence, and mock job interview observe. The group additionally works collaboratively with different useful resource teams within the group, highlighting assist for all associates, together with navy veterans, neurodivergent workers, and dealing mother and father.
Allies within the group play an essential function in mentorship and sponsorship, Edmond says.
“The vast majority of my mentors have been males, if I’m completely sincere,” she shared. However they have been invested in her progress and had the authority in key moments to assist information her. What occurred when she made her first presentation to the board? “Our chief authorized counsel member, in addition to our chief communications and PR lead, sat throughout from me through the board presentation and gave me easy eye cues,” she says.
Simply having their presence was an enormous vote of confidence, Edmond provides. “I can’t let you know what meaning to me to know that these two people have been that invested in my first time presenting to the board to be sure that I used to be arrange for fulfillment.”
Ideas for constructing higher workplaces in 2025
For organizations that wish to be extra like Marriott, Edmond provides just a few pointers.
- Spend money on associates at each stage of the group
The way you spend money on associates at decrease ranges of the org chart finally impacts outcomes on the high. Edmond, for instance, began as an hourly worker and over a 22-year profession has held seven totally different roles within the firm.
“You don’t simply leap from an hourly worker to an SVP,” she says. Inclusion requires a system of assist throughout each stage within the group.
- Find time for growth conversations all 12 months spherical.
Candid growth conversations received’t occur for those who solely focus on them as an afterthought or in response to an annual worker engagement survey. Your strategy to growth needs to be steady and considerate, Edmond says.
- Have a good time on a regular basis accomplishments, together with failure.
Progress for all associates requires the permission to attempt new issues, tackle stretch assignments and generally fail. “Once we fail, we have fun that, too,” Edmond says.
- Ship a transparent sign on inclusion from high leaders.
When Marriott’s CEO Tony Capuano reaffirmed Marriott’s commitment to welcoming all, the message had a direct influence on workers.
“Tony was requested some actually robust questions originally of the 12 months,” Edmond says. “We have been ready to see how he responded — and he responded the way in which that we wanted.”
The message has empowered Marriott associates to proceed to have interaction. “We begin from a spot of welcoming all,” Edmond says. “Irrespective of what’s going on within the setting, we’re all the time going to welcome all.”
Ted Kitterman is a content material supervisor for Nice Place To Work®.
