Women in the Workplace 2019Five years in to our research, we see bright spots at senior levels. But companies need to focus their efforts earlier in the pipeline to make real progress.October 2019© Thomas Barwick/Getty ImagesBy Jess Huang, Alexis Krivkovich, Irina Starikova, Lareina Yee, and Delia ZanoschiThis year marks the fifth year of our research on women in the workplace, conducted in partnership with LeanIn. We look back on data and insights since 2015 from close to 600 companies that participated in the study, more than a quarter of a million people that were surveyed on their workplace experiences, and more than 100 in-depth one-on-one interviews that were conducted. (See our infographic below for top-level findings from the past five years.)In the last five years, weve seen more women rise to the top levels of companies. An increasing number of companies are seeing the value of having more women in leadership, and theyre proving that they can make progress on gender diversity. This is an important step in the right direction.Still, women continue to be underrepresented at every level. To change the numbers, companies need to focus where the real problem is. We often talk Article type and YearArticle TitleExhibit X of XA look back shows where companies have made progressand where more needs to be done.Progress over the years for women¹¹Where 2015 data was not available, best historical data was used instead for comparison. ²Changes reflected in either percent change for representation or percentage points (pp).Source: 2019 McKinsey Stefanie K. Johnson, David R. Hekman, and Elsa T. Chan, “If Theres Only One Woman in Your Candidate Pool, Theres Statistically No Chance Shell Be Hired,” Harvard Business Review, April 26, 2016, hbr/2016/04/if-theres-only-one-woman-in-your-candidate-pool-theres-statistically-no- chance-shell-be hired; Jean Martin, “A Fairer Way to Make Hiring and Promotion Decisions,” Harvard Business Review, August 13, 2013, hbr/2013/08/a-fairer-way-to-make-hiring-an.3Defined as companies with the highest ratio of manager-level to entry-level womens representation.4Shelley Correll, “Reducing gender biases in modern workplaces: A small wins approach to organizational change,” Gender In 2015, % of HR leaders who answered: Where does gender diversity rank on the CEOs strategic agenda? | Top 3 Priority or Top 10 Priority.2Due to changes in data collection, in 2015 managers was def_ined as Senior Manager/Director and Manager, whereas in 2019 managers was def_ined as just Manager.Source: 2019 McKinsey Alexis Krivkovich and Lareina Yee are senior partners in the San Francisco office.there is more to be done. When companies have the right foundation for changeclear goals, obvious accountability, a reward systemthey are in a better position to drive systemic change. Gender diversity efforts shift from a nice-to-have to a must-have, and that leads to broad-based action across the organization.The right policies can have a big impact: Engaging senior leaders is driving changeMore than half of companies hold senior leaders accountable for progress on gender diversity metrics, up from a little over a third in 2015. And its making a difference. Seventy-three percent of senior leaders are highly committed to gender diversity, and close to half say theyre working to improve gender diversity. Senior leaders set the priorities in organizations, so when theyre engaged, it has a positive trickle-down effect: Managers are more likely to support diversity efforts, and employees are more likely to think the workplace is fair.As a next step, companies should push deeper into their organization and engage managers to play a more active role. Compared to senior leaders, fewer managers say gender diversity is a high priority, and far fewer managers say they are actively working to improve diversity and inclusion (Exhibit 5).This is an edited extract from Women in the Workplace 2019, a study undertaken by McKinsey and LeanIn. It builds on the Women in the Workplace reports from 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018, as well as similar research conducted by McKinsey in 2012. For more information, visit womenintheworkplace.10 Women in the Workplace 2019