ACTIONS: Providing opportunities for feedback and recognition

Ensuring existing female workforce members see the organisation as investing in their career development and recognition will help to promote the workplace to other women considering returning to work after periods of absence.

What immediate actions you can implement:

• Review current performance management arrangements to ensure that employees have regular performance and career discussions with their managers.
  • Introduce a continuous feedback approach to employee development. This keeps the employee accountable for reaching their goals, as well as your managers for ensuring the organisation is delivering on its promise of career mobility to that employee.
• Encourage managers to provide employees with regular feedback and recognition of their skills. Employee recognition is one of the most powerful forms of feedback that you can provide.
  • Recognition is about giving positive feedback based on results or performance. Sometimes this happens in a formal way: an award, a bonus, a promotion, a raise. Sometimes recognition is given more informally: a verbal thank you, a handwritten note. All these methods can be meaningful, especially if they are done in a timely and genuine way.