Four Years of Advancing Gender Equity in Corporate Leadership and the Four Key Metrics to Unlock Culture Change
“Collecting data and measuring progress is a critical step in the Paradigm for Parity® 5-Point Action Plan. When the coalition was created four years ago, we established four critical metrics to guide companies in measuring progress: attract, retain, promote and sponsor. Measuring and analyzing the data holds executives accountable for progress and communicating those results demonstrates a company’s commitment to achieving real change to employees and external stakeholders,” said Sandra Beach Lin, co-chair of the Paradigm for Parity® coalition.
Four years ago, the Paradigm for Parity® coalition launched with 27 companies that were committed to closing the gender gap in corporate leadership by embracing the coalition’s 5-Point Action Plan — and today we’ve grown to 125 companies. Among the first companies to join was Edison International, one of the nation’s largest electric utility companies, based in Rosemead, CA, with more than 13,000 employees.
The Paradigm for Parity® coalition caught up with Jacqueline Trapp, the senior vice president and chief human resources officer from Edison International, to hear about the company’s progress towards equity and understand how the company measures and reports progress around these key metrics.
P4P: Edison International was one of the early companies to join the Paradigm for Parity® coalition four years ago. Since then, what progress have you made in closing the gender gap in corporate leadership in recent years?
Trapp: Over the last three years Edison International has increased our company’s female representation in senior levels by more than 7 percent. Today, women make up more than 36 percent of our executive population. As a company in a field that is traditionally male dominated, we are proud of the progress that we’ve made, but we know we must continue to make progress to reach gender parity in leadership positions. We are pleased to partner with the Paradigm for Parity® coalition to work with like-minded companies to achieve gender parity in corporate leadership.
P4P: One key step in the coalition’s 5-Point Action is measuring targets and communicating progress internally. How is Edison International measuring and communicating progress?
Trapp: To follow through on our commitment to transparency, Edison International shares the progress we are making towards diversity and inclusion annually to our employees, the board and external audiences. We released our latest report on the status of our workforce in August. Our CEO, Pedro J. Pizarro, and other members of our executive team participated in a live streamed event with employees to present the results and answer questions. This engagement opportunity has been well received by our employees and has demonstrated that Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is embedded in our business strategy and our culture.
P4P: The Paradigm for Parity® coalition recommends four measurement principles: attract, promote, retain and sponsor. Please share any specific insights on initiatives that Edison International has implemented to improve gender representation and how it is contributing to your goal of closing the gender gap in corporate leadership.
What steps are you taking to attract women?
Trapp: As an industry that is reliant on employees with strong STEM backgrounds, we’ve focused on building a pipeline of women and racially diverse candidates through scholarship programs. Additionally, as we reviewed our data, we found that our field jobs — many of which are traditionally held by men given physical requirements — are the steppingstones for some of our manager and executive level positions. By not having women in these non-traditional roles, it cuts off access to some senior level opportunities. We have focused our attention on partnering with other utilities, our unions and Fairygodboss to build a talent pool of women and diverse candidates who can fill our positions. Additionally, we’ve taken a very intentional approach to communicating with women about our career opportunities, including the creation of a women-focused career landing page that showcases how we support women.
P4P: What steps are you taking to promote women?
Trapp: Our Women’s Roundtable (Business Resource Group) was created to empower and promote the personal and professional development of women. The group brings women together to build connections with each other as well as with executives and board members, four of which are female, to foster an environment supportive of professional and personal growth. For example, the company’s CFO meets with the Women’s Roundtable after every earnings call to ensure they understand the business in a deep and meaningful way to level the playing field for women across the company. Our CEO has also talked about the importance of building allyship with men to support our gender diversity efforts.
P4P: What steps are you taking to retain women?
Trapp: Edison International has a very low turnover rate of about 4–5 percent. In fact, even in 2020, we have increased the number of women at the company. This is a testament to how proactive our company is in creating an environment where women can succeed and thrive. Our 12 business resources groups have been critical to give people a place for support and to be heard, before the pandemic and even more importantly now. For example, our Caregivers Connect business resource group provides tools and connection points to support caregivers and working parents, which has become even more critical during the pandemic.
P4P: What steps are you taking on sponsorship?
Trapp: We are excited about a new program that we are launching this month called the Talent Accelerator Program. We will pair high-performing individuals, beginning with African American men and women, with our “talent champions,” who are C-Suite and officer level executives to support career development. As with all of our diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, we will track how the program is performing and use it to inform our approach.
P4P: How has the pandemic impacted your diversity and inclusion initiatives?
Trapp: Like all companies, Edison International is very concerned about the pandemic’s impact on our workforce. The good news is that the pandemic hasn’t impacted our progress towards gender parity, in fact we’ve increased the number of women in our company this year. That being said, we are doing everything we can to provide a flexible work environment that allows all of our employees to manage family and work responsibilities during this time.
Edison International is clearly a testament to how understanding the data and viewing it with an intersectional lens drives success. We encourage all companies to take a thoughtful approach to measuring progress and communicating it both within your own organization and externally — this is critical to closing the gender gap.
About Paradigm for Parity® Coalition
Launched in 2016, the Paradigm for Parity® movement is a coalition of business leaders dedicated to addressing the corporate leadership gender gap. The coalition is made up of CEOs, senior executives, founders, board members, and business academics who are committed to achieving a new norm in the corporate world: one in which women and men have equal power, status, and opportunity. The coalition has developed a 5-Point Action Plan comprised of synergistic steps that, when implemented together, catalyze change and enable substantial progress towards gender parity. The ultimate goal is to achieve full gender parity in corporate leadership by 2030, with a near-term goal of women holding at least 30% of senior roles.
