Half (51%) of the chief positions (vp and above) within the U.S. are ladies. Globally, it’s 48%. Ladies additionally make up practically half of the board and 50% of CEO Tony Capuano’s direct stories.
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 girls accounted for less than 29% of board seats at the Russell 3000 as of 2024.
One thing completely different is going on at Marriott, an honoree on this yr’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 assist 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 an important position. At Marriott, leaders are anticipated to usually discuss to their direct stories, as a part of their annual efficiency overview cycle, about their profession aspirations and the way they’ll obtain their objectives. Inside these conversations, a refined shift has been a game-changer — what Edmond describes as a transfer from mentorship to “profession acceleration.”
Earlier than, mentors would maintain a watch out for alternatives, and if the celebs aligned, they had been anticipated to assist associates take the following 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 will 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 might 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 potentialities, for me, the place I noticed myself.”
It’s an train she now repeats together with her personal direct stories, and a key ingredient in Marriott’s tradition of entry to alternative. “We’re required at each single degree inside our group to make sure that we’re growing the leaders of the long run,” she says.
Because of this, associates at Marriott are having a significantly better expertise than these at a typical U.S. firm.
Affiliate useful resource teams
The Ladies’s ARG at Marriot, which is open to all associates, helps its 5,500 members by providing mentorship and academic help round matters from monetary wellness to govt presence, and mock job interview apply. The group additionally works collaboratively with different useful resource teams within the group, highlighting help for all associates, together with navy veterans, neurodivergent staff, and dealing mother and father.
Allies within the group play an necessary position in mentorship and sponsorship, Edmond says.
“The vast majority of my mentors have been males, if I’m completely trustworthy,” she shared. However they had been invested in her development 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 in the course of 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 had been that invested in my first time presenting to the board to be sure that I used to be arrange for achievement.”
Suggestions for constructing higher workplaces in 2025
For organizations that need to be extra like Marriott, Edmond presents just a few pointers.
- Spend money on associates at each degree of the group
The way you put money into associates at decrease ranges of the org chart ultimately impacts outcomes on the high. Edmond, for instance, began as an hourly worker and over a 22-year profession has held seven completely different roles within the firm.
“You don’t simply leap from an hourly worker to an SVP,” she says. Inclusion requires a system of help throughout each degree within the group.
- Find time for growth conversations all yr spherical.
Candid growth conversations received’t occur in the event you solely talk about them as an afterthought or in response to an annual worker engagement survey. Your method to growth must be steady and considerate, Edmond says.
- Have fun on a regular basis accomplishments, together with failure.
Progress for all associates requires the permission to attempt new issues, tackle stretch assignments and typically fail. “After we fail, we have a good time 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 impression on staff.
“Tony was requested some actually powerful questions in the beginning of the yr,” Edmond says. “We had been ready to see how he responded — and he responded the way in which that we would have liked.”
The message has empowered Marriott associates to proceed to have interaction. “We begin from a spot of welcoming all,” Edmond says. “Regardless of what’s going on within the atmosphere, we’re at all times going to welcome all.”
Ted Kitterman is a content material supervisor for Nice Place To Work®.
