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Women Scientists and Engineers Employed in Industry: Why So Few? (1994)

Chapter: 3 Corporate Initiatives to Recruit and Retain Women Scientists and Engineers

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Suggested Citation:"3 Corporate Initiatives to Recruit and Retain Women Scientists and Engineers." National Research Council. 1994. Women Scientists and Engineers Employed in Industry: Why So Few?. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2264.
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III.
Corporate Initiatives to Recruit and Retain Women Scientists and Engineers

Some companies have made great strides in developing programs—to a large extent, gender-independent—to recruit and retain their technological work forces. At the conference sponsored by the Committee on Women in Science and Engineering (CWSE), several efforts by six U.S. companies were presented as models of what is being done in this area as well as others targeting women scientists and engineers. It was pointed out throughout the conference that programs established initially to diversify the corporate work force generally have had positive effects on the recruitment and retention of both women and men in those companies. Another point reiterated during the presentations about effective programs was that the commitment of top management is essential for the successful implementation and longevity of the programs.

A Look at Six Companies

Xerox Corporation, ALCOA, Aerospace Corporation, AT&T Bell Laboratories, and Scios Nova illustrate what are, by current standards, programs that are effective in recruiting and ensuring the professional progress of women scientists and engineers in industry. Conference participants considered other companies, as well, to be model companies in their efforts to recruit and retain women in their technical work force. One such model of a small company, Barrios Technology, will be discussed as a further illustrative example.

Xerox Corporation61

Xerox Corporate Research and Technology (CR&T) is working deliberately toward making Xerox Corporation "the employer of choice for women and minorities by the year 2000," according to Marcia Bush,

61  

Drawn from presentations at the CWSE conference, Irvine, CA, January 17–18, 1993, by Marcia Bush, manager, Speech and Signal Processing Area, and Leslie Jill Miller, manager, Systems Sciences Laboratory, Xerox Corporation.

Suggested Citation:"3 Corporate Initiatives to Recruit and Retain Women Scientists and Engineers." National Research Council. 1994. Women Scientists and Engineers Employed in Industry: Why So Few?. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2264.
×

manager of Speech and Signal Processing at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center. Xerox hopes to achieve a balanced work force that reflects the diversity and availability of technical personnel in the marketplace. It is focusing on increasing diversity within corporate research, principally for women, both at the individual-contributor level and in management.

How did such a goal come about? The motivation was primarily a business one. Demographic trends indicate that growth in the work force between now and the year 2000 will be primarily among women and minorities. In order to help position CR&T to attract the best scientists and engineers, a Women's Council was formed in 1991 to advise senior management on issues related to recruiting and retaining women. The Council was originally composed of nine representatives from Xerox's Corporate Research Centers; currently it consists of 13 representatives from the expanded CR&T organization.

Two-day meetings of the Council have been held every three months, with executive minutes distributed to senior managers within CR&T. The Council meets with women at the individual centers to obtain their input and also to provide them with feedback on Council activities. Recommendations by the Council are communicated by directed memos and directed presentations at meetings of senior CR&T staff. Presentations are also made at the Center level.

At its first meeting, the Council developed a mission statement:

To advise CR&T management on how to achieve its vision of being the employer of choice for technical and technical support women. The CR&T Women's Council recognizes the value of diversity and envisions a work force within CR&T which exemplifies the diversity of our society. We are committed to substantially increased representation of both majority and minority women within CR&T and within CR&T management.62

At the same time, Council members identified five problem areas to be addressed by CR&T: increased numbers of women in corporate research (only 10 percent of the Ph.D.s in positions leading to senior management at Xerox are women), career development, salary equity, working

62  

Leslie Jill Miller, speaking at the CWSE conference, Irvine, CA, January 17, 1993.

Suggested Citation:"3 Corporate Initiatives to Recruit and Retain Women Scientists and Engineers." National Research Council. 1994. Women Scientists and Engineers Employed in Industry: Why So Few?. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2264.
×

environment, and benefits. Subsequently, the Council determined that salary equity was not a problem. It then prepared recommendations for improving the hiring and promotion of women scientists and engineers that include the following:

  • establish an outward focus with greater emphasis on fellowship programs—that is, financial aid to female graduate students and, potentially, internships with the company—and the recruitment of women,
  • create internal hiring opportunities that would promote cross-organizational flow (i.e., movement from one area of the company to another, often associated with lateral transfers),
  • clarify the criteria to be met by a person seeking a promotion, and
  • publicize internal job opportunities throughout the company.

Because the Council is concerned with establishing linkages with universities, it is revising the Xerox fellowship programs to make them more effective and to establish more contact between graduate students supported by Xerox and researchers at the research laboratories.

Increasing the flow within the organization and into the business units of Xerox is important for creating hiring opportunities when the labs are not increasing in size. The Council has also recommended examination of cross-laboratory promotion statistics to identify any discrepancies between men and women or across the labs in different geographical locations.

In addition to hiring and promotion recommendations to Xerox CR&T management, the Women's Council has developed a set of career and development recommendations for individual employees and managers. Women scientists and engineers are encouraged to set objectives, meet performance requirements, know their organization, and seek development opportunities. At the same time, recommendations to technical managers center on three broad actions: communicate, proactively support career planning, and set up and actively support career development opportunities. These recommendations are summarized in Appendix B.63

63  

Meritocracy is a worthwhile goal of all employers. However, it should be noted that in some companies career advancement does not always result from one's achievements.

Suggested Citation:"3 Corporate Initiatives to Recruit and Retain Women Scientists and Engineers." National Research Council. 1994. Women Scientists and Engineers Employed in Industry: Why So Few?. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2264.
×

The Council has also been involved in another important entity at Xerox, the Women Managers Roundtable, which is charged with "making issues visible to corporate management." At the annual meeting of the Roundtable, representatives from major Xerox organizations meet with Xerox's chief executive officer (CEO) and corporate human resources staff to discuss the concerns of women at Xerox. The 1992 meeting focused on three main issues: management behavior and culture, representation of women in the company's work force, and career development. Representatives pointed out both negative and positive achievements of the preceding year. For instance, Xerox had undergone a major reorganization and has made many new appointments, several of which had gone to women. However, while everyone agreed that the very top management at Xerox is committed to women's issues, this commitment has not yet filtered down through other levels of management. Roundtable representatives felt it was incumbent upon the CEO to start changing the culture, to continue to be a mentor, and to actively communicate his attitudes to lower levels of the organization.

Initially, all members of the Council were at the management level or its equivalent in the scientific track and paid for travel and hotel expenses out of their group budgets. Recently, there has been a move toward more centralized funding (e.g., from research laboratory budgets), in order to facilitate the Council's goal of including women at lower grade levels in its membership and to stress the importance of the Council's work to those larger entities. Meals and other on-site meeting expenses continue to be covered at the CR&T organizational level.

ALCOA64

ALCOA Technical Center (ATC), the central research facility of the Aluminum Company of America (ALCOA), is a leader in the materials science industry and also a leader in developing programs for attracting and retaining talented women and minorities in its work force. Since 1990, ATC has developed several effective policies and programs to help employees balance work and family responsibilities, according to Ophelia

64  

Drawn from the presentation by Ophelia R. Scott, staff administrator, Human Resources and Industrial Relations Department, ALCOA Technical Center, during the CWSE conference, Irvine, CA, January 18, 1993.

Suggested Citation:"3 Corporate Initiatives to Recruit and Retain Women Scientists and Engineers." National Research Council. 1994. Women Scientists and Engineers Employed in Industry: Why So Few?. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2264.
×

Scott, staff administrator for the Department of Human Resources and Industrial Relations.

In the late 1980s, staffing levels at ALCOA Technical Center were on the rise, and the center was interested in hiring to enhance the diversity of its work force. However, it became apparent to ATC management that traditional recruitment methods were not producing advanced degree minority and female scientists and engineers interested in long-term research. Therefore, ATC representatives traveled to historically black colleges and universities and other universities with a substantial minority enrollment to learn how to recruit and how to develop effective university relations on these campuses.

ALCOA Technical Center then developed and implemented the Pilot School Program to increase ATC's presence on selected college campuses, to identify talented undergraduate female and minority S&E students, and to create technical linkages with the pilot schools. Selection of the pilot schools was based on the quality of technical programs, size of the minority population, and number of female and minority students who obtained advanced degrees. In one instance, proximity to ALCOA Technical Center also was a factor. The Pilot School Program is not a human resources program. Each university in the program is assigned an ATC coordinator—a scientist or engineer who ensures division involvement and establishes technology linkages vital to the Center's long-term relationship with that university. This involvement might include participation in career fairs; on-campus recruiting; formal or informal visits with students, faculty, and administrators; on-campus seminars, both technical and nontechnical; and the identification and funding of technical research of interest to ATC, with involvement of women and minority students. ALCOA Technical Center benefits from the Pilot School Program by the identification of students for its Summer Professional Employment Program, candidates for existing job openings, students to be tracked for future employment, and also candidates for fellowships. Since 1991, when the program became fully operational, 15 summer interns have been placed through the pilot school initiative, four of whom were female. Two permanent positions also have been filled through these efforts, one by a woman.

Through the awarding of fellowships and scholarships, corporations can develop relationships with high-potential female and minority candidates. At ALCOA, scholarships are awarded to undergraduate students at those universities in ALCOA Technical Center's Pilot School Program. Scholarship recipients are offered summer internships as part of

Suggested Citation:"3 Corporate Initiatives to Recruit and Retain Women Scientists and Engineers." National Research Council. 1994. Women Scientists and Engineers Employed in Industry: Why So Few?. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2264.
×

ATC's ongoing efforts to identify and develop a pool of candidates for future staffing needs. The scholarship program has several benefits, including the development of name recognition for ALCOA; the development of linkages with specific academic departments; and the initiation of relationships with particular students.

In ALCOA's Minority Fellowship Program, which is fairly recent in origin, a significant long-term relationship can be developed between the company and a future employee. The award process was developed and finalized in late 1992. In early 1993 there were four ALCOA Technical Center fellows; two were women. They are nominated by, and must have a financial commitment from, a research division. Candidates are selected for fellowships based on participation and performance in the summer intern program, interest in research, scholastic records, references, and compatibility with the ALCOA Technical Center. A fellowship review committee selects the candidates, and approval for a successful candidate is granted by ALCOA's executive vice-president of research and development and ATC's Operations Management Lead Team. Division commitment to the candidate is vital to the fellowship process and to the linkage between the fellow and ATC. Typically, a fellow chooses, with the assistance of the sponsoring research division, a thesis topic that furthers the ATC's own research interests. The division also assists the fellow in selecting a university for graduate study and provides discussion on potential career opportunities within ALCOA Technical Center. ALCOA's financial commitment to the fellow includes tuition, fees, books and supplies, a monthly stipend, and summer employment. Upon completion of the Ph.D., fellowship awardees enter into employment with ALCOA.

The ALCOA Technical Center's program on work-family issues will be detailed later in this chapter.

Aerospace Corporation65

At Aerospace Corporation in 1962, there were 12 women (.01 percent) employees in technical positions; today women comprise 12.5 percent (or 313 out of 2,507) of the technical work force. At

65  

Drawn from the presentation at the CWSE conference, Irvine, CA, January 18, 1993, by Shirley McCarty, general manager of human resources at Aerospace Corporation.

Suggested Citation:"3 Corporate Initiatives to Recruit and Retain Women Scientists and Engineers." National Research Council. 1994. Women Scientists and Engineers Employed in Industry: Why So Few?. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2264.
×

Aerospace, recruitment of women is aided by the involvement of many women in mentoring—a positive signal that attracts women to the company. The fact that senior women mentor men also signals that the company values women's work equally with men's. Aerospace policies and practices are attractive to women, and many dedicated people are working toward creating a positive climate that contributes to the successful recruitment of women. "Overall," according to Shirley McCarty, "the human resources policies at Aerospace are gender blind and ethnically blind."

Women's committees or networks within a company can be vitally important influences on the recruitment and retention of women. The Women's Committee at Aerospace has been not only a leader for change, but also a strong support system that has helped women gain confidence. An active organization since 1973 with membership throughout the company—including secretarial staff, technical staff, and management—the committee has met annually with the president and has been involved in numerous issues, including:

  • the development of a maternity leave policy;
  • equalization of employee benefits for secretarial and technical staff;
  • establishing awards for women; and
  • researching and making recommendations to the president and executive staff on female candidates for the Board of Directors, thereby creating female role models for women in the company.

Further details on the work-family aspects of the Aerospace program are given later in the chapter.

AT&T Bell Laboratories66

Naomi Behrman noted that managers at AT&T Bell Laboratories "value both women and men employees who are well grounded in their technical expertise and who have an understanding of the business world." She stated that AT&T Bell Laboratories is committed to encouraging this

66  

Drawn from the presentation by Naomi Behrman, coordinator of employee counseling services, AT&T Bell Laboratories Health Services Group, at the CWSE conference, Irvine, CA, January 17, 1993.

Suggested Citation:"3 Corporate Initiatives to Recruit and Retain Women Scientists and Engineers." National Research Council. 1994. Women Scientists and Engineers Employed in Industry: Why So Few?. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2264.
×

broader base of knowledge and improving the working climate for its female employees.

AT&T Bell Laboratories has developed, collaboratively with human resources and technical staff, a University Relations Summer Program similar to the one at ALCOA. It provides work experience in an R&D environment for "outstanding B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. minority students" in 12 fields of science and engineering: chemistry, computer science/engineering, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, operations research, chemical engineering, physics, mathematics, information science, communication science, statistics, and materials science. The Summer Research Program is similar but focuses on the identification and nurturing of research ability in women and minorities, thus increasing their representation in science and engineering (S&E) careers.

AT&T Bell Laboratories also offers both scholarships and fellowships to talented students in science and engineering. The Engineering Scholarship Program "is designed to increase the talent pool by providing financial assistance to outstanding underrepresented minorities and women high school seniors who have been admitted to full-time studies" in computer science/engineering, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, or systems engineering. The Cooperative Research Fellowship Program (CRFP) encourages the development of scientific and research ability in underrepresented minorities by establishing successful mentor and student relationships, promoting student participation in an active industrial research environment, and providing financial support. AT&T Bell Laboratories' Graduate Research Program for Women has goals similar to those of CRFP. Begun in 1975, the program awards both fellowships and grants (Table III-1). Fellowships provide an annual stipend for tuition and fees, textbooks and living allowance, summer employment, reimbursement for travel to scientific conferences, and an AT&T Bell Laboratories' scientist as a mentor. Grants provide a smaller amount annually, to be used by the recipient in any way that benefits her professional development. Grant recipients can also be eligible for summer employment and are also assigned an AT&T Bell Laboratories' scientist as a mentor.

Another recent effort at AT&T is sponsorship (with the National Science Foundation and other U.S. companies) of the Women in Engineering Program Advocates Network. The program began at three institutions—Stevens Institute of Technology, Purdue University, and the University of Washington in Seattle—"because of their positive records of

Suggested Citation:"3 Corporate Initiatives to Recruit and Retain Women Scientists and Engineers." National Research Council. 1994. Women Scientists and Engineers Employed in Industry: Why So Few?. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2264.
×

TABLE III-1: Summary Data, AT&T Bell Laboratories' Graduate Research Program for Women, 1975–1992

Type of Award

Fellowships

Grants

Combination: Fellows/Grants

Graduates

23

33

 

Discipline

 

 

 

Physics

 

21

 

Chemistry

 

 

11

Computer Science

 

 

6

Mathematics

 

 

5

Materials science

 

 

4

Electrical engineering

 

 

3

Operations research

 

 

3

Other

 

3

 

Employment sector

 

 

 

Industry

9

13

 

Hired by AT&T Bell Laboratories

4

4

 

Academe

7

8

 

Postdoc

5

9

 

Unknown

2

3

 

Withdrawals

10

10

 

Still in program

18

41

 

TOTAL participants

51

84

 

 

SOURCE: Naomi Behrman, presentation at the CWSE conference, Irvine, CA, January 17, 1993.

Suggested Citation:"3 Corporate Initiatives to Recruit and Retain Women Scientists and Engineers." National Research Council. 1994. Women Scientists and Engineers Employed in Industry: Why So Few?. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2264.
×

working with women."67 Women in Engineering programs at those three institutions include efforts to increase the numbers of women studying engineering, establishing mentoring and summer internships involving the private sector, and finding positions for women engineering graduates. Particularly noteworthy is that WEPAN continues to work with women even after they are in their first corporate positions.

Available to all employees at AT&T Bell Laboratories, the Employee Counseling Service is a highly effective program that has been offered since 1977. It provides private and confidential one-on-one counseling sessions, consults with management about special organizational and individual issues, and affects the environment of whole organizations by presenting special seminars and workshops on subjects such as balancing work and family, single working parents, and dual-career couples. Details of AT&T Bell Laboratories' work-family programs are given later in the chapter.

Specific topics arising out of the work problems of managers and employees are also addressed for specific organizations. Problems can become overwhelming when there is a combination of pressures—for example, a job change, a relocation, and a family unit affected by all of these changes. Individuals can usually handle the stress of any one of these situations in isolation, but when pressured on several fronts at once, they find that professional support is beneficial. Organizations may become involved with the Counseling Service when, for instance, an employee is working with two different groups needing to share information. When that employee is female, it may be necessary to focus on those interactions rather than the technical issues.

With increasing frequency, the Counseling Service is addressing male and female interactions and also divergent cultural interpretations of situations. For instance, an Asian male supervisor, who traveled frequently, had a female technical staff member maintaining the research when he was out of town. When he returned to the work environment, he reassumed the responsibilities of the project, leaving far less for the technical person to do. Each felt that the other was not recognizing his or her contribution to the research, and the result was that the female became angry, withdrew, and spoke less and less to her supervisor. They had reached a collaborative impasse. When they arrived at the Counseling Service, the woman

67  

Ibid.

Suggested Citation:"3 Corporate Initiatives to Recruit and Retain Women Scientists and Engineers." National Research Council. 1994. Women Scientists and Engineers Employed in Industry: Why So Few?. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2264.
×

described some of her behavior and talked about the work project. The man explained that in his culture when someone ignores a person or withdraws from him/her, it is extremely rude. He could tolerate almost anything but that. By addressing these different interpretations of the situation in a counseling setting, it was possible to break the impasse and get these two people working together again.

Private and confidential sessions offered by the counseling service relate to the specific situation of an individual and can be used in many ways. One example is a young employee who sought support in adapting from the academic environment to the corporate, where expectations are not defined by courses and reinforcement does not come through grades. Directions to young employees to interact, read, and learn about their center and then set up a laboratory can be overwhelming, causing even very talented individuals to freeze. Another example is a woman manager, very competent and respected for her technical skills, who was working part-time with a flexible schedule. She first approached the Counseling Service because of the behavior of one of her technical subordinates, whose lack of interpersonal skills was affecting his career. In the process of developing a plan for this individual, she began to talk about herself, wondering when she should put herself back on the fast track, if this was even possible, and the effect it would have on her family. The opportunity for her to be both part-time and in management was rare. It resulted from the particular composition of her area and of the upper management at AT&T Bell Laboratories.

A specific and unique feature of the Counseling Service at AT&T Bell Laboratories is linkage with a strong and clinically oriented medical department. Each service, counseling and medical, is autonomous and private and confidential. The major advantage of this Health Services Group is the ability to give professional support when a medical problem is a component of a stressful situation.

As a result of its varied involvement with employees, the Counseling Service at AT&T Bell Laboratories has been invited to make presentations to technical women's network organizations, working parents clubs, and groups addressing sexual harassment issues. These informal groupings, which vary from work site to work site, provide avenues for shared information and also for active planning. One of the business units at the AT&T Bell Laboratories planned a full-day program for every unit member with invited speakers and management as participants. Programs such as these have a freshness and energy that help provide employees with encouragement, support, and recognition.

Suggested Citation:"3 Corporate Initiatives to Recruit and Retain Women Scientists and Engineers." National Research Council. 1994. Women Scientists and Engineers Employed in Industry: Why So Few?. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2264.
×

Scios Nova68

Scios Nova is a biotechnology company engaged primarily in the development of products for human therapeutic systems. Scios Nova is "known for putting women in positions of responsibility." Early in the company's history, many positions were filled by women, and "the company is predominantly run and managed by women." The field of molecular biology, from which Scios Nova recruits most of its employees, is a relatively new science. Very often, the route to molecular biology is through biochemistry or protein chemistry, two areas that traditionally have attracted women at least in equal numbers to men.69 Therefore, the fact that Scios Nova hires from a pool of recruits containing higher numbers of women is certainly a contributing factor to the diverse work force in the company. Stephens believes that "future trends for Scios Nova will continue to be in the direction of more women in positions of responsibility, a trend that will be driven by the features of the marketplace."

Scios Nova looks for talent at all levels, without regard to gender, and maintains an aggressive recruitment position of finding the very best person to fill each job. Therefore, offers of employment typically include stock options, a hiring bonus of several thousand dollars, participation in the incentive compensation plan, and financial assistance in relocation or in the purchase of a home.

Scios Nova also has an Employee Referral Program, where an employee is paid $1,000 for every prospective employee referred and subsequently hired. This has been an effective tool in attracting good people. When a new employee is hired into the company, someone from Human Resources discusses with him or her the employee referral program and gets names of potential candidates from other companies.

According to Mr. Stephens, "Scios Nova is proud of its equitable compensation for women and its bonus plan." He reported the following:

68  

Drawn from the presentation by Theodore R. Stephens, former director of human resources, Scios Nova, at the CWSE conference, Irvine, CA, January 17, 1993.

69  

Patricia E. White, op. cit.

Suggested Citation:"3 Corporate Initiatives to Recruit and Retain Women Scientists and Engineers." National Research Council. 1994. Women Scientists and Engineers Employed in Industry: Why So Few?. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2264.
×
  • Of the top five highest-paid individuals at Scios Nova, one, the vice-president of finance and administration, is a black woman.
  • Twenty individuals in the company are compensated at $90,000 or more per year; nine of them are women.
  • Just below that tier of compensation is the $70,000–$90,000 range, which is comprised of 13 individuals, 5 women and 8 men.

In addition to a base salary, employees at Scios Nova earn bonuses, and traditionally women have earned the highest ones. An incentive compensation plan for all employees awards up to 5 percent of an employee's annual base salary. Participants in the senior management incentive compensation plan can earn even more—up to 30 percent of the base salary. Various stock options are part of these incentive payments. Of the 22 individuals eligible for this level of incentive compensation at Scios, 8 are women.

Scios Nova's policies for supporting families will be presented later.

Barrios Technology: A Model Company70

Among the examples of programs and initiatives for women managers presented at the CWSE conference, one small company stood out. A relatively small technical company of less than 250 employees that is both woman-owned and woman-managed, Barrios Technology71 has a strong commitment to moving women into management positions. Women currently occupy 50 percent of management positions, and women are actively encouraged, even aggressively pushed, to move up the management ladder. During their first interview, candidates are told that the company will expect to promote them into management positions. This strategy has

70  

Emyre B. Robinson, "Women Scientists and Engineers as Entrepreneurs," presentation at the CWSE conference, Irvine, CA, January 17, 1993.

71  

Emyre B. Robinson is president and Sandra Johnson is chief executive officer of Barrios Technology, located in Houston, TX. In her presentation at the CWSE conference, Deborah Celentano Gerber discussed another small woman-owned/woman-managed company that fits this same description.

Suggested Citation:"3 Corporate Initiatives to Recruit and Retain Women Scientists and Engineers." National Research Council. 1994. Women Scientists and Engineers Employed in Industry: Why So Few?. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2264.
×

resulted in an extremely low attrition rate, a highly loyal and devoted work force, and a profitable and growing company.

The company is also committed to advancement through education. Employees are not only actively encouraged to use the company's tuition reimbursement program, they are given flex-time and part-time options to take advantage of it. Employees are also counseled as to how they can best apply their educational achievements in the workplace.

The company has an active mentorship program. Every woman has a mentor, either self-selected or assigned. The mentor is responsible for teaching the protegé how to progress in the company, encouraging her to take risks, and fully supporting her with appropriate training. The mentor is encouraged to bring the protegé on assignments and include her in the planning processes that occur. Mentors are given financial rewards, compensatory time, and other incentives to encourage them to meet with their protegés.

If employees are promoted into management positions in which they find their new responsibilities to be beyond their capabilities, the company tries to provide direction. The two chief administrators maintain a policy of constant accessibility not only to the people who work directly under them, but also to those at office sites. The company sends managers to short-term personal enterprise programs and a university marketing program.

The company also looks for innovative ways to solve problems. For example, the office in New Mexico was experiencing problems with a white male manager in an office comprising mostly women and Hispanics. The manager left the company, whereupon two people were promoted to take his place—an Hispanic male and a white female. These individuals determined the aspects of management at which they were most proficient and split the responsibilities along those lines. The situation was successfully resolved because senior management was committed to trying an alternative method and to backing up the people involved until they had a chance to work through the problem.

The company applies the same flexibility to work-family issues. Parental leave is granted to men as well as women when a baby is born. Parents can bring the infant to work, and the company will arrange on-site day care when needed. The president of the company believes this does not have a negative impact on productivity. Teamwork and shared responsibility for decision making are promoted, so that if someone needs

Suggested Citation:"3 Corporate Initiatives to Recruit and Retain Women Scientists and Engineers." National Research Council. 1994. Women Scientists and Engineers Employed in Industry: Why So Few?. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2264.
×

to take a leave of absence for family or health reasons, others in the group assume his/her responsibilities temporarily.

The company does not tolerate harassment of any kind and immediately addresses it on a personal level. It "has had some problems with older males in the past," but addressed them by bringing in outside management consultants.72

Elements of Effective Programs

Companies have found that recruitment and retention of their technical work force are improved when the company has undertaken steps to ensure the following:

  • exciting and personally satisfying work;
  • viable and diverse technical and management career paths; and
  • educational opportunities, both at the corporate site and at local colleges and universities, that develop leadership and technical expertise.

Retention of women scientists and engineers is further enhanced by

  • flexible schedules established as formal corporate policies with support from management,
  • programs of reward and recognition,73 and
  • family leave programs.

To address the issues of recruitment and retention, DuPont established a Work and Family Committee. Similarly, Corning Inc. and Hughes Aircraft have corporate units that address these issues.74 By

72  

Emyre Robinson, op. cit.

73  

Barbara Link, manager of applications engineering at GE Aircraft Engines, speaking at the CWSE conference, Irvine, CA, January 17, 1993.

74  

A detailed description of these programs is given by Esther M. Conwell, "Promoting Science and Engineering Careers in Industry," in

Suggested Citation:"3 Corporate Initiatives to Recruit and Retain Women Scientists and Engineers." National Research Council. 1994. Women Scientists and Engineers Employed in Industry: Why So Few?. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2264.
×

supporting women's groups with access to top executives for presentation of issues and discussion of both problems and positive gains, these companies have significantly improved the work environment for women.

Another example of action on these issues is provided by Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), a government-owned, corporate-operated (GO-CO) facility where many programs for professional women exist.75 To organize its annual conference on issues confronting women pursuing technological careers, Argonne created a special position, Women in Science Program Initiator: the incumbent devotes approximately 30 percent of her time to the conference. One's assignment in this position lasts 2–3 years, and the position is then rotated to another woman scientist employed at ANL.

An overriding theme heard throughout the CWSE-sponsored conference was the importance of enlightened top management. Changes needed to hire and retain women scientists and engineers will not be fully realized unless the CEO is committed to hiring women and developing a climate where women thrive. That this is true has been shown in a variety of companies, particularly those described earlier in this report. During the January 1993 conference, several practicing scientists and engineers reflected on the difficult atmosphere in companies where dialogue with top executives is absent. Men, as well as women, find this detrimental to their career advancement.

When Catalyst asked female engineers to suggest improvements in the culture of their corporations, their strongest suggestion was that top management must be supportive of removing the obstacles to women's advancement.76 CEOs and managers must lead the way in changing the

   

Marsha Lakes Matyas and Linda Skidmore Dix (eds.), Science and Engineering Programs: On Target for Women?, Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1992.

75  

Linda Skidmore Dix, "Promoting Careers in the Federal Government," in Marsha Lakes Matyas and Linda Skidmore Dix (eds.), Science and Engineering Programs: On Target for Women?, Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 1992.

76  

Marion Yuen, director of advisory services, Catalyst Inc., presentation at the CWSE conference, Irvine, CA, January 17, 1993.

Suggested Citation:"3 Corporate Initiatives to Recruit and Retain Women Scientists and Engineers." National Research Council. 1994. Women Scientists and Engineers Employed in Industry: Why So Few?. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2264.
×

cultural environment in the corporate engineering workplace. At the same time, women themselves must realize the importance of becoming role models for the women coming after them and of recruiting women into the engineering workplace. If a company has a reputation for hiring women and being supportive of them and this is publicized, women will want to come and work for that company.77

In addition to the involvement of upper management in developing a receptive climate, U.S. companies are targeting specific areas that affect their attractiveness to women scientists and engineers: recruitment initiatives, career development, mentoring, professional networks, compensation and bonuses, and work-family issues. Each is described more fully below.

Well-Developed Recruitment Initiatives

According to Ronnie Cresswell, vice-president and chairman of Parke-Davis Pharmaceutical Research,

. . . Our success depends on the caliber of people that we employ. As we plan for the future of the company, our greatest challenge is to create an environment that will attract and retain the most talented people. To do this, we must recruit from the entire population of talent and allow each colleague the opportunity to reach her/his full potential.78

The identification and recruitment of scientists and engineers, both women and men, occur through various initiatives. Many conference participants

77  

Ibid.

78  

Ronnie Cresswell, vice president and chairman, Parke-Davis Pharmaceutical Research, in "Career Development," pamphlet from the Parke-Davis Career Development Committee, 1992. According to Eugenia Kunzman, a scientist in the Genetics Toxicology Department at Parke-Davis, the company's Career Development Committee is "a grass-roots group of scientists and administrators dedicated to helping all employees, especially women and minorities, with career development."

Suggested Citation:"3 Corporate Initiatives to Recruit and Retain Women Scientists and Engineers." National Research Council. 1994. Women Scientists and Engineers Employed in Industry: Why So Few?. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2264.
×

agreed with the summary of Barbara Link, a manager at General Electric, about effective recruitment approaches, which center around six elements:

  • 1  

    The recruiters are engineers, scientists, and managers of engineers and scientists, not the Human Resources Division representatives.

  • 2  

    Employees chosen as corporate recruiters are those who exhibit strong interpersonal skills, who "care and go the extra mile."

  • 3  

    Recruitment occurs at a targeted group of universities.

  • 4  

    The company maintains a corporate presence on each campus, interacting with faculty, students, and staff.

  • 5  

    Entry-level recruits rotate through a series of technical and management assignments to learn about program opportunities.

  • 6  

    Co-op programs enable the company to evaluate potential employees while they pursue projects that support the work of the GE laboratories.

Additional linkages with universities have been developed by many companies to identify prospective employees. Examples are provided by the programs at ALCOA and AT&T Bell Laboratories described earlier.

Career Development

Many U.S. companies have aggressively begun to provide incentives for women scientists and engineers to join and to remain in their work forces. At Parke-Davis Pharmaceutical Research, for instance,

[e]ach manager is accountable for ensuring diversity at all levels in her/his area. Colleagues, as well, are responsible for strengthening the skills of the women in their areas. The Career Development Committee works with Human Resources to raise awareness of possible barriers, inspire colleagues, and provide opportunities for career growth.79

Career development should begin as soon as a person is employed by a company. For example, Intel's Graduate Rotation Program provides

79  

Ibid.

Suggested Citation:"3 Corporate Initiatives to Recruit and Retain Women Scientists and Engineers." National Research Council. 1994. Women Scientists and Engineers Employed in Industry: Why So Few?. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2264.
×

an opportunity for new employees to work in four different areas of the company—such as processing engineering—each for a three-month period, before beginning employment in the specific department for which they were hired. According to George Leach, a design manager at Intel, individuals participating in this program "have the increased confidence, experience and contacts to perform in an outstanding manner."80

As reported from a survey of women engineers, "Active career development programs, whether targeted specifically for women or for employees in general, are beneficial to women."81 Diversity training is also valuable, and participation in such training could be one of the key items on which managers are evaluated in performance reviews along with their success in hiring females and underrepresented minorities. The role of supervisors in career development is also important. Conference participants stressed that supervisors are key to recognition and reward and, therefore, to career development.

Corporations recognizing that getting the best person for the job is important for the bottom line consider women as well as men for management positions. However, having few women in significant managerial positions can affect the ability of corporations to recruit women. Moreover, women in technical management have access to corporate power and resources and can help to create career opportunities for women. By using the resources of the organization, they can influence the number of positions available for technical women; the nature of those positions; the range of internal corporate programs, such as career guidance efforts; and the establishment of outside relationships, such as university partnerships.

Therefore, many companies are creating programs and initiatives that encourage women to enter the management career ladder and to make steady progress up that ladder. For instance, corporations can create various managerial opportunities for their employees, depending on the organizational style of the company and the goals of the individual. In standard matrix management, there is, in addition to the typical line

80  

Charlene Johnson and Irinnie Arriola, Getting a good look at Intel, Innovator 4(104):10–11, 1991.

81  

Deborah Celentano Gerber, op. cit.

Suggested Citation:"3 Corporate Initiatives to Recruit and Retain Women Scientists and Engineers." National Research Council. 1994. Women Scientists and Engineers Employed in Industry: Why So Few?. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2264.
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management, project management, wherein individuals manage tasks—some as large as $50 million contracts—but none of the people in that program report to them in a supervisory sense. Project managers are not responsible for performance reviews and listening to complaints about management. Instead they focus on the task. The technical parallel scale in a company employing matrix management generally goes up quite high, and those at the top level are called fellows. A high level of prestige is reportedly associated with these positions, and their salary ranges are the same as those of individuals in comparable managerial jobs.

Such changes in corporate opportunities, policies, and programs have profoundly affected the numbers of women in management, including:

  • From 1986 to 1991, the percentage of women on the design staff at General Motors Corporation increased from 8 to 12 percent of the total engineering work force.82
  • From 1984 to 1989, the percentage of women scientific managers at AT&T increased from 3.6 percent to 5 percent.83
  • In 1992, two-thirds of promotions to management at DuPont went to white men, 33 percent to women, and about 15 percent to people of color. At DuPont (U.S.), women and people of color comprise 26 percent of the exempt work force (i.e., those not qualifying for overtime pay, a category into which managers, scientists, and engineers usually fall). This compares to national statistics that saw women and people of color comprising 25 percent of the exempt work force.84
  • Women comprise 20 percent of the engineers and technicians at

82  

Maria Quintana, presentation at the CWSE conference, Irvine, CA, January 17, 1993.

83  

Emily T. Smith, Alice LaPlante, Paul Angiolillo, and Catherine L. Cantrell, The women who are scaling high tech's heights, Business Week 3121:86–88, August 28, 1989.

84  

Deborah Grubbe, engineering manager, Specialty Chemicals, DuPont, speaking at the CWSE conference, Irvine, CA, January 17, 1993.

Suggested Citation:"3 Corporate Initiatives to Recruit and Retain Women Scientists and Engineers." National Research Council. 1994. Women Scientists and Engineers Employed in Industry: Why So Few?. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2264.
×
  • Loral Infrared and Imaging Systems,85 in comparison to their comprising 8 percent of the total U.S. engineering work force.86
  • Women are CEOs at 3 percent of the 25,000 small companies in the health services and electronics industries.87

Nevertheless,

There is a glass ceiling in most companies, and we're trying to figure out how to break it. If it was easy, we'd have done it by now.88

At the same time, however, many U.S. companies, particularly those in defense-related industries, are decreasing the size of their work forces. One adverse effect of this downsizing (termed "right-sizing" by some companies such as ALCOA) is that women new to the work force may find their employment terminated if retention is based on seniority with their current employers. Thus, career development programs may involve fewer women until the economy is general and the work force in defense-related companies in particular become more stable.

Mentoring Programs

"A Study of Occupational Departure of Employees in the Natural Sciences and Engineering" conducted by Anne Preston89 revealed that women who developed successful S&E careers, almost without exception, had important mentors who encouraged them, provided them support, and

85  

Jill Wittels, op. cit.

86  

U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, unpublished data from Current Population Survey 1992.

87  

Emily T. Smith, op. cit.

88  

Ed McCracken, CEO of Silicon Graphics Computer Systems, quoted in Upside, January 1993.

89  

See Chapter I for more information about this study.

Suggested Citation:"3 Corporate Initiatives to Recruit and Retain Women Scientists and Engineers." National Research Council. 1994. Women Scientists and Engineers Employed in Industry: Why So Few?. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2264.
×

steered them through the early phases of their careers. For many women, exit occurred at times of uncertainty and doubt, times when mentoring could have made a difference and possibly prevented the exit.

Mentoring need not be provided by a woman, and in most cases it is not. However, women talked about the value of having a strong female role model. Mentors are most valuable if they are on the same career track as their protegés and if they have day-to-day contact with protegés in the early stages of their careers. Although a mentoring relationship is important for all individuals launching a career in science and engineering, it may be more important for women because women scientists and engineers are entering a male-dominated workplace and violating traditional social patterns for women. Dr. Preston reported,

Individuals with bachelor's and master's degrees usually look for a career outside academe, so professors are not as valuable to them in terms of mentoring. However, after a woman enters the [industrial] work force and is finding her way in a male-dominated workplace, it is especially important to find a mentor—a supervisor or colleague—who can help her develop confidence and skills.90

Throughout the CWSE conference, career women concurred with Dr. Preston's assessment of the importance of attracting young women to industry as scientists and engineers by mentoring that is provided from women already pursuing careers in science and engineering. Professional women must be willing to serve as role models; to develop programs; and to speak about career opportunities, advise, and mentor. (Of course, the downside to this is that, because there are fewer women than men in S&E jobs in industry, senior women tend to devote more time to mentoring younger women than their male counterparts who mentor younger men.) At the same time, it is impractical for either the scientist/engineer or the employer to require that one hold a full-time position and devote significant amounts of one's "own" time to serving as a mentor for others, both women and men. As a result, the management in some companies have developed policies that reward their employees, both women and men,

90  

Anne Preston, op. cit.

Suggested Citation:"3 Corporate Initiatives to Recruit and Retain Women Scientists and Engineers." National Research Council. 1994. Women Scientists and Engineers Employed in Industry: Why So Few?. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2264.
×

who serve as role models and mentors. More scientists and engineers might be willing to advise less experienced individuals in the technical ranks if the contributions to corporate productivity realized by such mentoring programs were recognized by management.

Another approach is for professional women to retain contact with colleges and universities by becoming adjunct professors and advising students. At New Mexico State University, the Indian Resource Development Program encourages and assists Native American high school students to go into the fields of engineering, business, and agriculture.91 The American Indian Science and Engineering Society, in existence for 15 years now, also supports Native American students in science and engineering and actively works to increase their numbers in industry.92

It is important to realize that mentor-protegé relationships may change with time. For instance, a mentor may eventually become one's peer, and the transition may be difficult for both parties. The former mentor may seem too paternalistic, and the former protegé may no longer want that kind of relationship.

It seems to be more difficult to find effective mentors as a woman moves up in a company and as the pyramid narrows. This is also the case for a man. Some of the best mentors may not be in one's own direct chain of command. They might be in another area, and it may take more effort to maintain the mentor-protegé relationship in these cases. Immediate supervisors can make very good mentors, but there is always the difficulty of knowing when the person is functioning as a boss or as a mentor. It is important to track both of those relationships and to handle them correctly.

As a woman moves up in a corporation, the more people she will mentor at all levels, of both sexes, and even in other organizations. One manager stated that she takes a special interest in the women she mentors, but she is also very deliberate about mentoring key, talented males for two reasons. First, they are important to the success of the organization, and, second, she wants to be judged as being fair to all employees.

91  

For information, contact Lance Lujan, Director, Indian Resource Development Center, Box 30001, Department 31RD, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM 88003.

92  

For information, contact Norbert S. Hill Jr., Executive Director, American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES), 1630 30th Street—Suite 301, Boulder, Colorado 80301.

Suggested Citation:"3 Corporate Initiatives to Recruit and Retain Women Scientists and Engineers." National Research Council. 1994. Women Scientists and Engineers Employed in Industry: Why So Few?. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2264.
×

A summary of the elements of an effective mentoring program was provided by Pamela Atkinson, director of televised instruction in engineering at the College of Engineering, University of California-Berkeley:

  • It has support from the very top of the company but cannot depend on just one person's strength of personality.
  • Hard money is important for getting the program going; ideally, a mentoring program should be a line item in the budget.
  • The program ties to the company's goals. It is related to how the company is going to succeed in whatever it does, whatever it sells.
  • The program has an administrative staff to run it.
  • The mentors are rewarded in some way. While enhanced organizational performance in itself is a reward, recognition of his or her role in that achievement often maintains a mentor's interest.
  • The program is tailored to the group for which it is set up.
  • The program is evaluated and revised regularly.93

Women's Networks

Often women are not aware of how their own behaviors and attitudes may hinder their advancement. Women's networks have been found to be effective ways for women to learn from each other, mentor each other, and generally "learn the system." In addition, networks are a means for "women interested in changing jobs . . . to let others know of their availability.94

Corporate Networks. The best approach for women's networks appears to be one that focuses on business needs. For example, through mentoring

93  

Other elements of effective mentoring programs were described in an earlier conference sponsored by CWSE and reported by Mildred S. Dresselhaus and Linda Skidmore Dix, "Summary: Cross-Cutting Issues," in Marsha Lakes Matyas and Linda Skidmore Dix (eds.), Science and Engineering Programs: On Target for Women?, Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1992.

94  

Jane S. Allen, op. cit.

Suggested Citation:"3 Corporate Initiatives to Recruit and Retain Women Scientists and Engineers." National Research Council. 1994. Women Scientists and Engineers Employed in Industry: Why So Few?. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2264.
×

activities, a network can help to improve retention; or by sponsoring career days, it can improve hiring. This focus will help the network succeed and be viewed by upper management as a valuable, positive program. Such networks should include men: most important jobs are still filled by men, and some of those men have attitudes supportive of women's advancement in science and engineering. Successful examples of women's networks are the programs established by companies such as Corning Inc. and Hughes Aircraft Company.95

Corporations can help women managers by encouraging the formation of women's groups to address their concerns as well as mainstream business issues. Sometimes these meetings may deal principally with business in order to help everyone become informed—for example, about how business is doing in another division, what is happening in development, and what the sales figures are. The Women Managers Roundtable at Xerox, discussed earlier in this chapter, was set up by Paul Allaire, CEO of the corporation, to report on how the company is doing concerning recruitment, retention, and other issues of concern to women employees.

When women are attempting to take their case forward in the company on a particular issue, it is helpful to show evidence that a body outside the company on a national level has embraced a particular strategy with positive results. Most managers are willing to make changes, but they feel unqualified to take the lead, or they are unwilling to try something new for fear it may have negative consequences.

Particularly if the company appears negatively entrenched in its thinking regarding minorities and women, advocacy groups must be careful not to offend or anger the people with power in the company. Many conference participants involved in women's networks noted that an advocacy group must focus primarily on educating in a way that does not create a defensive reaction, and how forceful the group wants to be must be gauged by what will make the most progress at a particular point in

95  

Esther M. Conwell, "Promoting Science and Engineering Careers in Industry," in Marsha Lakes Matyas and Linda Skidmore Dix (eds.), Science and Engineering Programs: On Target for Women?, Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1992.

Suggested Citation:"3 Corporate Initiatives to Recruit and Retain Women Scientists and Engineers." National Research Council. 1994. Women Scientists and Engineers Employed in Industry: Why So Few?. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2264.
×

time.96 Catalyst maintains a data base of corporate women's groups and has promoted the formation of such groups but finds little support for such activities in many corporations. Often management fails to see the benefits of such groups, and women themselves are somewhat hesitant to join women's networks because they fear a negative impact on their careers due to management perceptions or because they feel these groups could become time sinks. It is often necessary to balance shorter-term personal goals and longer-term group goals. In the former connection it may be noted that some women reported that their managers did not approve of their attendance at the CWSE-sponsored conference; others said they could not speak candidly because it would result in trouble from their management.

Women's advocacy groups or networks can sometimes be a difficult issue for the woman manager because she must carefully balance her roles as woman employee and company manager.

Professional Networks. Networking can link entry-level scientists and engineers with more experienced individuals who share their experiences and offer advice, specifically in the area of career advancement.97 Professional networking encourages the sharing of information and helps women to feel that they are supported in their pursuit of careers that have not traditionally been open to them. For example, Systers is a network begun in October 1987 "to aid communication among women interested in 'systems,' thus the name 'systers,'" according to the electronic network's originator, Anita Borg.98

96  

Carolyn Leighton, founding executive director, International Network of Women in Technology (WITI), and president, Criterion Research, speaking at the CWSE conference, Irvine, CA, January 17, 1993.

97  

Harriet Kagiwada, in Marsha Lakes Matyas and Linda S. Dix (eds.), Science and Engineering Programs: On Target for Women?, Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1992.

98  

Personal electronic communication to Linda Skidmore, January 25, 1993. More information about Systers can be obtained from Dr. Borg via Bitnet: borg@pa.dec.com or by mail: Network Systems Laboratory, Digital Equipment Corporation, 250 University Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94301.

Suggested Citation:"3 Corporate Initiatives to Recruit and Retain Women Scientists and Engineers." National Research Council. 1994. Women Scientists and Engineers Employed in Industry: Why So Few?. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2264.
×

Networking within professional societies also helps women to expand their knowledge and skills beyond their specific areas, to develop leadership skills, and to have a broader impact by participating in professional meetings, including their company.99 Generally, if women are not active in the organization of professional meetings, they tend to be underrepresented as presenters and even as attendees. The American Chemical Society (ACS), for example, encourages participation by women at all levels of its organization and attempts to have them actively involved in ACS meetings and conferences, beginning at the local level. In fact, the Women Chemists Committee of ACS publishes a monthly newsletter that informs chemists about work-force trends, "hot topics" in the field, sources of research funding, and meeting updates. Work-force statistics compiled by ACS show that

women chemists have made some progress in the field of chemistry over the past decade and a half. The number of degrees in chemistry going to women has increased in all degree levels, the fraction of women who are chemists has increased, and women's salaries relative to men's have increased a little.100

The American Institute of Physics (AIP) has many mechanisms for assisting its members, both women and men. For instance, AIP regularly publishes data about education and employment in physics.101 Such information can guide the career direction of both students and degreed physicists.

99  

Harriet Kagiwada, op. cit.

100  

American Chemical Society, Domestic Status, Discrimination, and Career Opportunities of Men and Women Chemists: A Report of the American Chemical Society's 1991 Survey of Domestic Status, Employment, and Attitudes of Men and Women ACS Members, Washington, DC: ACS, October 1992.

101  

See, for instance, Susanne D. Ellis and Patrick J. Mulvey, Employment Survey 1991 (AIP Pub. No. R-282.15), New York: American Institute of Physics, October 1992.

Suggested Citation:"3 Corporate Initiatives to Recruit and Retain Women Scientists and Engineers." National Research Council. 1994. Women Scientists and Engineers Employed in Industry: Why So Few?. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2264.
×

A sampling of other professional organizations involved with promoting minority women as scientists and engineers and their work includes the following:

  • The American Physiological Society's Mentoring Program is designed to quickly integrate women into the physiology research community by matching female graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, junior faculty members, and first entrants to industry positions with female and male mentors in their subfield.
  • The National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers supports many initiatives, particularly the design and implementation of educational programs for minority students.
  • The American Society for Mechanical Engineering established a joint Board on Minorities and Women about three years ago with the objective of attracting, retaining, and promoting minorities and women within the society.
  • The National Technical Association promotes professional networking among African American scientists and engineers through periodicals and conferences.
  • The National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering increases access to engineering careers for African American, Hispanic, and Native American men and women through research and public policy analysis, publications, educational program development, and scholarship support.
  • There are also a Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers and an American Indian Science and Engineering Society.

Those who have already embarked on a career path also find professional societies useful for help in moving in a particular direction in their career or for getting lateral-type experience.102 Conferences that bring professionals—men and women, minorities or white—together are also an important way to empower them. In fact, such opportunities for networking have been shown to be so important that the Association of American Colleges has stated that they should be

102  

Harriet Kagiwada, former president of Sigma Delta Epsilon, speaking at the CWSE conference on interventions, Irvine, California, November 4, 1991.

Suggested Citation:"3 Corporate Initiatives to Recruit and Retain Women Scientists and Engineers." National Research Council. 1994. Women Scientists and Engineers Employed in Industry: Why So Few?. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2264.
×

an established part of annual meetings and other events where junior and senior people are likely to be brought together.103

Compensation and Bonuses

Salaries and bonuses can have a strong influence on the retention of women as well as men. However, as noted earlier, women scientists and engineers in industry, as in all employment sectors, tend to have lower salaries than their male counterparts. A number of companies are beginning to recognize that disparities of this nature may exist. A few companies, often spurred by women's advocacy groups, have initiated studies to gather critical data and to address inequalities, if found. An illustrative example is provided by Xerox: the Xerox Women's Council (referred to earlier) chose salary equity as one of the possible problem areas to be addressed. On request, the Council received from the company salary data for professionals in Xerox laboratories including grade, age, and years in grade. Names, of course, were not supplied. Upon examination of the data, with answers provided to questions about a few of the cases, the Council concluded that there was reasonable salary equity.

Addressing Work-Family Issues

Some companies whose employees attended the CWSE conference, as well as other U.S. corporations, have instituted programs to facilitate balance between work and family responsibilities. For instance, several companies in the San Francisco area are "training managers to be more family-friendly."104 In addition, some U.S. companies have established Work and Family Committees to aid in the retention of talented employees. Some examples follow.

103  

Roberta M. Hall and Bernice R. Sandler, Academic Mentoring for Women Students and Faculty: A New Look at an Old Way to Get Ahead, Washington, DC: Association of American Colleges, Project on the Status and Education of Women, 1983.

104  

Sue Shellenbarger, Work & family, The Wall Street Journal, May 19, 1993.

Suggested Citation:"3 Corporate Initiatives to Recruit and Retain Women Scientists and Engineers." National Research Council. 1994. Women Scientists and Engineers Employed in Industry: Why So Few?. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2264.
×

At the ALCOA Technical Center, a Work-Family Issues Committee was charged with developing recommendations to address these issues and to implement, with management approval, policies and programs to assist employees in balancing work and family. ALCOA now has in place a comprehensive program, including the following:105

  • flexible work hours, where employees can adjust their arrival and departure times as well as lunch times—which can be from 30 minutes to two hours in length;
  • staggered work schedules, with the authorization of a supervisor, so long as the employee works 40 hours per week;
  • excused absence, at the discretion of a supervisor, to handle personal emergencies or unpredictable situations;
  • unpaid personal leave for family-related matters or other circumstances requiring time away from work, up to a maximum of 6 weeks per year;
  • part-time employment, for employees with at least one year of continuous service and demonstrated good performance, for a period not to exceed three years;
  • vacation carryover of up to one-fourth of unused vacation per year;
  • on-site seminars for employees with dependent-care responsibilities (e.g., surviving toddlerhood, balancing work and family, support and care for elderly parents); and
  • the child-care referral program, funded by ALCOA Technical Center and operated by the Child Care Network, a United Way agency. This program helps employees locate caregivers near their home or workplace, educates employees on the selection of quality child care, provides workshops on child care and parenting issues, provides resource data on currently operating child care facilities in the area, and locates summer care for school-age children.106

105  

A similar program is in place at Corning. See Esther M. Conwell, op. cit.

106  

Ophelia R. Scott, op. cit.

Suggested Citation:"3 Corporate Initiatives to Recruit and Retain Women Scientists and Engineers." National Research Council. 1994. Women Scientists and Engineers Employed in Industry: Why So Few?. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2264.
×

Aerospace Corporation has undertaken several initiatives to help its employees achieve a balance between family and work responsibilities.107 For instance, provision for maternity leave was developed by the Women's Committee long before California state law required it. This leave has been taken by many women, and there is also the option to extend it by three months. Although a family leave policy is not yet in place, one is being developed. Aerospace also instituted a lactation program several years ago that has been positively received and very helpful in giving mothers the ability to continue nursing their babies. A child-care referral program operates at Aerospace, but there is no child-care facility. The increased number of outside facilities offering this service, however, make this less of an issue than it was five years ago. Finally, part-time employment and flexible scheduling both occur at Aerospace, but the flex-time is not as flexible as at many companies: an hour is allowed on either end of the day for flexible scheduling, which seems inadequate for many women who must pick up or deliver children to child-care centers.

AT&T Bell Laboratories has a number of flexible programs for its employees, including child care resources, family leave, flexible excused workdays, management personal days, leave for the care of newborn or newly adopted child, leave for family care, School Smart (which helps employees with educational issues for school-aged children), a family care development fund, adoption resource and referral, and child care and elder care reimbursement programs. They also have a lactation program similar to that of Aerospace.

Scios Nova also has developed a number of policies and benefits to encourage and support families. The maternity policy compensates employees for 90 days at full salary, provided the doctor prescribes a leave of absence beyond the standard 6 weeks. An additional month or two can be taken off without pay, and during that time all benefits are paid by the company. Due to the size of the company, Scios Nova does not provide an on-site child care center; nor does it have a policy on child care. However, it does provide employees the opportunity to set aside pretax dollars through flexible spending accounts to help defray some of the costs of child care, and it also directs employees to several organizations in the San Francisco Bay area that assist parents in finding suitable day care.

107  

Shirley McCarty, op. cit.

Suggested Citation:"3 Corporate Initiatives to Recruit and Retain Women Scientists and Engineers." National Research Council. 1994. Women Scientists and Engineers Employed in Industry: Why So Few?. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2264.
×

It has been reported that as many as 10 percent of U.S. "companies are using new strategies to address employees' child-care problems."108 On-site child-care centers have been built by a few large U.S. companies, while others, such as Schering-Plough, provide child-care subsidies to their employees.

Addressing Attrition

The turnover rate of females and minorities with high potential in many companies is high relative to that of white men. Some of those women get better employment offers elsewhere, which is good, especially if they "ditch a less promising company," reported one physicist employed in industry. However, according to James F. Kearns, executive vice-president in DuPont's Fibers Division, "Some of them [females] apparently are not confident that they will have opportunities in line with their talents."109 Companies that are committed to a diverse work force and the retention of women and minorities are beginning to study this issue, for it is important to learn whether the higher turnover rate of women scientists and engineers is a sign of a problem or a solution. As Kearns noted,

If we don't do a better job of communicating how we're working on this, some may leave because they think the company just doesn't care.

What are companies doing to halt such perceptions and low retention of women? An example is given by ALCOA Technical Center. The Center formed a retention team to quantify retention of minority and female scientists and engineers, perform cause-and-effect analyses, determine root and/or contributing causes, and compare the findings with similar measures and issues for the majority population at ALCOA Technical Center, so the causes could be classified on some shared unique scale. Following data analysis that showed strong evidence of higher

108  

Sue Shellenbarger, Work & family, The Wall Street Journal, May 19, 1993.

109  

DuPont, op. cit.

Suggested Citation:"3 Corporate Initiatives to Recruit and Retain Women Scientists and Engineers." National Research Council. 1994. Women Scientists and Engineers Employed in Industry: Why So Few?. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2264.
×

attrition among females and minorities, the retention team engaged an independent consultant to interview current and former employees to identify issues causing or contributing to terminations. Upper management has received the consultant's findings, and the retention team is currently preparing recommendations to address the issues contributing to termination.

Evaluation of Programs

With the broad range of programs offered to enhance recruitment and retention, some corporations are seeking ways to evaluate their programs in an effort to maximize their return. For example, ALCOA Technical Company has formed teams of employees to evaluate and, as needed, improve the programs. The numbers of females and minorities hired and participants in the Summer Professional Employment Program are monitored. After the flexible work schedule and family leave policies have been operational for several years, their effectiveness will be measured by such factors as productivity of workers, rates of absenteeism, returns from maternity leave, and number of employees opting for part-time employment. Meanwhile, ALCOA Technical Center continues to educate supervisors and managers on the flexible options and also on the activities of the Work-Family Issues Committee. As managers gain more knowledge of the policies and their application, it is hoped that they will encourage and support employees in their use of the flexible options. As more employees seek ways to manage work and family, the Work-Family Issues Committee expects to explore permanent part-time employment, job sharing, and excused-absence days for caring for sick family members. Additionally, as ALCOA streamlines its work force, permanent part-time employment and job sharing may be options to aid work-force reductions.110

Another example is provided by Corning Inc. Finding a lower retention rate for women and lower job satisfaction among women than men, in 1987 Corning set up what it called a Corrective Action Team. On the recommendation of this team, a number of actions were carried out similar to those listed above for the ALCOA Technical Center, as well as mentoring and counseling programs and a new career planning system. In

110  

Ophelia R. Scott, op. cit.

Suggested Citation:"3 Corporate Initiatives to Recruit and Retain Women Scientists and Engineers." National Research Council. 1994. Women Scientists and Engineers Employed in Industry: Why So Few?. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2264.
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tracking the results of these actions, the company found that by 1991 the attrition rate of women at Corning had decreased by more than a factor of 3, coming close to the attrition rate for men.111 It is noteworthy that the attrition rate for men had also dropped in this period.

The feedback and continuing activities built into the ALCOA program and the ability to track the results of actions built into the Xerox program are important illustrations of the necessity and utility of program evaluation.

The available statistics bolstered by the examples presented in this chapter, clearly indicate the need for two things. One, mentioned earlier, is accurate data on the status of women in science and engineering employed in industry on both an individual-company and industry-wide basis; this is critical to policy formulation. Second, the examples of corporate initiatives brought forth at the conference suggest the need for a compilation of as many "successful" programs as possible and a culling of the most important attributes of these programs to inform strategies and policies that address the underrepresentation of women in science and engineering in industry, as well as women's career development issues in industry.

111  

For further details, see Esther M. Conwell, op. cit.

Suggested Citation:"3 Corporate Initiatives to Recruit and Retain Women Scientists and Engineers." National Research Council. 1994. Women Scientists and Engineers Employed in Industry: Why So Few?. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2264.
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Metta Tanikawa takes measurements on an experimental weather station on a  rooftop at the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center.

(Photo: The Aerospace Corporation)

Suggested Citation:"3 Corporate Initiatives to Recruit and Retain Women Scientists and Engineers." National Research Council. 1994. Women Scientists and Engineers Employed in Industry: Why So Few?. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2264.
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This book, based on a conference, examines both quantitative and qualitative evidence regarding the low employment of women scientists and engineers in the industrial work force of the United States, as well as corporate responses to this underparticipation. It addresses the statistics underlying the question "Why so few?" and assesses issues related to the working environment and attrition of women professionals.

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