Half (51%) of the manager positions (vice chairman and above) within the U.S. are girls. Globally, it’s 48%. Ladies additionally make up practically half of the board and 50% of CEO Tony Capuano’s direct experiences.
That’s in stark distinction with the market common.
Per McKinsey’s 2024 “Ladies within the Office” report, girls maintain simply 29% of C-suite roles and 34% of vice chairman positions. The Convention Board discovered that ladies accounted for less than 29% of board seats on the Russell 3000 as of 2024.
One thing totally different is going on at Marriott, an honoree on this yr’s Fortune Greatest Workplaces for Ladies™ Listing.
“It’s not simply concerning the illustration of these folks within the senior management roles; additionally it is how do they assist you navigate getting there,” says Frid Edmond, senior vice chairman of buyer engagement at Marriott and incoming government sponsor of the Ladies’s Affiliate Useful resource Group (ARG).
That’s why profession improvement conversations play such an important function. At Marriott, leaders are anticipated to usually speak to their direct experiences, as a part of their annual efficiency assessment cycle, about their profession aspirations and the way they will obtain their targets. Inside these conversations, a delicate shift has been a game-changer — what Edmond describes as a transfer from mentorship to “profession acceleration.”
Earlier than, mentors would hold an eye fixed out for alternatives, and if the celebs aligned, they had been anticipated to assist associates take the subsequent 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 could 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 provide you with three roles that I may see myself in inside the subsequent three to 5 years,” she says. “There was by no means a promise that these roles would come into play, nevertheless it was the artwork of prospects, for me, the place I noticed myself.”
It’s an train she now repeats together with her personal direct experiences, and a key ingredient in Marriott’s tradition of entry to alternative. “We’re required at each single stage inside our group to make sure that we’re creating the leaders of the longer term,” she says.
Consequently, 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 government 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 workers, and dealing dad and mom.
Allies within the group play an necessary function in mentorship and sponsorship, Edmond says.
“Nearly all of my mentors have been males, if I’m completely sincere,” she shared. However they had been invested in her progress 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 through the board presentation and gave me easy eye cues,” she says.
Simply having their presence was a giant vote of confidence, Edmond provides. “I can’t let you know what which means to me to know that these two people had been that invested in my first time presenting to the board to ensure that I used to be arrange for achievement.”
Suggestions for constructing higher workplaces in 2025
For organizations that wish to be extra like Marriott, Edmond presents a couple of pointers.
- Spend money on associates at each stage of the group
The way you spend money on associates at decrease ranges of the org chart finally impacts outcomes on the prime. Edmond, for instance, began as an hourly worker and over a 22-year profession has held seven totally different roles within the firm.
“You don’t simply soar from an hourly worker to an SVP,” she says. Inclusion requires a system of help throughout each stage within the group.
- Find time for improvement conversations all yr spherical.
Candid improvement conversations received’t occur should you solely talk about them as an afterthought or in response to an annual worker engagement survey. Your method to improvement needs to be steady and considerate, Edmond says.
- Rejoice 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 fun that, too,” Edmond says.
- Ship a transparent sign on inclusion from prime leaders.
When Marriott’s CEO Tony Capuano reaffirmed Marriott’s dedication to welcoming all, the message had a direct impression on workers.
“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 wanted.”
The message has empowered Marriott associates to proceed to interact. “We begin from a spot of welcoming all,” Edmond says. “Regardless of what’s going on within the surroundings, we’re all the time going to welcome all.”
Ted Kitterman is a content material supervisor for Nice Place To Work®.
