Early in my career, I attended a session at my company for all the women-identifying new hires to hear advice on navigating the workplace as a female. During the question-and-answer session, I asked, “How we can support ourselves and each other to ensure we are being paid equally and fairly to the men in our office?” The woman leading the session’s tone and body language shifted, and I could tell I had asked an unfavorable question. She responded that discussing salary was highly against company policy and we should never ask each other how much we are earning. I was embarrassed and shocked at her response. I expected a girlboss moment where she’d teach us how to fight the gender wage-gap, but instead she shut down an important conversation and chose to lean into a company policy that not only holds women back but is illegal.
This moment led to my realization that work can be a difficult landscape for women. Since then, I have experienced toxic gossipy cultures, forced competition between other women, testosterone filled boys’ clubs, blatant sexism, and being undermined and dismissed at work. I know I am not alone in this experience, as many of my female friends and colleagues have griped on the hardships we face.
It was not until I started working at Compass that I found the joy and liberation of working on an all- women-identifying team. I have found mentorship and a supportive culture where we can voice our needs and ideas. The women on our team have many distinct experiences and expertise, and we all benefit from learning from each other. Many of us are working mothers, and we promote a flexible remote schedule and work-life balance, so moms never feel like they must shirk their duties to succeed at work. I have also noticed a different level of openness and camaraderie of the women on our team, and we genuinely cheer on each other’s accomplishments. We also implore all our clients to pay their employees equitably and fairly and provide parental leave benefiting all involved in bonding with a new child. Our clients turn to the rockstar women on our team to lead them in the right direction in any people situation. At Compass, we build work environments where people thrive, and we cannot effectively consult unless we have a flourishing environment ourselves.
This is not to say men ruin work cultures. Quite the opposite as diverse workplaces routinely outperform organizations that lack diversity. Healthy work-life balance, supportive culture, fairness, mentorship, and friendship can be found in every workplace regardless of gender expression. We’d be happy to share with you some of the policies we’ve formed at Compass, so we can coach you to elevate your game. See, workplace sports references are not just for men!
Reach out for more information or support at info@wearecompass.com.
