More than 250 people participated in the “Women in the Workplace: Gender Equity, Diversity & Inclusion” event held Nov. 6 at Sacramento City Hall.
The event, hosted by Mayor Pro Tem Angelique Ashby and sponsored by Kaiser Permanente, featured a presentation from management consulting firm McKinsey & Company, which produces an annual report on the topic.
“It was an honor to welcome McKinsey & Company to City Hall and to engage in a dialogue that’s critical to everyone in our city,” Ashby said.
In its fifth year, the “Women in the Workplace” report analyzes data from nearly 600 companies and a quarter million survey respondents. It is nationally recognized as the premier compilation of data sets addressing women’s experiences in the workplace.
This year marked the first time data about public sector employees — including those working for the City of Sacramento — were included in the report.
The 2019 report found, in part, that “there are signs that the glass ceiling is cracking … but a broken rung prevents women from reaching the top.”
“The biggest obstacle women face on the path to senior leadership is at the first step up to manager,” the report stated. “For every 100 men promoted and hired to manager, only 72 women are promoted and hired.”
The report offered several steps companies can take to fix their “broken rung,” including requiring diverse slates for hiring and promotions, putting evaluators through unconscious bias training and establishing clear evaluation criteria.
The City already is developing many of these steps to increase diversity and equity in the workplace, officials said.
The City’s relationship with McKinsey & Company began in 2017 when Ashby hosted a special session at City Hall with experts from the firm.
In 2015, Ashby worked closely with the City Auditor to develop Sacramento’s first gender report card. Since then the City has hired a diversity and equity manager, created an annual “Ethnicity & Gender Diversity Report” and provided training for addressing bias in every department.