WORKSHIFTER - Dispatches from the New Executive Frontier

It cannot be denied that the landscape of the workplace is changing dramatically for everyone, but until last week I had yet to really investigate what this means for women in the workplace. As a woman who has moved through the corporate ranks, I have seen firsthand our progress and also the unique obstacles for which we have and still need to overcome to accelerate that progress—all while adapting to the overarching changes that face us all.

Last week I had a great conversation with Alexandria Zendrian who writes a blog on FastCompany.com to speak about just that. She introduced me to a survey entitled Workplace Insights, which was conducted by Adecca USA, a Melville, New York-based staffing company. They polled 2,521 adults, 1,407 of whom were employed on a full-time or part-time basis. Evidently, 59 percent of workers surveyed think women are treated differently than men in the workplace, with 42 percent thinking that women are treated worse. The survey also concluded that while we continue to see women breaking barriers and taking on more leadership roles, the recent findings show that there are still opportunities for progress to be made in the area of gender equality.

While I agree that there is still room to crack this glass ceiling, I think that the direction in which the workplace is heading will speed things up. There has been a power shift in the workplace. In the past, the agreement was: the employee gave loyalty in exchange for the employer to give security. The '90s began to change all that with downsizing, re-engineering and off shoring. Today, the baby boomer brain drain and the current state of the economy are certainly propagating this shift. Now, the employee gives talent, and the organization provides opportunities. For the first time, the control and power are shifting back to the people and I think this will only benefit the professional woman.

Another element we should consider is the importance of social skills in today’s workplace and how they are becoming a driver of success for the individual. As social networking leads to better opportunity this will positively impact women because women drive most of the purchasing power and are good at social networking—two necessary skills needed for this change to occur.