Best Companies for Women in Sales
All Companies (535 DiversityInc Top 50 participants)
DiversityInc Top 50
38%
33%
30%
42%
39%
42%
27%
22%23%
WOMEN IN SALES COMPANY COMPARISONS
33%
28%
31%
37%35%35% 34%
28%
31%
In Profit & Loss
Positions
Promotions in
Management
WHAT THE DATA SHOWS
Their numbers reflect that effort. DiversityInc studied seven com- panies in different industries
with strong initiatives to help women
in revenue-generating roles. They (and
their 2011 DiversityInc Top 50 ranks) are:
PricewaterhouseCoopers, No. 3; AT&T, No.
4; Ernst & Young, No. 5; Kraft Foods, No.
9; Colgate-Palmolive Co., No. 10; American
Express Co., No. 13; and Procter & Gamble,
No. 25.
We found a significant difference in
their results. When compared with the 535
companies that participated in the 2011
DiversityInc Top 50 survey, these seven
companies had 15 percent more women in
P&L roles, 23 percent more women in the
top level (CEO and direct reports) and 22
percent more women in the top 10 percent
highest-paid employees in the company.
Reports
2nd Level of
Management
CEO & Direct
MANAGEMENT LEVELS ACHIEVED ;
How do they do it? What best practices
do they use that enable them to hold on and
promote female talent at this level? The key
word is “flexibility.”
BEST PRACTICES
“We strive for clarity of busi- ness objectives and deliv- erables to allow managers
and employees the flexibility to determine
where, when and how the work gets done
to accomplish these,” says Jim Norman,
Kraft Foods’ vice president of talent
acquisition, diversity and inclusion. “This
is especially key in field positions, where
constant commute and travel is essential to
a successful relationship with customers.”
In other words, if the sales goals are
met, it doesn’t matter where and when the
executive is physically in the office. Oswalt,
3rd Level of
Management
10% Highest Paid
“We always
like to say
we can be
flexible for
the right
people.
People want
to deliver and
the company
has shifted
the mindset
to focusing
on what gets
done, not how
you get it
done.”
VALERIE OSWALT
KRAFT FOODS
