Inclusive practices boost engagement for female managers

A 2025 Gallup report on the state of the global workplace shows a fall in employee engagement that’s felt especially keenly by female managers. 

The potential threat to business productivity, to gender representation at leadership level, and to the all-important female role model for younger colleagues is something the world needs to take seriously. 

So, how can championing inclusive work practices stem this disengagement tide? 

One of the things I see in my role as claims and assistance director is the effectiveness of empowering, rather than micromanaging, female managers. 

In other words, inspiring and supporting women to navigate their own journeys to find solutions that work for the business, for our clients and for them – and that drives true engagement in the process. 

Recently, for example, a senior member of my team returned from maternity leave. 

By asking her: “Where do you want to land?”, and giving her the space to do things a little differently, I enabled her to shape her own way back to work. 

Being inclusive also means listening to women’s (and other) voices, be that via engagement surveys, team huddles or just a one-to-one chat over a cuppa with a senior leader.

Nikki Richmond-Jones, Charles Taylor Assistance

As a result, she’s created a five-day working week condensed into four days and has masterminded initiatives that have significantly enhanced our business performance and staff retention. 

Crucially, she hasn’t had to choose between career and family – she belongs in both worlds.

Culture fit

Championing inclusive practices more widely and fostering a sense of belonging to drive engagement means shaping the right workplace culture. 

This might be by creating variations of contract that allow staff to propose changes to their working patterns. It might also be by embedding wellbeing champions and mentoring practices. 

Or it might be by encouraging a supportive environment in which staff contribute to and celebrate each other’s successes. 

Importantly, being inclusive also means listening to women’s (and other) voices, be that via engagement surveys, team huddles or just a one-to-one chat over a cuppa with a senior leader. 

Just recently, for instance, here at Charles Taylor Assistance we’ve used workplace surveys to highlight a lack of transparency around professional development and responded to this by creating clear development criteria. 

This means that all staff, female or otherwise, know exactly what they need to do to get a pay rise or progress up the career ladder. 

Delving deeper 

The Gallup report mentioned earlier also shows that training is key to keeping leaders passionate about their roles, and that both the managers who receive training and the teams led by trained managers are around 20% more invested in their work. 

But training for female managers isn’t just about funding continuous learning opportunities such as professional qualifications. 

It’s also about opening up opportunities to all and then delving deeper to allow them to explore the different angles and nuances of leadership, from handling difficult conversations to building resilience. It’s this deeper investment that drives real engagement.

In my role today, I’m surrounded by a team of outstanding women who I’ve inspired, coached and supported to be the best they can, and this enables me to do my job well. By sharing the load with them, I demonstrate that a leader doesn’t have to be the master of everything to everyone. 

And this is another important message to women as they consider the responsibility of leadership roles with us: the support network is there.