International Parity at Work Day is on January 11, 2025. It’s a global day of action for promoting equitable pay, regardless of a person’s race, country of origin, gender, or sexual orientation. Globally, women earn 84% of what men earn on average. The difference is stark if you’re a member of the LGBTQ+ community, an immigrant woman, a person of colour, and have children. On this International Parity at Work Day, we celebrate diverse workplaces. Let’s call out practices that are barriers to a more just and better world.

Current Status

The World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report estimates it will take 134 years to close the global gender parity gap. While progress has been made in countries like Iceland, Finland, and Norway, others like Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Yemen face significant challenges. From an economic perspective, advancing gender parity could add USD 12 trillion to the global GDP and boost countries’ economic output by as much as 35%.

Executive Search and Hiring: A Path to Equality

Leaders and organizations can play a critical role in closing the gap through these actionable strategies:

1. Adopt Gender-Neutral Job Descriptions

Use inclusive language in job postings to attract diverse candidates and reduce unconscious bias.

2. Diversify Candidate Pools

Mandate gender-balanced shortlists for leadership and key roles, ensuring women have equal opportunities to advance.

3. Reimagine Leadership Criteria

Move beyond traditional metrics like tenure or specific networks to recognize diverse leadership capabilities and experiences.

4. Implement Blind Recruitment Processes

Remove identifying information (e.g., name, gender) during early-stage reviews to focus solely on qualifications and skills.

5. Support Career Pathways

Establish mentorship and sponsorship programs that help women navigate career challenges and access opportunities for growth.

6. Set Measurable Goals

Commit to specific gender diversity targets and regularly report progress to stakeholders.

7. Foster Inclusive Cultures

Train hiring managers to recognize and reduce bias, and promote flexible policies that support work-life balance for all employees.

8. Work with professional Executive Search Consultants to ensure an inclusive search process

Benefits of Working with Executive Search Consultants Like AltoPartners for an Inclusive Search Process

1. Access to Diverse Talent Pools

Executive search consultants leverage their global networks and databases to identify candidates from underrepresented groups, ensuring a broad and inclusive talent pipeline.

2. Unbiased Recruitment Practices

Professionals like those at AltoPartners are trained to mitigate unconscious bias, ensuring that every candidate is evaluated based on their skills, experiences, and leadership potential.

3. Customized Strategies for Diversity

Consultants design tailored search processes to align with an organisation’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) goals, ensuring candidates reflect the values and needs of the company.

4. Specialized Expertise

Firms like AltoPartners bring deep knowledge of market trends and cultural nuances, enabling them to advise on inclusive hiring practices across industries and regions.

5. Transparent and Measurable Outcomes

Executive search consultants provide clear metrics and reporting on the diversity of candidate pools, helping organisations track progress toward their inclusion objectives.

6. Leadership Capability Assessment

Beyond just hiring for diversity, consultants assess candidates for their ability to foster inclusive cultures and drive DEI initiatives within organizations.

7. Enhanced Employer Branding

Inclusive search processes signal an organisation’s commitment to equity, helping attract top-tier candidates who prioritize diversity and fairness in their career choices.

8. Long-Term Success

By focusing on inclusive hiring, executive search consultants help build diverse leadership teams that drive innovation, improve decision-making, and reflect the global customer base.

Partnering with expert consultants like AltoPartners ensures not only diverse candidate representation but also a commitment to creating lasting, impactful organizational change. AltoPartners are proud global signatories of the AESC’s Diversity Pledge and we believe that achieving gender parity is not just a moral imperative but also a strategic advantage, unlocking innovation and growth.