Case Studies
Creating An Environment Where Female Employees Can ThriveCarlson recognized the importance of addressing gender inequalities as early as the 1960s and 1970s, long before its powerful female CEO, Marilyn Carlson Nelson, took over. The issue of access to healthcare exemplifies these early efforts. At the time, the company offered a medical insurance plan to its employees, but while male employees could cover their spouses and children, married women could not cover unemployed spouses and their children through their employer's plan. This was because the insurance companies through which the plans were purchased imposed limits on access in regards to married women. Carlson founder and then CEO, Curt Carlson, decided this was unfair to female employees whose husband's were not covered by an employer's health insurance plan. He decided to establish a self-funded medical plan (which didn't involve an insurance company) that would offer equal benefits to married female employees, their husbands and their dependents. Carlson became only the third company in the U.S. to offer such benefits, helping advance a movement towards corporate self-funded healthcare with equal access for all female employees. Interestingly, while Curt championed this enlightened cause to secure women's access to healthcare, he made no secret of the fact that he was disappointed at not having a son (rather two daughters) to succeed him in the family business. At one point, he even "fired" Marilyn from the company upon hearing that she had received a promotion. Knowing that her surgeon husband's schedule was unpredictable and they had four children, Curt insisted that she put her career on hold to focus on her family. Returning to the company in the late 1980s, Marilyn began to organize the company's first women's council – a best practice emerging in many successful U.S. companies at the time.
One of Marilyn's first actions as CEO was to provide in-house child care for employees at the company's headquarters in Minneapolis. Three national child-care providers today offer employee discounts in other cities. Parents can also use company-provided referral services to locate private care. In the U.S., where paid time off for new mothers is not guaranteed in legislation, Carlson offers six weeks of paid maternity leave to new mothers, with one year of service in the company as well as one week paternity leave for fathers. As part of its work-life programs, new mothers also receive baby care packages, and can take advantage of an ErgoMOMics program, which helps pregnant workers with basic ergonomics for two. For adoptive parents, Carlson offers up to six weeks of paid leave plus adoption cost reimbursements of up to $5,000. Marilyn did not stop at child care. Carlson today has many other exemplary programs for its employees and dependants – all designed to make work a more flexible undertaking. For Marilyn, it comes down simply to good business sense. "The nature of [our] businesses, especially in hotel, restaurant and travel demands flexibility and we decided to do something about it," she says. To facilitate flexibility, the company offers alternative work arrangements, including part-time, flex-time, job sharing, telecommuting, and compressed work weeks. Its resource and referral program, Lifeworks, helps employees balance work and family responsibilities. For employees who wish to take extended time off, the company offers paid and unpaid sabbaticals that allow staff members to maintain their benefits. The company also gives opportunities to women to exit the workforce for a period of time and re-enter when they are able. According to Carmen Baker, a vice president in the hotel division, "The flexibility is agreed to on an individual basis and employees make arrangements with their direct supervisors. In our hotels group we have a 'summer hours' program where [an employee] can go to a 4-day workweek, and people take advantage of it. Employees appreciate this culture, and in our employee satisfaction survey and through past surveys, that's where we see this reflected."
The company looked at its succession planning for manager level and above, where every individual was required to identify who could be their successor. Employees generally named one or two people as potential successors. Women were often on these lists but they rarely got the job when the moment of succession came. According to Marilyn, the 'like me' bias was leading to the promotion of those who were considered most like their predecessors – making it hard for women to break the chain. To address this, Carlson instituted a 360-degree review process, now used for high-potential employees who also become part of the company's executive leaders program. Developmental and coaching programs for women and men were also initiated. Marilyn says that by including men in these programs, Carlson was able to identify and promote talented women without "developing a tidal wave of opposition internally." Mentoring and education were also key ingredients to ensure a pipeline of women ready for promotion. Carlson was a founding member of and has actively participated in Menttium, a coaching company which pairs women with mentors in other companies. Mentors are both women and men, and they are selected to match the interests of women mentees. "In the beginning, we didn't have enough women in upper management. The theory was that if they paired a high-potential woman with a male executive from another company, they would be comfortable to talk about internal politics and rehearse presentations…. It was structured mentorship," explains Marilyn. In addition, the company created an executive leadership program for its employees at the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management, with a mini-MBA targeted at the service industry. Carlson's management makes sure that the classes have strong female representation. According to Marilyn, "The magic that resulted from that was that networks were created, people became strong colleagues and supported each other across genders, ethnicity, age, and businesses." Recognizing the value of female role models, Marilyn has also sponsored "Inside the Boardroom" - a leadership series at the Carlson School. She interviews women leaders about their formative experiences and career experiences and then invites professors and students to continue the conversation. She's hosted such guests as Xerox CEO Anne Mulcahy, PBS President Pat Mitchell, Tootsie Roll President Ellen Gordon, and Young & Rubicam CEO Ann Fudge. Another turning point in the organization was the creation of the Women's Executive Council, a group of Carlson female managers and external women executives who served as advisors to the company. Carlson already had a supplier diversity program through which contracts with women-owned businesses were sourced. But the engagement with the Women's Executive Council led the company to address gender also as part of its business model. The company asked some of its top female clients and suppliers to be part of this advisory group that would review and discuss how the business could better address the needs of female customers and suppliers. "We got great ideas from other companies on how they were integrating women as part of their business imperative. Through that engagement, the power of the purse was introduced to our organization, as part of relationship marketing. It brought focus on who our guests and customers are, to understand the influence of women as consumers in our market," says Marilyn. |
To Marilyn, it was clear that the contribution of women was underutilized. There were only two women executives in this multi-billion dollar, international company. Marilyn worked in various management roles, and in 1998 her father turned top leadership over to her. As Marilyn puts it, "He turned around and saw that the best man for the job was a woman." She immediately started to work on changing the internal culture so that both women and men could succeed, and the company could reap the benefits of drawing from the largest talent pool possible.
Another issue that Marilyn decided to tackle early on was the lack of women in leadership positions. "We didn't set out to say we wanted a certain percentage of women leaders. Instead we had to put a process in place that would allow women to optimize their talents," she explains. 
