With an employer's record on gender diversity being a make-or-break factor for millennial job seekers, getting the gender balance right is a must for organisations.

But simply getting women into the workplace isn't enough on its own. To reap the workplace culture benefits of gender diversity, organisations need to empower female employees to reach their potential; it's about inclusivity and equality as well as diversity in the workplace.

How to empower women in the workplace?

Beware of bias

The way that your organisational processes and systems are set up may mitigate against gender diversity in the workplace. A report by ACT/EMP identifies company practices in which unconscious bias can hinder women.

These include performance evaluations based on stereotypically masculine criteria, stereotyping when assigning projects and reinforcing inequalities when rewarding performance.

Using a Workplace integration such as Survey Monkey or installing your own survey bot via Workplace Chat can be a great way to identify areas of concern.

Enable flexible working

Flexibility, whether it's part-time or remote working, helps people balance other responsibilities with work.

It isn't just for women of course – 70% of gen Yers want more flexible working options and having a mobile workforce offers multiple benefits to organisations.

But there's no doubt that giving employees the option of greater flexibility can help people stay in the workforce when they have young children or caring responsibilities.

Challenge gender stereotypes

Does your workplace have outdated ideas about what constitutes men and women's work, or how men and women should behave?

For example, is "assertive" behaviour in a man perceived as "bossy" in a woman? To be truly inclusive, you need to be aware of stereotypical memes in your business and challenge them – both in the way your company thinks and the company policy.

Find ways to amplify female voices

Support women leadership

There's also plenty of anecdotal evidence outlining how women's suggestions are ignored until men articulate them, or how women are shouted down or talked over in meetings.

Be aware of these issues, give feedback and lead by example. Find out more about women leadership in the workplace.

Open up the talent pipeline

Having women in the boardroom has been shown to benefit the bottom line, as well as offer the advantage of different perspectives.

But despite this, the Women in the workplace 2017 report reveals that although women make up 52% of the US population, they make up only 20% of c-suite roles – falling to just 3% for women of colour.

This is a reflection of how difficult it can be for women to get to the top – they're 18% less likely to get promoted than their male peers.

Make sure that female employees have contact with senior leaders and mentors

To help counter this, make sure that female employees have contact with senior leaders who can give them advice and guidance and on how to further their careers.

Make sure that you clearly signpost paths to progress in your organisation and look at things such as mentoring schemes. You can easily set up a mentoring network using the Cortado integration with Workplace.

• Workplace culture: what it is and how to create a positive culture in your organisation
• What is diversity and inclusion?
• What are organisational values and why are they important?