Exacerbated by COVID-related layoffs and furloughs, the needle for growing women and diversity in hospitality leadership barely moved in the past year, according to the 2021 Women in Hospitality Industry Leadership report from Castell Project.
The nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating the careers of women professionals in the hospitality industry said in its report that the effects of the pandemic on women and minorities were particularly noticeable.
Overall, the odds of a woman reaching the executive leadership level (CEO, partner/principal, president, C-suite) were one woman to 5.9 men at the end of 2019. A year later, at the end of 2020, odds were 5.7 men per woman. The challenge for the industry, Castell Project said, is to fully develop a diverse talent pool so the best candidate for the company can emerge. The best candidate is sometimes, but not always, male.
“Returning to the status quo should not be the goal,” added Peggy Berg chair, Castell Project. “The industry lost 479,000 employees (35%) over the past year according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics; this is a massive reset. We believe this offers companies a once-in-a-generation opportunity to build stronger organizations by benefiting from the full-pool of diverse talent.”
Berg cited the May 2020 McKinsey & Company Diversity Wins report, which stated there is a substantial performance differential – 48% – between the most and least gender-diverse companies. “This is critical for the hospitality industry where leading companies also have the most robust diversity initiatives,” Berg said. As an industry that feels workforce pressure, we need to do better for women who want career advancement in addition to families and for men who want families as well as career advancement. The companies that perform best in the new post-pandemic market will be companies with diverse leadership.”
This research is supported by the AHLA Foundation (AHLAF). To download a copy of the report, please visit www.CastellProject.org.