With all the recent talks about workplace diversity, there were preconceptions that men are preferred over women. An MSN poll hosted by Business Insider showed that gender diversity was not the top priority in a workplace. With this, women are dealing with a battle to achieve workplace equality. We are delighted to have been featured in an article posted by Business Insider with regard to gender diversity in the workplace. We believe that anyone can be a part of the best team whether you’re a man or a woman.

Almost one in three men said it was “not important at all” to have gender diversity in the workplace, according to a MSN poll for Business Insider. Almost one in four women said the same.

About one in five respondents – both men and women – said they prefer to work with men, far more than expressed a preference for working with women.

Two in five men think women are treated “very fairly” in the US workforce. Nearly one in five women said the same.

Women are facing an uphill battle in achieving equality at work.

“If you don’t think gender diversity is important, then you won’t have the best team you could possibly have,” said Peter Riccio, founding partner at New York-based recruitment firm Atlas Search.

Riccio’s recruiting company has created flexible schedules for all staffers so they can properly attend to children, family emergencies, and the like. That planning includes having junior staffers take up administrative tasks that would pile up for more senior workers if they leave work in the afternoon — which is expensive up front, but pays out in the long run, allowing him to keep on experienced talent and allowing them to use their time more efficiently while also attending to personal matters.

“Rather than you have to be at the job 9 to 5, you can work from home,” Riccio said. “If there’s someone who needs to leave at 4 every day to pick up kids from school, their hours don’t necessarily change.

“On paper, in the beginning, it costs more money, but we get a lot more return on it,” Riccio added. He said this method has allowed him keep on one of his star moneymakers, a recruiter who is also a mother, and that this method has also allowed her to more efficiently allocate her time at work.

 

Read More: Many still prefer to work with men over women – and it shows why women face an uphill battle