PAR at Work

PAR at Work Webinars

PAR at Work Archives

Path to PAR

The WICT Guide for an Equitable Workplace

Past PAR Initiative Research

WICT > Research & Advocacy > PAR Initiative > PAR at Work > PAR at Work Newsletter: July 2009 WICT Wire

PAR at Work Newsletter: July 2009 WICT Wire

From the July 2009 WICT Wire

WICT PAR at Work: A Vital Analysis

Summertime has finally arrived! For many of us our time will be spent traveling to family vacations at the shore, enjoying some R&R at the local pool or indulging in the novel that has been sitting on our nightstand, but for WICT’s PAR Initiative team, project manager, Joanne Cleaver; WICT Interim President Parthavi Das; and WICT Manager, Initiatives, Paula Atallah; it is CRUNCH time. Now that all participating companies have submitted their survey data the PAR Initiative team is diving deep into the analysis phase of the yearly research project.

We spoke with PAR Initiative project manager, Joanne Cleaver, to unveil what exactly goes on AFTER the data has been collected. What we have learned is just how VITAL this analysis is for participating companies, the overall scope of the Initiative and most importantly for you, the member!
There are three main phases for analyzing PAR Initiative submissions:

Fact-Checking
Interviews
Objective Evaluations

Let’s explore these phases in greater detail!

Fact-Checking
Once the team has captured the data from the online reporting system, it is fact checked to ensure no errors have crept in (such as misplaced decimal point or mathematical error.) For repeat participants, the PAR team is able to fact check to a greater degree because they can compare current data against all previous year’s submitted data.

Overall, the team is looking for significant changes in a participant’s data against numbers reported in previous years. Cleaver indicated, “What we expect to see is a slow steady increase, perhaps a 1-3 percentage point [change] in the proportion of women at every level…given the industry norm.” The team’s radar is set to flag any sort of variations in the numbers, be it a significant drop or jump.

In fact, these ebbs and flows in the demographic numbers indicate to the PAR team, in Cleaver’s words, “something is going on here and we need to find out more!” To do so, the PAR team conducts interviews with key human resources personnel at the participating companies for further exploration of these statistical changes and other relevant issues regarding Pay Equity, Advancement Opportunities and Resources for Work/Life Support.

Interviews
The interview process is one of the most distinguishing characteristics and greatest strengths of WICT’s PAR Initiative. It is this individual follow-up with each participating company to discuss elements of their business culture that enables the PAR team to evaluate and contextualize the evolution of best practices and policies for women in the workplace.

Cleaver points out that through these interviews, “We are able to capture emerging trends. We are able to really understand how operators and programmers are thinking, how they are weaving their priorities and commitment to advancing women into their responses to changing business climates and changing business conditions. We are also able to learn about specific applications of more traditional programs and understand how they are playing out in perhaps new ways. “

The interview process also affords the PAR team an opportunity to capture impactful corporate efforts that have not yet translated into formal programs. Cleaver notes poignantly, “There is a lot of innovation that we don’t even know to ask about unless we have a more open-ended conversation… [These] interviews enable us to find out about initiatives, experiments, and grassroots developments that we don’t even know to ask about on the survey because they don’t fit into any standardized questions.”

As Cleaver sees it most importantly during these interviews, “We find out how the stretch goals that WICT has set for the industry are really helping to shape the thinking of the industry and how specific women’s careers are both shaped by and also lead the priorities of the PAR Initiative.”

Share Your PAR Story
The WICT PAR team will be conducting these interviews in July and August. If your employer participates in the PAR Initiative and you have a good PAR story to share about how pay equity, advancement or work/life programs have enabled you to advance in your career, gained new business skills etc., offer your story to your HR department and request to be interviewed. Let your HR department know that WICT wants to hear from women at all levels and stages of their careers. You just may be the perfect illustration of a trend the team has been tracking. To find out more, contact Parthavi Das at pdas@wict.org or Paula Atallah at patallah@wict.org.

Objective Evaluations
The final stage of analysis is to objectively grade participating companies. Cleaver asserts, “We acknowledge what companies are actually doing, not their ability to take a survey.” The intent of WICT’s PAR Initiative is to carry on a long-term conversation with those

companies that compose the cable telecommunication industry. In evaluating the submitted data and information disclosed in the interviews, as Cleaver explains it, “We are looking for that impact on the business. We are not simply asking questions about how [a company] layers on more programs. We don’t think that having more and more programs and formal initiatives is necessarily the answer if they don’t offer feedback to specifically increase or retain the number of women in the workplace.”

In order to facilitate such business impact, the PAR team composes individual scorecards for each participating company. WICT capitalizes on its insightful understanding of the industry’s culture and business case for advancing women to provide low cost, and in many cases no cost, tools that cable telecommunication companies can use right away to address the issues relevant to the PAR initiative.

WICT Partners With The Industry
Cleaver sums it up best, “WICT’s mission is to be a real partner with cable telecommunication employers for getting down to the nuts and bolts of advancing women…We want to collaborate with employers to make this happen.” The PAR Initiative is the culmination of WICT’s effort for such association with the industry.

Yet the significance of this initiative for WICT’s 8,000 members and the entire industry is that equitable treatment benefits everyone. Plus, there is a lot to be gleaned from the initiative for an individual’s own career path. WICT’s PAR Initiative provides tools to translate industry trends into a specific career situation and workplace. Cleaver adds, “The PAR Initiative gives you real evidence to ask smart questions to advocate for yourself and other women. It provides a statistical framework and evidence for change. The change could be for yourself, for your department or work group/team, or for the project/initiative that you hope to launch at your workplace. “

For questions regarding WICT’s PAR Initiative, or to learn more about how you can help your company’s participation in PAR, please contact Parthavi Das at pdas@wict.org or Paula Atallah at patallah@wict.org. Enjoy your summer.

| More

Home | Our Partners | Press Room | Site Map