A new study says companies with more women on their boards—and men who listen to what they say—are better at keeping their employees safe from workplace accidents.
In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, some observers theorized that much of the excessive risk-taking and general recklessness that led to the collapse of the sector’s first victim, Lehman Brothers, might have been avoided if the investment bank had been run by cooler-headed women, and called Lehman Sisters. The logic behind that premise has now been extended to—and confirmed in—measurements of workplace safety performance. A new study found that employee protection levels are generally higher at companies with multiple, outspoken females on their boards.
That’s the conclusion of “From the Boardroom to the Jobsite: Female Board Representation and Workplace Safety,” written by a pair of Notre Dame professors and a colleague from Villanova University. Examining government and corporate worker safety data from 266 companies between 2002 to 2011, the trio determined that the number of workplace accidents and injuries tended to be lower at businesses that had higher numbers of women on their boards.
The main reason, the research found, was that “boards with a higher representation of female directors prioritize and thus enhance workplace safety due to women’s distinct social-cognitive perspectives on stakeholders, risk avoidance, and regulatory compliance.”
In addition to that, the study said women on the boards of companies with better employee protection records also brought “more experience in community outreach and philanthropy” to the job than male peers, “making them more likely to advocate for prosocial issues.”
Maybe the “Lehman Sisters” theory was grounded in a lot more empirical evidence than people imagined.
Even so, Kaitlin Wowak, an associate professor of business analytics at Notre Dame, warned that improved workplace safety results weren’t obtained merely by increasing the number of women on boards. It also required them getting male members to take their input seriously, and act upon it.
“(Women’s) influence on future workplace safety increases significantly when they hold powerful positions on key board committees, because they feel more comfortable speaking up and get better traction on their ideas,” Wowak, one of the authors of the study, told university publication Notre Dame News.
Once that happens, the research showed, that increased focus on employee protection and compliance with federal and state workplace safety regulations. It then ensured all that gets passed down throughout the company, and enforced through formalized rules and ongoing feedback.
“A board with more women will specifically ask the top management team to report to them on workplace safety,” Notre Dame assistant professor of information technology, analytics and, operations Yoonseock Son told the publication. “Women will set the tone at the top that employees must strictly follow rules, including safety guidelines.”
Increased workplace safety obtained though better boardroom gender balance had several positive consequences. To begin with, companies with a greater focus on avoiding employee accidents and injuries reduced their share of the $170 billion a year those incidents cost U.S. businesses.
Meanwhile, the study found that workplace safety also improved in businesses with higher ethnic and racial diversity among board members. That increased opening to wider ranges of backgrounds typically began with more women breaking through first, the report said.
“With more females in the upper echelons, the effect of similar minority representation on future workplace safety becomes even stronger, and vice versa,” Wowak said.
The research found that executives from underrepresented demographic groups inject different sensibilities to the traditional business perspectives and priorities of what previously were White, male dominated boards. As a result, it added, increasingly beneficial results including better workplace safety were obtained as those newer arrivals fully assumed the responsibilities of their positions.
“Having power reduces their inhibitions, limits interference from others, and provides more opportunities to speak up and steer discussions,” Son said. “And boards facing greater scrutiny are more likely to leverage their unique perspectives.”
By: Why Companies with More Female Board Members Have Better Workplace Safety
