Avoiding Unintentional Sexism

[Shining One]

I'd like some advice on how to present some findings from team. I manage a small team of engineers responsible for our corporate hardware, including end user laptops and mobile phones. Our CIO asked me to look into why we have such a high rate of depot service requests (mail out machines for repair) and mobile phone replacements. I had my team run a report on all of the tickets and we found that the vast majority (80%+) of these are from women. Once I saw the report, the root cause was obvious. Most of the women in the office do not use the laptop bags we provide or the belt clip/holster combos we provide for the phones.

 

 

I'm asking for advice because I received negative feedback for presenting similar findings earlier in my career. I'm thinking that the best approach would be for me to leave the names off the report and just present the statistics. I'll have to discuss that with the CIO though since he specifically asked for names.

[ufo8mycat]

Once I saw the report, the root cause was obvious. Most of the women in the office do not use the laptop bags we provide or the belt clip/holster combos we provide for the phones.

 

 

That isn't exactly a root cause analysis why don't you contact a sample (say, 10% or every fourth name on the list and ask them what happened?

 

Women's clothing rarely accommodates those clips/holsters? maybe you need a different type of laptop bag? If you really want to present results then you need to find out what happened rather than "the obvious" as it may not be true.

 

I would leave names out of any presentation. I don't think it is any sort of sexism. Women lose more phone and laptops than men in your organisation.

 

The key issue is - why? Then that brings you to options for solutions.

 

I never used the work issued laptop bag as they were a deathly combination of ugly, impractical and unergonomic. Those bricks weighed a tonne.

[Shining One]

That isn't exactly a root cause analysis why don't you contact a sample (say, 10% or every fourth name on the list and ask them what happened?

 

Women's clothing rarely accommodates those clips/holsters? maybe you need a different type of laptop bag? If you really want to present results then you need to find out what happened rather than "the obvious" as it may not be true.

I should have been a bit more clear. The report provided details on each service call. With the exception of a few for water damage, all of the laptops and phones had impact damage. In about 25% of the cases, the users admitted to dropping their laptops/phones. The majority "don't know" how it happened.

 

I can understand not using the belt clips, but at least use the phone protector. At the very least, don't keep your unprotected phone in your purse next to your keys (that was in one of the tickets). As for the bags, we provide three unisex bag types: Standard laptop bags, backpacks, and rolling laptop bags.

 

I would leave names out of any presentation. I don't think it is any sort of sexism.

I discussed this with the CIO. He wants the names in the report. He will be presenting it though, so I'm off the hook. Apparently, the hardware chosen by IT was being blamed for the down time and high number of service calls, so he will be using the report to address that with the department heads who were complaining.

 

I never used the work issued laptop bag as they were a deathly combination of ugly, impractical and unergonomic.

It's a laptop bag. You're not strolling into a club with it. I don't see how they are impractical. They are designed to protect your laptop. What would you consider practical? I'll agree with you on the last point. I use a backpack for that reason.

 

 

As for solutions, we're going to mandate that people use the protection methods provided by the company (unless the CEO overrules him).

[ufo8mycat]

It's a laptop bag. You're not strolling into a club with it. I don't see how they are impractical. They are designed to protect your laptop. What would you consider practical? I'll agree with you on the last point. I use a backpack for that reason.

 

.

 

Most big4 have standards of dress. They expect you to be in a suit and be better dressed than your clients. I know a lot of people don't care about their lap top bags but I do, it needs to be as polished as the rest of the suit I am expected to wear.

 

But generally i still have to carry a handbag as the laptop, readings, wallet, more readings and notes and lipstick generally doesn't fit in the standard think brick bags

 

Now I am self employed I have a mac and a backpack but to be honest, a laptop bag is for carrying around the laptop, no so much for protecting it. We just used carry them around the office and to meetings close by and we had a few fatalities.

[chumble]

I should have been a bit more clear. The report provided details on each service call. With the exception of a few for water damage, all of the laptops and phones had impact damage. In about 25% of the cases, the users admitted to dropping their laptops/phones. The majority "don't know" how it happened.

 

I can understand not using the belt clips, but at least use the phone protector. At the very least, don't keep your unprotected phone in your purse next to your keys (that was in one of the tickets). As for the bags, we provide three unisex bag types: Standard laptop bags, backpacks, and rolling laptop bags.

 

I discussed this with the CIO. He wants the names in the report. He will be presenting it though, so I'm off the hook. Apparently, the hardware chosen by IT was being blamed for the down time and high number of service calls, so he will be using the report to address that with the department heads who were complaining.

 

It's a laptop bag. You're not strolling into a club with it. I don't see how they are impractical. They are designed to protect your laptop. What would you consider practical? I'll agree with you on the last point. I use a backpack for that reason.

 

 

As for solutions, we're going to mandate that people use the protection methods provided by the company (unless the CEO overrules him).

 

If on the road, I don't have time to secure it in a ridiculously padded separate Belkin bag. Frankly, it gets wedged naked between the center console and the passenger seat most of the time. Cuz that's where it's handy.

 

When walking to/from the hotel, it probably gets stashed into my unpadded messenger bag with all the other paper items I need. Because that's handy too. Your s***ty laptop bag is never wide enough to accomodate my other things, and I'm not going to carry an extra bag over my shoulder when I'm already lugging a duffel bag, messenger bag, lunch bag, and coffee thermos. Nor do I want to unpack things when it's time to turn your laptop in.

 

Stuff breaks sometimes. Hard to believe it's an executive-level issue, with people being singled out.

[contact1]

Hard to believe it's an executive-level issue, with people being singled out.

 

When lost of money is involved, it really isn't. Companies will find anything they can to help save themselves money and increase profits

[Shining One]

It's only an executive-level issue because IT is being blamed for hardware failures and the resulting downtime. Staff members report to their managers that they have to take their laptops for IT to service (without explaining why). Those managers complain up to their VPs over lost productivity. Those VPs complain to the CIO, accusing IT of purchasing substandard equipment.

 

 

It's far from an epidemic, but since the complaints have reached this level, we need to address. Individuals are being singled out due to the convenient lack of information being provided to department heads. The vast majority of men in our company use the provided protective measures, including our CEO. This is why I was concerned about how I presented the results.

 

 

Thank you all for the feedback. I'm off the hook for the meeting since the CIO is going to handle it all at the VP level. He will either mandate that end users make use of our protective measures or we will buy these for users who can't take care of company equipment: Rugged Laptops ? Dell Latitude XFR | Dell

[Got it]

I would address it with the individuals directly or you can send out a general message to all and say that there will be a follow up if conditions don't improve.

 

I use a battery pack cover that has been great protection and gives me extra juice. I buy it myself, the company doesn't supply it. If we have someone with multiple replacements they are flagged and then charged full cost if it is a habitual issue.

 

So you can have HR roll out a policy that addresses habitual violators.

[Got it]

Another idea, as I am a big "seek first to understand, then be understood" person is do a survey addressing the issue and asking the employees why they may have an issue with phone breakage, etc. Get the feedback to see if it is dress issue, etc. and maybe there is something that the company can help do to minimize the problem.

[GemmaUK]

At my company we buy smaller lappys for women as ..well..we know they already carry two bags when on foot (handbag and lunch/paperwork).

In high heels too for a meeting? Sexist but we expect this of them..

Heels look good.

 

 

What do your managers expect?

[Shining One]

I would address it with the individuals directly or you can send out a general message to all and say that there will be a follow up if conditions don't improve.

 

I use a battery pack cover that has been great protection and gives me extra juice. I buy it myself, the company doesn't supply it. If we have someone with multiple replacements they are flagged and then charged full cost if it is a habitual issue.

 

So you can have HR roll out a policy that addresses habitual violators.

HR doesn't want to deal with it, so it's an IT issue. The money doesn't hit their budget, so they have no reason to care. Also, they're one of the bigger violators.

Another idea, as I am a big "seek first to understand, then be understood" person is do a survey addressing the issue and asking the employees why they may have an issue with phone breakage, etc. Get the feedback to see if it is dress issue, etc. and maybe there is something that the company can help do to minimize the problem.

We allow users to purchase and expense their own cases up to a certain point if they choose not to use the ones provided. The users in question simply don't use any protection.

At my company we buy smaller lappys for women as ..well..we know they already carry two bags when on foot (handbag and lunch/paperwork).

In high heels too for a meeting? Sexist but we expect this of them..

Heels look good.

 

What do your managers expect?

The female dress code does not require heels, even for client visits. We considered deploying smaller laptops across the organization twice in the last couple years, but the CFO rejected the significantly higher cost. It's strange to have different policies for men and women. At my company, we have a specific budget tied to a role. If you're a Level 1 Tech, you get $3,000 worth of hardware baked into the cost of hire. It just seems weird to have a company policy that says: If you're Level 1 Male Tech, you get $3,000 worth of hardware and if you're a Level 1 Female Tech, you get $3,400 worth of hardware.

 

In any case, this has been handled. The policy has been communicated out as of yesterday. There was a bit of grumbling, but we had a lot of people (including many of the top offenders) collect laptop bags over the last two days.

[preraph]

I think you did right giving the CIO all the information. He can deal with it. If I had to deal with it, I would do it by having everyone, not just the women, sign an Equipment Maintenance and Upkeep Guidelines and require specific protective handling in there. Then if the problem continued to be skewed all women after that notice, I'd talk to each one individually and any men as well and warn them to be more careful or they're in violation of the care guidelines. You never have to call out women as a group on that, but it's perfectly fair to sit down with each one who had a problem and ask for details and in the process, let them know this is not going unnoticed.