Women in the Workforce: How Businesses Honor Them in 2014

By Lewis Robinson

Women are making leaps and bounds in the business world. Whether they are benefitting their employers by sales forecasting, overcoming roadblocks in volunteerism or leading their organizations to greatness as CEOs, they are finally being recognized by companies nationwide. Here are three examples of businesses that are honoring their female employees for all that they do.

1. Anita Borg Institute

ABI (the Anita Borg Institute) awarded Bank of America the Top Company in 2014 for Women in Computing. ABI is a nonprofit organization which has dedicated itself to inspiring, guiding and connecting women in technologically innovative organizations. They chose Bank of America as this year’s winner for their Computing ABIE Award, which will be presented on May 8th at the annual Women of Vision Awards Banquet in Santa Clara, Calif, because of its representation of women among its team of technological experts (and with only a 3 percent turnover rate). Bank of America’s Global Technology & Operations Executive Cathy Bessant says that the company is developing women to be great technologists as well as great leaders, and although they have made great progress there is still much to be done. Previous winners of the award include American Express, IBM and Intel.

Along with the Top Company award, ABI also distributes Women of Vision Individual Awards for three women in the categories of Social Impact, Leadership and Innovation. The Social Impact award went to Kathrin Winkler, senior vice president of EMC Corp. The Leadership award went to the President of Harvey Mudd College, Dr. Maria Klawe. The Innovation Award went to Dr. Tal Rabin, who is both a research staff member and manager at the Cryptography Research Group at IBM’s T.J. Watson Research Center.

2. Salesforce

Salesforce.com has a Woman of the Month campaign that recognizes women who help make the company a popular place to work. The honorees are nominated by coworkers, and the winners are chosen by FemmeForce, an internal network.

February’s Salesforce Woman of the Month was Shawna Wolverton, Senior Director of Platform Product Management. She offers this advice to other women in the workforce: To someone who is just starting out, she says to look for advisors and mentors who can help you on your journey. For women who want to get ahead, she says to go look around and do the tasks that need to get done. And what about productivity at work? Wolverton advises booking yourself out on your calendar so that you have the time you need to get things done. Finally, she recommends that women talk to each other for help and support both in the workplace and outside of it. She says women have much to learn from each other.

3. WFF and Campbell Soup

The Women’s Foodservice Forum (WFF) and Campbell Soup Co. selected Julie Lim as the Volunteer of the Year for 2014. Julie Lim is the director of product development and national account executive for Royal Cup Coffee. The award is given to one who embodies the mission and goals of the WFF and has made both sustainable and significant contributions. Julie is active both with WFF and United Way, as well as various other volunteer programs in and around the Los Angeles area.

--

Not only are these extraordinary women examples of great leadership and service, the companies they work for are also ambassadors for helping to mentor and support women in the workforce. They are at the forefront of our nation’s growth and acceptance of exemplary women, and as such, other companies and organizations would do well to emulate their examples.

About the author: Lewis Robinson is a freelance business consultant specializing in CRM and sales. He's begun multiple corporations dealing with marketing and market research, and over the past 27 years has been recognized for his entrepreneurial advice and business insights.