Providing a Safe, Healthy Workplace
Providing a safe workplace that maintains the workforce’s physical and mental health is fundamental to keeping employees engaged and satisfied. Infrastructure sectors face many challenges in this area given that many workers spend a lot of time in the field, sometimes in remote places where it may be difficult for management to monitor behavior. It is therefore extremely important for utilities to set policies and standards that explicitly reject all forms of bullying, sexual harassment, and gender-based violence, and to create reporting and response mechanisms to deal with violations. This section provides tools that can help companies create stand alone policies, as well as guidance on how to incorporate these and other gender-related workplace topics into a corporate code of conduct or ethics. Resources on gender and sex-related workplace safety and hygiene are also provided.
Incorporate Gender Into Company Codes of Conduct
| Resource | Description | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Gender Equality in Codes of Conduct Guidance | This guidance note provides a framework for firms seeking to create gender-sensitive codes of conduct for themselves and their supply chains. | Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) |
| Integrating Gender into Workplace Policies | This document covers a broad variety of topics companies should consider in order to create and implement policies that improve gender equality in the workplace. | U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) |
| Examples | ||
| Code of Business Conduct: Performance that Drives Progress | This is the code of conduct of the parent company of six US electric utilities. | Exelon Corporation |
| Code of Business Ethics | This is the code of conduct of a large US-based diversified energy company with a woman CEO. | Duke Energy |
| Code of Conduct & Ethics - Doing the Right Thing | This is the code of conduct of Kenya’s national, publicly listed electric utility. | Kenya Power & Lighting Company Limited (KPLC) |
| Gender Sensitive Code of Conduct | This gender-tailored code of conduct was created by a specialized gender consultancy for an entrepreneurship center at the London School of Economics (LSE). | LSE Generate/ Gender Rise |
Prevent Workplace Bullying
| Resource | Description | Source |
|---|---|---|
| A Toolkit for Addressing Workplace Harassment | The toolkit covers such topics as how to receive and respond to complaints of workplace bullying. | Vancouver Island University |
| Bullying | This site contains tools and resources for both businesses and workers to prevent bullying in the workplace. | WorkSafe New Zealand |
| Employee Toolkit to Address Bullying | The toolkit provides general guidelines on how to address and report bullying as part of a larger strategy to prevent and address violence in the workplace and to create a psychologically safe work environment. | Alberta Health Services |
| Guide for Preventing and Responding to Workplace Bullying | This guide addresses bullying within the framework of occupational health and safety laws, and provides information for businesses seeking to manage the risks of workplace bullying. | Safe Work Australia |
| Preventing Workplace Bullying | This toolkit helps employers to measure and eliminate or reduce the risks of workplace bullying and prevent its impact on the safety and health of workers. | WorkSafe Victoria |
| Workplace Bullying | This website offers resources to help companies establish anti-bullying measures in the workplace, and also provides resources for individuals, unions, and mental health professionals. | The Workplace Bullying Institute |
Stop Workplace Sexual Harassment (SH) and Abuse
| Resource | Description | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Gender-Based Violence and Harassment at Work Policy Template | This document can help companies recognize and assess the risks of workplace-based violence and harassment on the basis of gender and help them establish clear guidelines for employees to report incidents of violence and harassment. | UN Women |
| Guidelines on the Prevention of Workplace Harassment | This toolkit guides companies to identify and understand different kinds of workplace harassment and how to respond to them. | Better Work Indonesia |
| Preventing Sexual Harassment Guide - What Individuals, Managers and Leaders Need to Know | This toolkit provides evidence-based strategies and actions tailored to individuals, managers, and organizational leaders. | Stanford VMware Women’s Leadership Innovation Lab |
| Prohibition of Harassment, Sexual Harassment and Abuse of Authority | This document discusses how to build an organizational culture of zero tolerance, how to adopt reporting mechanisms that are safe and trusted, and how to determine survivor-centered responses. | UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund) |
| Sexual Harassment, Exploitation, and Abuse: A Toolkit for Building a Prevention and Response Program | This handbook provides an overview of the steps an organization can take to create and implement a successful sexual harassment prevention and response program, including establishment of a prevention task force. | Chemonics International Inc |
| Tackling Sexual Harassment in the World of Work | This resource provides insights on establishing and implementing corporate anti-sexual harassment policies and procedures. | UN Women |
Prevent and Respond to Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in the Workplace
| Resource | Description | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Addressing Gender-Based Violence and Harassment | This document provides best practices on addressing Gender-Based Violence in various settings. Sections 5-6 and Annex 3 focus specifically on the workplace. | European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the International Finance Corporation (IFC), and CDC Group |
| Addressing Gender-Based Violence in The Workforce | The document helps companies address and reduce sexual harassment, sexual abuse and exploitation, and intimate partner violence in the workforce and community. | IFC and The Umbrella Facility for Gender Equality (UFGE) of World Bank |
| How Can Business Tackle Gender Based Violence in the World of Work: A Toolkit for Action | This Toolkit provides a five-step framework to help businesses tackle Gender-Based Violence in the workplace. It includes tips, a diagnostic tool and case studies. | International Finance Corporation (IFC), Anglo American, Primark and CARE International UK |
Ensure Physical and Mental Health in the Workplace
| Resource | Description | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Construction Personal Protective Equipment for the Female Workforce | This website provides links to manufacturers who provide personal protective equipment sized to fit women. Designed for the construction industry, the types of PPE covered also apply to the power sector. | Center for Construction Research and Training |
| Female-friendly Public and Community Toilets: A Guide for Planners and Decision Makers | Pages 11-16 of this document provide gender-related recommendations for toilets and restrooms that are relevant for the workplace. | WaterAid, UNICEF and Water & Sanitation for the Urban Poor |
| Gender-Specific PPE: Finding PPE Fit for Women | This article summarizes research on the impacts of ill-fitting PPE on women, differences in PPE for men and women, and forthcoming legislation on PPE for women in the US and Europe. | Grainger |
| Menstrual Hygiene Matters | Module 8 covers menstrual hygiene in the workplace, and provides recommendations for employers. | Wateraid |
| Mentally Healthy Workplaces Toolkit | This toolkit provides tools and resources that employers, managers and leaders can use to foster mental health in the workplace, as well as how to respond to traumatic incidents. | Work Safe, Australia |
| Women in the Construction Workplace: Providing Equitable Health and Safety Protection | Tool 6.3 of The Pink to Green Toolkit describes challenges to women’s health and safety in non-traditional jobs, including inadequate sanitation facilities, personal protective equipment, and ergonomics. | Jobs for the Future |
Promoting an Equitable Work Culture
Discrimination in the workplace can take multiple forms, may be conscious or unconscious, and impacts both men and women. The resources in this section can help companies understand different types of discrimination and can be used in conjunction with those in Module 1, Making the Commitment to Gender Equality during the organizational goal-setting process. The resources on Instituting Equitable Remuneration Policies can be used in conjunction with the pay gap calculators provided in the second section of Module 1. After conducting pay-gap analysis, companies can refer to these resources to revisit their compensation policies and revise as necessary.
Prevent Discrimination and Promote Equal Employment Opportunities in the Workplace
| Resource | Description | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Anti-discrimination Policy | This anti-discrimination policy template can be tailored to a company’s needs and can be a starting point for setting employment policies. | Workable |
| Anti-harassment and Anti-discrimination Policies | This resource provides guidance and templates for preventing and addressing complaints of discrimination in the workplace. | Ontario Human Rights Commission |
| Eliminating Discrimination in the Workplace | This resource shares information on prohibited bases of discrimination in employment, areas where discrimination takes place, suggestions to eliminate discrimination and promotion of equal treatment, and equal remuneration. | International Labor Organization (ILO) |
| Employers’ Toolkit Resources for Building an Inclusive Workplace | This toolkit provides information and sample policies on recruitment, managing complaints, and creating discrimination and harassment-free workplaces. | Queensland Human Rights Commission |
| Equal Opportunities and Diversity Toolkit / Best Practices Guide | This resource provides advice and tools for employers, managers, and unions to accommodate and implement equality and diversity programs and initiatives in the workplace. | Eurelectric, European Public Service Union (EPSU) and European Mine, Chemical and Energy Workers Federation (EMCEF) |
| Workplace Discrimination and Harassment Policy Template | This template is designed for use by Australian companies, but can be adapted for use in other locations. | Australian Human Rights Commission |
| Example | ||
| 2021 Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Plan | This is the EEO Plan of a US state government agency that provides illustrative metrics on how it sets and measures its EEO goals. | North Carolina Department Of Natural And Cultural Resources |
Institute Equitable Remuneration Policies
| Resource | Description | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Closing Gender Pay Gaps to Achieve Gender Equality at Work | The resource aims to help companies launch and apply equal pay policies and practices to ensure that all women and men are treated equitably at work. | UN Women |
| Promoting Equity: Gender-Neutral Job Evaluation for Equal Pay. A Step-by-Step Guide | This guide recommends actions necessary to create gender equitable compensation structures, such as setting up pay equity committees and selecting a method for evaluating jobs. Checklists are provided for each step in the process. | International Labor Organization (ILO) |
| Quick Guide to Designing an Equitable Remuneration Policy | This guide explains the key features of a gender-equitable remuneration policy. | Australia Workplace Gender Equality Agency |
| Understanding the Gender Pay Gap | This report explains what causes gender pay gaps, challenges in narrowing them, and what companies can do to address gender pay gaps. | ILO |
Address Unconscious Biases
| Resource | Description | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 50 Ways to Fight Bias | This is a free digital program that includes a short video and 12 sets of digital cards curated for different audiences and workplace situations—i.e., a set for managers and a set focused on bias in hiring and promotions. The site provides speaker notes to enable a trainer/moderator to run a virtual workshop. | Lean In |
| Breaking Barriers: Unconscious Gender Bias in the Workplace | This research note provides a review of unconscious gender bias and its role in impeding women’s career advancement before discussing how to mitigate and overcome unconscious gender bias in the workplace. | International Labor Organization (ILO) |
| Introduction to Bias | This e-learning course provides an overview of unconscious bias and provides links to additional resources. | Microsoft |
| Project Implicit | This non-profit organization started by academics is dedicated to advancing scientific understanding of bias. It provides a free implicit association test on its webpage. | Project Implicit |
| Unconscious Bias @ Work | This Google program contains slides and a facilitator’s guide that companies can use to run their own workshops on unconscious bias. The website also contains links to other resources and scientific research. |
Fostering Inclusivity
In order for all genders to feel that they are welcomed and valued in the workplace, all genders need to be engaged in gender equality efforts. Men can be negatively impacted by gender biases, and they can play a key role in championing gender equality efforts for female counterparts. Unions also play an important role in the acceptance or rejection of utility gender equality efforts, since collective bargaining agreements cover many topics related to employment. Education and engagement of male employees and unions, therefore, is important for the success of efforts aiming to make the energy sector attractive to women and supportive of women employees.
Employee resource groups, which can be organized around many topics (such as a women’s group, or a parent’s group), offer employees a way to share information with each other as well as with management, and can be useful tools to gauge employee concerns and attitudes. Ensuring the women and men are fairly represented and not stereotyped in corporate communications or at industry/corporate events is also important to keep women feeling they are valued members of the workforce.
Engage Men in Gender Equality Efforts
| Resource | Description | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Actions Organizations Can Take to Build Advocates for Gender Equity | This resource explains how organizations can work to create an environment that empowers all employees to be advocates for gender equity and motivate men to get involved. | Catalyst |
| HeForShe | The UN’s HeForShe alliance seeks to build champions for gender equality. This site has resources targeted at men as well as an online training curriculum. | HeForShe |
| How Business Can Engage Men as Allies for Gender Equality | This article summarizes recent research and provides links to relevant organizations and global efforts that can provide more information. | Stanford Social Innovation Review |
| Male Allies for Gender Equality | This toolkit provides resources to deepen men’s understanding of the dynamics and impacts of gender inequality. The tools can also be employed to motivate colleagues to join in these efforts. | Parltools (a joint initiative of ParlAmericas and the UN Women Multi-Country Office) |
| 7 Tips for Men Who Want to Support Equality | This resource provides tips to men on how to support women in the workplace and challenge stereotypes. | Lean In |
Understand and Support Gender Equality in Unions
| Resource | Description | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Achieving Gender Equality: A Trade Union Manual | This manual contains check lists and other tools to help unions increase the participation of women and integrate gender equality into their core values and activities. | International Trade Union Confederation |
| Closing the Gender Pay Gap: What Role for Trade Unions | This report provides examples of union efforts in different countries to address issues of gender inequality, especially wage inequality. | International Labor Organization (ILO) |
| Empowering Women At Work: Trade Union Policies and Practices For Gender Equality | This resource outlines key areas where trade unions are addressing the barriers and other particular persistent challenges that women face in the labor market and in employment, as well as lessons learned from various gender-equality strategies. | ILO |
| Gender Equality Bargaining: An Overview | The first of six pamphlets designed to help unions promote gender equality in the workplace and within the union, ensure existing legislation or policies relevant to women are effectively implemented and monitored, and systematically integrate gender issues and concerns into collective bargaining agreements. | ILO |
| Gender Work in Trade Unions: Male Champions of Gender Equality | This report looks at factors that drive male gender champions within the trade union environment. It does not contain tools but does have recommendations. | Union to Union, the international development arm of the Swedish trade union movement |
Support Employee Resource Groups (ERG)
| Resource | Description | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Employee Resource Group Toolkit | This toolkit lays out a process for creating an Employee Resource Group and includes several templates that can be adapted by utilities. | Vibrant Pittsburgh |
| ERG: Toolkit for Diversity and Inclusion Practitioners | This toolkit provides suggestions and strategies for implementing ERGs focused on diversity and inclusion. | Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion |
| Starting or Leading an ERG? Here’s What You Need to Know to Get Started | This site contains links to a series of blogs dedicated to different aspects of creating and running ERGs. | The Diversity Movement |
| The Ultimate Employee Resource Group Toolkit | This toolkit provides recommendations on everything from selecting ERG objectives to creating a budget and evaluation metrics. | Chezie for Employers |
| Toolkit For Establishing Employee Resource Groups | Although focused on a university setting, this toolkit provides a clear framework on how to establish and maintain ERGs. | Minnesota State Office Of Equity & Inclusion |
Foster Gender-Sensitive Corporate Communication and Representation
| Resource | Description | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Communications and Gender Checklist: Things to Consider | This guide provides checklists to help content creators avoid gender and sex-based stereotypes in both written and audiovisual materials. | Value for Women |
| Gender-Sensitive Communication | This comprehensive toolkit provides guidelines for the use of gender-sensitive language. It includes lists of common gendered terms and alternatives, a quiz, and tools to help users review their materials. | European Institute of Gender Equality (EIGE) |
| Let's Speak Gender | This is a presentation sharing 10 principles of gender-responsive communications, including both written and visual media. | United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) |
| Tips For Gender-Sensitive Communication in DGACM | These tips are aimed at challenging stereotypes and ensuring balanced representation of women and men at internal and external events. | Department for General Assembly and Conference Management (DGACM), UN |
| Toolbox for Using Gender-Inclusive Language in English | The Toolbox is a set of training materials, activities and resources for UN agencies that may be adapted by other organizations. | United Nations (UN) |
Creating a Flexible Workplace
Balancing personal and professional responsibilities is a challenge for many employees regardless of gender. Women, however, tend to handle more housework and have more responsibility for childcare and eldercare than men. Therefore, providing employees as much flexibility as possible regarding their work schedules and locations—without penalizing them for their choice—can ease work-life challenges. Providing support for parents via paid maternity/paternity/family leave and subsidized child care is also critical to keeping parents (especially new mothers) in the workforce. Though national requirements and norms vary dramatically on these topics, the tools below provide advice and resources for employers and employees on how to navigate sensitive discussions regarding schedules, leave benefits, and special needs.
Allow Remote Work and Flexible Schedules
| Resource | Description | Source |
|---|---|---|
| A Guide to Managing Your (Newly) Remote Workers | The article describes research-based steps that managers can take without great effort to improve the engagement and productivity of remote employees. | Harvard Business Review blog |
| Flexibility Diagnostic Tools | This suite of tools is designed to help organizations undertake a readiness assessment prior to developing a workplace flexibility strategy. Additional tools created by WEGA include the Workplace Flexibility Strategy Toolkit, a Manager Flexibility Toolkit and an Employee Flexibility Toolkit. | Australia Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WEGA) |
| Flexible Work Schedule: Pros & Cons For Employers & Employees | This article provides data on flexible work trends and identifies pros and cons that should be reviewed and addressed before implementing flexible work schedules. | Connecteam blog |
| Flexible Work Toolkit: How Your Business Can Get and Keep Great Staff | This Toolkit provides tips and tools for business owners seeking to introduce flexibility into their companies, as well as templates they can adapt to create flexible work application forms, etc. | Diversitas |
| People Success Toolkit: Remote Work | This resource contains sample surveys and other tools to help managers and staff stay connected and productive when working remotely. | Glint |
| Remote and Flexible Work Toolkit for Employers | This toolkit provides sample remote work policies and agreements, as well as a sample staff survey and program evaluation survey. | City of Vancouver/VanGo |
| TeleworkToolkit.com | This website contains information on telework for organizations, managers, and teleworkers. The Resources section contains links to sample policies and forms. | Telework Pilot Project, Washington State |
Make Workplaces Family Friendly: Promote Parental Leave and Childcare
| Resource | Description | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Attracting and Retaining Talent through Inclusive Family-Friendly Policies | This guidance note provides an overview of key policies necessary to create a family-friendly workplace. | UN Women |
| Leading with Care: Supporting Child Care as an Employer | This toolkit provides case studies and links to resources relevant for understanding and selecting corporate childcare policies. | NeighborImpact |
| Parental Leave and Return Tool Kit for Managers and Team Members | A company-specific toolkit, this resource provides ideas on how managers can deal with various topics, including assigning “re-entry buddies.” | GitLab |
| Parental Leave Toolkit | Designed by a British University for its employees, this toolkit can serve as an example for other institutions that want to create a process and tools to help employees navigate the application and management of maternity leave, paternity/partner leave, adoption leave and shared parental leave. | University College London (UCL) |
| Parental Leave Toolkit for Managers | Designed for Great Britain’s National Health Service (NHS), this toolkit guides managers on their roles and responsibilities throughout the parental leave process. There is a corresponding toolkit for parents to use before, during and after parental leave that contains checklists and exercises. | Social Enterprise Leaders Plus in partnership with the NHS London Leadership Academy |
| Parental Leave Systems | This resource provides data on maternity/paternity/parental leave norms and benefits in OECD countries. | The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) |
| Tackling Childcare: Guide for Employer-Supported Childcare | This guide provides analysis, information and tools to assist employers in choosing, implementing, and evaluating childcare solutions. Childcare in the COVID-19 Era: A Guide for Employers (2020) is interim guidance for employers in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. | International Finance Corporation (IFC) |
Make Workplaces Family Friendly: Support Returning Parents
| Resource | Description | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Breastfeeding: Making it Work Toolkit | This resource contains separate but related toolkits for employers and employees, including how to set up a lactation site in different types of locales and how to communicate with supervisors/employees. | New York WIC Works/ US Department of Agriculture |
| Fathers in the Workplace Toolkit | This toolkit was developed by academics based on their research and contains tools and best practice guidance for both large and small companies. | Equal Parenting Project, University of Birmingham |
| Lactation Room to Support Breastfeeding at Work | This article contains tips for designing a lactation room for returning mothers. | VeryWell Family |
| Maternity and Paternity Leave and Return Toolkit for Employers and Employees | This toolkit was created to inform, educate and empower workplaces to address the unique needs of working parents. It contains numerous sample policies related to leave, work arrangements, breastfeeding, etc. | Healthy Mothers Workplace Coalition |
| Returners: A Toolkit for Employers | This toolkit focuses on setting up programs for mothers who have taken a leave from the workforce but wish to return. | Women’s Business Council |
| Working Parents Module | This toolkit seeks to enable utilities to help employees, especially mothers, better balance their parenting responsibilities with their professional demands. It contains several templates utilities can adapt. | WePOWER/World Bank |