How to design a workplace for women

Along the way in our agency journey we made the rather bold decision to declare ourselves as a female only organization.  This was in part due to the nature of the brands our agency represents as we specialize in beauty, health and wellness, but also due to our passionate commitment to supporting women in the workplace.  At TishTash Communications we have created a working environment designed especially for women’s needs with the aim of showing how when women’s needs are met how they can flourish and have a true shot at equity/equality.  

Today we stand as a team of 64 women and no men and by implementing true flexibility and a myriad of women’s health policies we are growing revenue wise 50% year on year for the past 3 years, have a happy and loyal workforce with more than 40% having been with the company +5 years and 25% more than 8 years, and we are producing brilliant award-winning marketing and comms work for our clients – Being named “Best PR Agency” by PRCA Middle East. We were also proud to be officially certified as a ‘Great Place to Work” in 2023, primarily for our work in supporting women in the workplace.  TishTash ranked as one of the highest small companies in the region, scoring 98% overall for employee happiness. 

To many our approach especially in a time of perceived strides towards ‘equality’ and ‘diversity’ may seem strange, or even controversial and as such some have misunderstood our agenda.   With the reality being that we as women still do not have equality and it’s unlikely that we will see this in our lifetime, it’s important to demonstrate how we can support to speed up this reality. Our unique approach is intended to show how by treating all as individuals and meeting women’s needs, they can flourish as much as their male counterparts. The reality is, single working households do not exist in the numbers it used to, due to rising costs of living and many other factors. The physical and mental load on women as mothers, caregivers, professionals etc. is ever-growing and creating an environment where these stressors are understood and considered as part of working life, can only lead to a positive impact in the workplace. 

Whilst we don’t expect many organizations to adopt as extreme approach as us, we’d like to share our learnings which can be applied to any workplace to create policies and practices that are inclusive, yet both appealing and empowering to women that plays into their unique differences and requirements.  

Be flexible 

Today, and definitely in the Post-Covid era, we are finding that all employees are demanding a degree of flexibility in their working lives.  This can be flexible working hours, flexibility in terms of the ability to blend in the office and at home/anywhere and just generally an understanding that that all will be delivered, if they have some flexibility to make their own lives work better.  Offering flexibility to employees will prove popular and create a happier workforce as a whole and whilst our learnings are designed with women in mind, they can apply to anyone.  

At TishTash we formalized our internal policies, including creating a flexible working policy for all to put clear parameters in place.   Our policy includes hybrid working, with 3 days a week in the office and 1.5 work from home (we also operate a 4.5 day week, in case you wondered). 

Whether someone wants to start work an hour later to go to their kid’s sports day, to go to the bank whilst it’s open or to take their pet to the vet – they should have the freedom to do so and make their lives work in the hours in the day they have.  Likewise, if working from home enables your team to prepare nutritious home cooked food for lunch, to get rounds of washing done or book in the handyman to fix things in their home, or if they choose to work in the hairdresser for the 4 hours to dye and cut their hair (I do this personally!) then so be it. The focus should be on the quality of work being delivered, not where you team are when they deliver the work. 

We also implemented a “Work from home country / Work from Anywhere” policy. Our policy allows 4 weeks a year for our people to work anywhere in the world – this means TishTash are able to support our employees in spending time with loved ones outside of the UAE or support our teams’ goals in creating new experiences around the world.  With a high proportion of the team being expats, this has proved very popular with 40% of our team making the most of this leave in 2023. 

Flexibility helps people juggle life, which we know, can we be a lot. By implementing flexible working policies, we are empowering our employees to take ownership of how they work and rewarding them with huge amounts of trust.  Flexibility makes everyone happy as people like to feel trusted and, in our experience, they remain loyal and work harder than ever because they value this benefit and being treated like a grown up. If you don’t trust someone to work from anywhere, quite simply don’t employ them.   Allowing people to work in different environments beyond the office, also fostered creativity and inspiration, resulting in stronger output across the board. 

Inclusive Hiring Policies

Our agency has always prided itself on being a training ground for people looking to grow a career in communications. We actively hire Graduates from local and international Universities through to women who are looking to make a career change. 

20% of our hires in the past 2 years have come from women with zero experience in comms – for example they have had backgrounds in teaching, beauty and national security to name a few! We believe in giving opportunities to those who are hungry to learn and who show potential. 

TishTash have also been active with returnships, which is actively hiring women who have been out of the workplace for 1 year or more due to having a family. This is an incredibly untapped portion of the candidate market – we can offer them flexible working arrangements, whilst TishTash benefits from having experienced mature employees. 

I encourage you to try something new and don’t always stick to your same cookie cutter methods of hiring.  After all, remember that old adage “if you always do what you always did, you always get what you always got” – perhaps it’s time to try something new and bring fresh thinking and skills into your business. 

Female Focused HR Policies

In March 2023 we formalized and announced our new health policies which were a first of the kind in the region.  Whilst not new as such for us because the business has always been supportive in these areas, we formalized and focused on these polices partly as we grew and matured as a business with a need to formalize polices, and partly as we wanted to lead the way and inspire others to do the same. 

 All TishTash team members now receive paid leave for menstruation, fertility and menopause, in addition to a variety of other women’s health needs. These include paid leave for employees to attend medical appointments whilst undergoing fertility treatment, including treatments inside and outside of the country (including egg freezing). Not only that but the amount of leave given is flexible and unrestricted. 

As a company, we must trust our employees and can’t assume to know what people will need on their own personal journeys. Due to TishTash being a completely female workforce, the agency strives to create a culture that promotes open and safe conversations about both menopause, menstruation and miscarriage, but also to make space for a work life balance that allows our female employees to flourish in both sides of their life. 

Once again, these don’t just need to apply to women.  Men should be able to accompany their partners to IVF/doctor appointments without questioning.  They should also be allowed time out if they go through a miscarriage.   Health policies that deal with specific matters relevant to men and women are to be encouraged, so all our differences are supported. 

Ultimately, my biggest learning in my 12 years running a business is the importance of being people focused and how if we are people orientated this translates to happy people which in turn translates to business success.