Ingersoll Rand

The Women’s leadership Program at Ingersoll Rand started in 2012 and was designed to improve the retention of female talent and accelerate their development into more senior roles. The program has delivered outstanding results, gaining the attention of other companies and resulting in positive business impact.

The Diversity and Inclusion efforts were launched in 2010 with the support of the CEO and Board of Directors, and have been underway for the last 5 years. The objectives of the program are to increase female representation in the senior level of the organization and reduce turnover of mid-career professionals. The program is set-up to also raise awareness of the importance of female talent in leadership by having men mentor women formally. The program provides the participant an opportunity to also showcase their business acumen by working on company projects that require them to collaborate with other part of the company and present their concepts to executive business leaders.

For the first two years of the program there was zero turnover among the participants, resulting in $2 million in savings. Three years later, of the 60 program graduates, 2 women have left the company. Female promotions overall have increased by more 25% while total female representation in the company has gone from 22% to 28% since the launch of the program. The program has been recognized as a “best in class” practice by the Center for Creative Leadership, as well as other publications. Four sector presidents have fully endorsed the program and have themselves participated as mentors. In addition, they have championed for changes in the company to advance and promoted women. In 2014, one project alone that the participants worked on for the company resulted in a $9 million savings.