What is the glass ceiling?

The glass ceiling is a metaphorical barrier that prevents some individuals from moving up in an organization. Originally applied to women in male-dominated industries, the term has broadened to include othermarginalized communities, such as people of color.

The glass ceiling is difficult to overcome largely because the challenges faced by these groups are systematic and pervasive. They’re driven by organizational inequality and biases, rather than blatant discrimination. While the obstacles can be subtle, they may also be damaging.

Since the challenges posed to marginalized groups can be entrenched in an organization’s culture, overcoming them is a notable feat. In these cases, a person is said to have broken or shattered the glass ceiling.

Where does the term glass ceiling come from?

Author Marilyn Loden invented the term glass ceiling in 1978 at a women’s exposition. Intending to shed light on the often-overlooked issues that prevent women from reaching positions of power in the workplace, the metaphor illuminated the problem’s structural roots.Beyond the 1970s, the concept was expanded to include numerous historically disenfranchised groups, including people of color.

Understanding the glass ceiling’s effects

Succeeding in spite of the glass ceiling can be a challenge for working professionals from potentially marginalized groups, but employers are not immune from its negative effects either. One of the biggest effects of a fully intact glass ceiling is that it might hinder workplace diversity. It can discourage companies from hiring or promoting certain individuals, leading to a homogenous workplace that can produce problems of its own.

A lack of workplace diversity can cut your team off from unique perspectives and ideas. This can reduce innovation and may ultimately lead to a decrease in revenue. Moreover, many professionals actively seek out diverse workplaces, so failing to create one could lead to a shrunken talent pool.

The glass ceiling may even hinder the success of your existing team. If team members sense inequality and bias in the workspace, they might feel alienated from their peers. Over time, this can mean less participation and more job turnover.

Examples of the glass ceiling

The glass ceiling can take a variety of forms. Some common manifestations might include:

• Excluding employees from decision-making meetings
• Exclusively hiring employees who share the same background
• Not considering certain employees for promotions even if they’re qualified
• Failing to provide some employees with additional training or resources

It’s important to remember that these barriers can be present even without the intention to exclude certain groups. As an employer, you may not be aware of the unconscious biases present in your organization. That makes it even more crucial to take steps to dismantle the glass ceiling from within.

The glass ceiling vs. the glass cliff

The glass cliff is a similar metaphor with a few key differences compared to the traditional definition of a glass ceiling. It refers to the tendency for women or people of color to be offered a position of power during times of organizational crisis.

Tumultuous periods can increase the risk of failure in a leadership role, no matter who holds it. If conditions don’t improve, the situation may often be blamed on the individual in question. The result is a self-fulfilling prophecy where biases are confirmed because the person holding the position was more than likely to experience defeat.

The glass cliff reinforces a structure where businesses are already inclined to withhold positions of authority from women and people of color. It can be common for people in power to use such events to justify the lack of diversity in executive positions. However, this can lead to the same negative effects as the glass ceiling.

The danger of the glass cliff is that it often isn’t visible until a person has failed. While it may first seem like a person has broken through the glass ceiling, the circumstances are generally not in their favor.

Breaking the glass ceiling in your workplace

As an employer, you can do several things to shatter the glass ceiling from above. Here are some structural changes that you might make to help minimize bias and inequality in the workplace.

Acknowledge its existence

Denying the glass ceiling’s existence can further alienate the employees that it affects. Not only does this demonstrate a lack of social awareness, but it may also suggest a lack of concern for potentially marginalized employees.

Acknowledging the glass ceiling’s pervasiveness is an essential first step in minimizing its effects. It can signal your dedication to creating a positive working environment and shows employees that equality matters to your organization.

Cultivate a positive workplace culture

A team’s dynamic can have a significant influence on an employee’s day-to-day job satisfaction. If they feel like they aren’t seen as equal to their peers, it could lead to isolation and loss of participation.

To ensure a diverse team provides the range of perspectives it should, encourage the development of healthy workplace relationships. This can increase empathy among working partners while potentially reducing biases.

Hire without bias

The glass ceiling can often manifest itself during the hiring process. Hiring managers may lean toward candidates with familiar backgrounds, even unconsciously. This can limit your candidate pool and might cause you to overlook quality candidates.

One way to help overcome this is by adopting a masked hiring process. Masked hiring consists of temporarily hiding information about each candidate that may encourage bias. This shifts the focus to a person’s skills and experience rather than other elements of their background.

Adopt a culture-add approach to hiring

Searching for employees who could be a good fit for your team might seem like the right approach, but a culture-fit hiring system could lead you to miss out on perspectives that may make your team even stronger.

For that reason, a culture-add approach is often a better strategy. This means selecting applicants with the purpose of adding new perspectives to your existing team.

Whether your chosen candidates have different educational backgrounds or experience levels, fresh perspectives can help boost a company’s innovation. Plus, it can be a good way to increase workplace diversity.

Strengthen your knowledge of workplace biases

Longstanding biases are one reason why the glass ceiling is so pervasive. As an employer, understanding these biases is an important step toward minimizing their effects.

Bias can come in many forms, both conscious and unconscious. Affinity and confirmation are just a few of its manifestations. If left unchecked, they can alienate certain employees and lead to an increase in turnover.

Hosting informational training sessions specific to workplace bias can help to develop understanding across your team. Plus, they make for gooddevelopmental opportunities. Building understanding can help everyone recognize and resist bias when it arises, which can help companies break the glass ceiling.