37 | WOMEN IN THE WORKPLACE: A ROAD MAP TO GENDER EQUALITY CASE STUDY Sodexo: Building a business case for change What they did Sodexo was struggling to get managers worldwide to buy into diversity initiatives. The company realized that they needed to build a business case for more women in leadership. Sodexo looked at how business units with different proportions of women and men in management performed on a range of key financial and nonfinancial metrics, including client retention, employee engagement, and workplace safety. After studying the performance of more than 50,000 managers, they discovered that business units with a higher concentration of women in management (i.e., 40 to 60 percent women) perform better. Their operating margins, client retention, and employee retention are all nearly 10 percent higher, and their employee engagement rate is 14 percent higher. Outcomes Sodexo used these proof points to build a business case for getting more women in management and set a goal that 40 percent of senior leaders will be women by 2025. To help meet this goal, 10 percent of annual bonuses for senior leaders is now contingent on making progress against it.