Survey of Women in the Workplace (case study)
- GotR Team
- Oct 1, 2024
- 3 min read
REACH Women’s Network began its formation in 2017. See the REACH branding case study to learn more about the involvement of Girl on the Roof in the nonprofit’s history.
REACH had built substantial momentum prior to the 2019 Covid-19 outbreak. Just ten days after the first REACH Women’s Conference, the world shut down. Women were hit disproportionately hard as they were forced to pivot to supporting children who were schooling from home during the pandemic. Balancing career and home life had never been more challenging. Many women were forced to set aside career positions to assume 24/7 CEO roles in their households.
During that season, Carol Reeve, President + Creative Director of Girl on the Roof, challenged REACH Women’s Network to consider how it could measure its impact toward its mission of raising the collective voice and influence of women in the workplace. “In order to determine if REACH is moving the needle for women,” said Reeve, “we first need to establish a baseline.” This was the birth of the Community Survey of Women in the Workplace.
At its heart, the goals of this groundbreaking research were to:
assess the state of working women in Winston-Salem/Forsyth County, North Carolina
shine light on the challenges faced by women in the workforce
inform strategies for supporting, attracting, and retaining women so REACH could meaningfully influence the narrowing of the gender gap
With counsel and positioning assistance from Girl on the Roof, REACH Women’s Network secured multiple grants to fund this comprehensive research study. Girl on the Roof also provided two sizable LOUDMOUTH grants toward the project.
The vision for the research was to conduct an initial survey, then repeat the same survey every 3–5 years to monitor progress toward reducing barriers for women in the workplace.
With the support of a committee of REACH volunteers, Girl on the Roof developed an initial list of survey questions to assess the challenges faced by working women in our community. Our team then whittled down the vast list using the following criteria:
Will this generate actionable information?
Will this allow us to track progress or setbacks over time?
Will this allow us to segment and analyze the data to gain greater understanding around the variances between women of different generations, races, income levels, and career levels?
Can we benchmark this data against existing regional and national research?
Additionally, the questions — and, just as importantly, the answer options — had to pass the relevance test both during and after the pandemic.
Once the list of questions was solidified, Girl on the Roof constructed the survey and turned attention to promoting it through the channels of REACH Women’s Network and through local media channels. Carol Reeve took multiple press interviews to help spread the word. The survey was open for 10 weeks.
Survey analysis was performed by nonprofit data firm Forsyth Futures, with Girl on the Roof in a project management role. Carol Reeve then interpreted the data, supplemented it with secondary research benchmarks, and co-presented topline findings at the 2022 REACH Women’s Conference.
In the year that followed, a deeper analysis of the segmented data took place. Girl on the Roof wrote a series of data reports on the thematic findings, then wrote and designed an executive summary, which was printed and distributed at the 2023 REACH Women’s Conference. The research was a notable fundraising catalyst for REACH Women’s Network, with numerous corporate sponsors clamoring to support the Network’s efforts. A repeat of the Community Survey of Women in the Workplace is currently underway.
