Melissa Hinojosa
Romina Schiavon
EGADE Business School Tecnologico de Monterrey
Consuelo Garcia-de-la-torre
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Bolsa Rosa focuses on improving work-life balance for women, reducing the gender gap and enhancing women’s ability to participate in, and contribute to, the economy. The main way this is done is by developing, implementing, and increasing the flextime work culture in Mexican companies.
The gender gap has not been reduced over the past 10 years. Gender equality is still a social problem and global challenge. Woman haven’t reached equal opportunities in the workforce because women, especially mothers, still face very difficult challenges which drives them to leave their job and sacrifice their careers after having children. Bolsa Rosa seeks to reduce the gender gap and discrimination against, and the disadvantages of, Latin-American women in the workforce. Bolsa Rosa works to provide access and create opportunities for Latin-American women to actively, safely, and fairly participate in the economy.
Bolsa Rosa is the first company in Mexico and Latin America to effectively address these social issues by connecting women to flextime jobs in companies and by creating the market of a formal flextime working culture.
Bolsa Rosa created the direct access for companies to this untapped female talent segment, giving opportunities for women to re-establish themselves in the workforce thereby improving their quality of life, their family's financial situation, and their community.
Bolsa Rosa also promotes flextime by providing workforce innovation consulting projects to companies to implement flextime working policies as a business strategy, thus improving the quality of life and working conditions at every organizational level. With their multiple projects, they have created family-friendly organizations and benefited the career opportunities for mothers.
These are the services that Bolsa Rosa provides:
Online job board: Through an online platform Bolsa Rosa connects women, especially mothers, with flextime jobs in companies. Women can register as job candidates at no cost and fill in their resume. After they complete their registration they can apply to all the job offers posted. Companies register as well, and after being verified and authorized they can post a job offer and start looking for talented candidates. They can post job offers at no cost, and then select the option of buying every resume they are interested in contacting, or pay a monthly or annual membership fee and have unlimited access to all the candidates.
Virtual Headhunter: With this service Bolsa Rosa helps companies in their recruitment process through their job board. They post the job offer, filter, and interview by phone the candidates and send 3 finalists according to a company’s needs. The service is done entirely online, and the company pays a fee based on the salary of the job offer.
Consulting: Through their consulting services, Bolsa Rosa helps companies implement flextime as a business strategy and workplace policy. Their methodology includes a diagnosis, analysis, proposal, implementation follow up, and measuring of results.
Back to Work: Bolsa Rosa provides an online service for candidates that want help with their resumes and interviewing skills to help them be better prepared for a job and improve their chances of finding one.
When Founder Ana Lucía was growing up, her mother made the decision to leave her work. With two girls, working a full time job seemed impossible. After three months away from the company, the company wanted her to return. She decided to come back only if she could establish her working terms so she could have a work-life balance. The company agreed and Lucia’s mother has continued to work in the same company for the past 33 years, reaching a top executive level while working under a flextime scheme.
As Ana Lucía entered the working world she realized that flexible job schedules were not common, especially for working mothers who were required to work full time like any other employee. She also realized that many other mothers had to leave their job because they were not able to achieve a work life balance and the company wouldn’t understand or support their situation. As a result, this has pushed many talented women outside the job market for decades, leading to a bigger gender gap worldwide issue and unequal gender opportunities.
Given these factors, Ana Lucía was inspired and motivated to start her project oriented towards female talent, especially mothers, flextime jobs, and consulting with companies to implement flextime as a business strategy and working policy.
The impact of Bolsa Rosa will have in society is improving the working opportunities, options, and conditions for women in Latin America who wish to pursue a professional career and at the same time, want to have, or already have, a family. Bolsa Rosa promotes equal opportunities for women, reduces the gender gap in Mexican companies and minimizes the “machista” culture.
The business benefits for the companies working with Bolsa Rosa are measured by the savings made after they implement flextime; the reduction in turnover and overhead costs; a boost in productivity and other cash equivalent concrete advantages.
For the women who are job candidates the main business benefits are the opportunity to continue having an income that financially contributes both to the candidate’s household and the local economy, helps them stay in the workforce, improves work-life balance and helps expand a flextime culture in companies.
The innovation helps to reduce the gender gap in Latin America by improving working conditions for women. According to INEGI, 6 out of 10 women leave their job after they have their first baby and out of the 4 left, 2 more leave when they have their second child. Bolsa Rosa enhances women to actively, safely, and fairly participate in the economy.
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Ana Lucía Cepeda, CEO
