Companies with a higher percentage of promotions for women received more favorable employee views, especially opinions of senior leadership. (Photo: Fotolia)

Companies with policies supportive of greater gender diversity are more highly rated by their employees than companies that do not.

That's among the findings of a Willis Towers Watson analysis that also reports that companies that offer female employees supportive family services and health education programs provide better environments for work/life balance and workload management.

A survey of employees at 32 major companies included in the 2019 Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index, which tracks the financial performance of companies committed to advancing women in the workplace through disclosure of gender-related data, explored employee attitudes toward their workplaces. Companies were more highly rated by workers when their programs matched their policies.

Related: Diversity, inclusion and belonging: How do we get there?

The analysis also found that companies with a higher percentage of promotions for women received more favorable employee views, especially opinions of senior leadership. The results really stand out when at least a-third of promotions go to women.

Employee attitudes are better at companies with more women among the more highly paid, too—particularly concerning how they feel about the potential for career development. Again, this is most clear when at least a third of women are among the top 10 percent highest compensated executives.

Then there's that old dilemma of how to balance life and work. Companies that actually provide the means to work on that by providing family-supporting and health-enriching benefits, such as adoption assistance and women's health education, result in employees who have more favorable views of work/life balance and the ability to manage workloads.

"As our analysis shows, even small steps can make a difference. Companies that are making a push toward gender diversity are experiencing a meaningful and positive impact on employee attitudes toward leadership, career development and other aspects of the workplace," Laura Sejen, managing director, Human Capital and Benefits, Willis Towers Watson, is quoted saying.

And it doesn't stop there. "Disclosure not only pushes each organization to take a data-led approach to their own practices but also inspires other employers to do the same across the broader inclusion and diversity spectrum," Kiersten Barnet, global head of the Gender-Equality Index, said in a statement.

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• Despite diversity efforts, half of LGBT workers stay closeted
• Will Google tie executive pay to workplace diversity?