The Fortune 500 now includes 33 companies with female CEOs -- the highest tally ever recorded. Multiple women have been named to CEO posts at large companies in the past year, including Beth Ford at Land O'Lakes and Corie Barry at Best Buy.

Dawn Sweeney will retire as the National Restaurant Association's president and CEO at year's end, after a 12-year run that saw the association's membership double. Under her watch, the Association has made strides to support diversity and minority leadership as more Hispanic entrepreneurs join the restaurant industry.

Conflict is a natural part of the workplace, and it can be a productive force to help employees move toward their objectives, writes Heather Backstrom. The next time you encounter conflict at work, be sure to reflect on the issue and think about where the other person is coming from.

The next time you are seeking a salary bump, be sure to do your homework, have a specific number in mind and understand which skills you will need to develop, advises Kat Cole of FOCUS Brands, who participated in a recent panel in New York City. At the same time, it's critical for companies to recognize inequality and take steps to close gender gaps, participants said.

Hard conversations can be handled better by displaying vulnerability, being clear about the type of conversation taking place and using open-ended statements to respect the other person's emotions, writes Jenn Lofgren. "You might need to have a series of conversations instead of trying to push for a result in a single discussion," she writes.

Companies win when they encourage, develop and promote women, writes Joel Garfinkle. "When enterprising, motivated and brilliant women see themselves represented amongst the ranks of your leadership, they'll know they've found a place where they too can achieve great things -- a win-win for employees and the company," he writes.

Unemployed youths, underemployed adults and former inmates could be key pools of new talent for restaurants looking to hire in a tight labor market, said panelists at the National Restaurant Association Show in Chicago. "As we're looking at low unemployment, it's even more important to seek people where you may not have looked for them before," said Laura FitzRandolph of HMSHost.

The percentage of male managers who are uncomfortable mentoring, socializing with or working one-on-one with women increased 32% this year to 60%, according to a survey from SurveyMonkey and LeanIn.org. Senior-level men were also 12 times more likely to hesitate when considering having one-on-one meetings with women and nine times more likely to be uncomfortable traveling with a junior woman for work when compared to junior male employees.

Company leaders need to be proactive if they want to build a positive workplace culture that works for both guests and employees, according to panelists who spoke at the National Restaurant Association Show. Among other things, leaders need to create an environment that allows for open communication and offer management training that involves soft skills.

Women joined the workforce at a faster pace than men between 2015 and 2018, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Employers are offering higher pay and attractive benefits as they grapple with a historically low unemployment rate.