Women in the workplace: leaving not leading
Wherever they work, all women deserve to feel included, valued and heard, but the evidence is that women working where they prefer - at home or on site - are 20% happier, feel 20% more confident of their equal opportunity to advance and are 23% less likely to leave. What's more, an additional 9% of women state they are ‘rarely burned out’ when their work arrangement align with their preferences.
December 20, 2022
Future of Work
Inclusive Futures
Leadership
Wellbeing
The 2022 Women In The Workplace report from McKinsey & Company and Lean In makes for both fascinating and frustrating reading.
The research - across over 40,000 working women from 333 organisations - paints a clear picture. Women are being failed on too many levels, leading to an inexorable drain of female talent and leadership. At a time when competition for top talent remains fierce, these oversights cannot stand. The challenge manifests itself in a few key ways.
From the outset, women encounter a career ladder with a broken first rung. For every 100 men promoted from entry level to manager, only 87 women get promoted. While men in management grow from a share of 52% at entry level to 74% at C-Suite level, the trend is inverted among women. For all women, the numbers in management dwindle over the coming years - from 48% to 26%.
A high-flying female career, on a chart, looks like an energetic launch which, for lack of support, cannot maintain orbit and falls to Earth sooner and faster than a male career. This has lingering effects. When it comes to appointing women to the boardroom a decade or more after they joined a management programme, there simply aren’t enough of them left to promote.
Inequality doesn’t stop as women clock off. All women reported taking the lion’s share of housework and care-giving as they progress in their careers. But unlike their male counterparts, their share of work doesn’t significantly diminish as they become more senior. A man’s home front duties shrink from 30% to 13% across his career, while a woman’s start at 58% and drop to 52%.
Bettina Schaller, SVP Head Group Public Affairs at The Adecco Group, remembers making a point of never sharing personal information or talking about home life with management at the start of her career. "As the mother of a toddler back then, I always muddled through to never miss a deadline. I was totally focused on never having to justify a lapse in performance 'because of' my daughter. In hindsight, that mindset alone was totally wrong and I vowed to manage that aspect completely differently once I became a team leader."
For Laurie Chamberlin, Head of LHH Recruitment Solutions, North America, however, work-life balance isn’t something that happens 100% of the time. “There are times when work needs to be a priority and other times when the balance shifts to your personal life or family. I think the biggest thing to recognize is that this shift is going to happen.”
Wherever they work, all women deserve to feel included, valued and heard, but the evidence is that women working where they prefer - at home or on site - are 20% happier, feel 20% more confident of their equal opportunity to advance and are 23% less likely to leave. What's more, an additional 9% of women state they are ‘rarely burned out’ when their work arrangement align with their preferences.
This study reveals a smörgåsbord of micro-aggressions affecting all women, regardless of race, sexual identity, disability or age - but there’s no doubt that to be non-white or LGBTQ+ or disabled greatly increases the risk. In all, 26% of women and 38% of black women have been mistaken for a junior; and 39% women and a staggering 55% for black women have had their judgement questioned. That’s compared to 13% and 28% of men.
This is no secret to Laurie, who clearly recalls being asked by senior level colleagues – often her age or younger – what she would like her career to look like in 5 to 10 years. “I want similar opportunities to the ones you have been given!” was her go-to response.
Flexible working has brought many benefits to women. Most women prefer remote or hybrid work and when given these options are less likely to quit. When it comes to workplace loyalty, 49% of women leaders put flexibility in their top three incentives - compared to 34% of men.
This chimes with the findings of our own research which found that flexibility is one of the top factors contributing to workers staying in their job. It is important to bear in mind that flexibility will mean different things to different workers and will therefore be more or less important depending on who you ask.
Valerie Beaulieu, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer at the Adecco Group, believes flexibility should be emphasized. "We should work to make even the most senior roles more flexible. While I enjoy being full-time, in principle there is no reason why my job couldn’t be shared - our accessible working platforms make handover much simpler than it would have been a decade ago."
Yet Beaulieu does not see flexible working as a panacea. "Flexibility alone won’t tackle the deep-rooted issues of the gender pay gap, workplace discrimination and women’s lack of high-level representation - but it can help. Government action makes a significant difference. Nordic countries, for example, are leading the way with laws to promote an equal share of parental leave, rather than maternity leave for mothers only."
HR leaders were asked how much more managers are expected to do now than they were two years ago. The answer? 60% more career development, 78% more wellbeing support and 80% more effort to promote inclusivity. However, the stats from employees point to a struggle for their managers to reach these targets. Less than half - 43% - said their manager shows interest in their career, only 50% said their manager ensures they get due credit and just 60% said their manager gives helpful feedback.
They are not helped by the way success is measured. Manager performance evaluations centre on meeting business goals (93%) while the human factors - career development, morale, diversity and inclusion, and retention - languish at between 25% and 43%.
Women managers routinely put more of their time into the so-called ‘soft skills’ which are at the core of supporting colleagues; the kind of work that fails to register at evaluation time. “Financial performance is table stakes and that’s why it’s always valued more than soft skills – and should be,” according to Laurie. “What I think women need to do is focus on combining the soft and hard skillsets. First, by focusing on developing their financial and business acumen, with the ability to articulate their financial achievements. Second, by showing how their soft skills help them achieve the company goals.”
The fact is, when managers step up and take key actions, women’s experience of work improves exponentially. Happiness climbs from 55% to 92%, while recommending the company as an employer shoots from 59% to 92%. Good managers mean 38% of women rarely feeling burned out, compared to 19% - and 75% say they are unlikely to leave in the next year, compared to 37%.
After decades of presenteeism and ‘hard work’ signalled by managers who stay late, the new way to genuinely impress a team is to remind it that it has a life to get back to. Among women under 30, two-thirds would be more interested in advancement if senior leaders demonstrated the work-life balance they aspire to.
"I know what it feels like to drown under a mass of tasks, to face unrealistic expectations and even worse to have to handle a toxic leader who pulls every inch of energy out of you," recounts Schaller. "I am no expert in HR but it seems obvious that the values used to praise leaders so far need to be turned upside down. To me, the baseline is actually common sense and ethics - not the typical heroization of working... impossible hours."
McKinsey’s report tells the story of a woman entering the workforce and beginning her climb of the ladder. She quickly realises that, if she can get over the problematic first rung, she’ll face microaggressions, she will probably be expected to choose between her career and a family, and she will run the risk of being overlooked for progression.
Many of these challenges are embedded in social structures. Managers can help, of course, by bringing valuable soft skills into performance evaluations and leading by example, but they have a mountain to climb themselves. None of this is easy.
The result is clear, however. The Global Workforce of the Future shows that excessive workloads, compromised wellbeing and a lack of career progression are the main factors pushing people out of their jobs – either towards greener pastures or unemployment. McKinsey’s report confirms most of those suffering from these flaws are women. And while women are all different, a few things must happen to close the gender gap at work. The first rung must be fixed, the expectations placed on women must change and empathy must take a central spot in the world of work.
The research - across over 40,000 working women from 333 organisations - paints a clear picture. Women are being failed on too many levels, leading to an inexorable drain of female talent and leadership. At a time when competition for top talent remains fierce, these oversights cannot stand. The challenge manifests itself in a few key ways.
A broken ladder
From the outset, women encounter a career ladder with a broken first rung. For every 100 men promoted from entry level to manager, only 87 women get promoted. While men in management grow from a share of 52% at entry level to 74% at C-Suite level, the trend is inverted among women. For all women, the numbers in management dwindle over the coming years - from 48% to 26%.
A high-flying female career, on a chart, looks like an energetic launch which, for lack of support, cannot maintain orbit and falls to Earth sooner and faster than a male career. This has lingering effects. When it comes to appointing women to the boardroom a decade or more after they joined a management programme, there simply aren’t enough of them left to promote.
All quiet on the home front
Inequality doesn’t stop as women clock off. All women reported taking the lion’s share of housework and care-giving as they progress in their careers. But unlike their male counterparts, their share of work doesn’t significantly diminish as they become more senior. A man’s home front duties shrink from 30% to 13% across his career, while a woman’s start at 58% and drop to 52%.
Bettina Schaller, SVP Head Group Public Affairs at The Adecco Group, remembers making a point of never sharing personal information or talking about home life with management at the start of her career. "As the mother of a toddler back then, I always muddled through to never miss a deadline. I was totally focused on never having to justify a lapse in performance 'because of' my daughter. In hindsight, that mindset alone was totally wrong and I vowed to manage that aspect completely differently once I became a team leader."
For Laurie Chamberlin, Head of LHH Recruitment Solutions, North America, however, work-life balance isn’t something that happens 100% of the time. “There are times when work needs to be a priority and other times when the balance shifts to your personal life or family. I think the biggest thing to recognize is that this shift is going to happen.”
Micro but not small
Wherever they work, all women deserve to feel included, valued and heard, but the evidence is that women working where they prefer - at home or on site - are 20% happier, feel 20% more confident of their equal opportunity to advance and are 23% less likely to leave. What's more, an additional 9% of women state they are ‘rarely burned out’ when their work arrangement align with their preferences.
This study reveals a smörgåsbord of micro-aggressions affecting all women, regardless of race, sexual identity, disability or age - but there’s no doubt that to be non-white or LGBTQ+ or disabled greatly increases the risk. In all, 26% of women and 38% of black women have been mistaken for a junior; and 39% women and a staggering 55% for black women have had their judgement questioned. That’s compared to 13% and 28% of men.
This is no secret to Laurie, who clearly recalls being asked by senior level colleagues – often her age or younger – what she would like her career to look like in 5 to 10 years. “I want similar opportunities to the ones you have been given!” was her go-to response.
Is flexibility the fix?
Flexible working has brought many benefits to women. Most women prefer remote or hybrid work and when given these options are less likely to quit. When it comes to workplace loyalty, 49% of women leaders put flexibility in their top three incentives - compared to 34% of men.
This chimes with the findings of our own research which found that flexibility is one of the top factors contributing to workers staying in their job. It is important to bear in mind that flexibility will mean different things to different workers and will therefore be more or less important depending on who you ask.
Valerie Beaulieu, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer at the Adecco Group, believes flexibility should be emphasized. "We should work to make even the most senior roles more flexible. While I enjoy being full-time, in principle there is no reason why my job couldn’t be shared - our accessible working platforms make handover much simpler than it would have been a decade ago."
Yet Beaulieu does not see flexible working as a panacea. "Flexibility alone won’t tackle the deep-rooted issues of the gender pay gap, workplace discrimination and women’s lack of high-level representation - but it can help. Government action makes a significant difference. Nordic countries, for example, are leading the way with laws to promote an equal share of parental leave, rather than maternity leave for mothers only."
A management mountain
HR leaders were asked how much more managers are expected to do now than they were two years ago. The answer? 60% more career development, 78% more wellbeing support and 80% more effort to promote inclusivity. However, the stats from employees point to a struggle for their managers to reach these targets. Less than half - 43% - said their manager shows interest in their career, only 50% said their manager ensures they get due credit and just 60% said their manager gives helpful feedback.
They are not helped by the way success is measured. Manager performance evaluations centre on meeting business goals (93%) while the human factors - career development, morale, diversity and inclusion, and retention - languish at between 25% and 43%.
Women managers routinely put more of their time into the so-called ‘soft skills’ which are at the core of supporting colleagues; the kind of work that fails to register at evaluation time. “Financial performance is table stakes and that’s why it’s always valued more than soft skills – and should be,” according to Laurie. “What I think women need to do is focus on combining the soft and hard skillsets. First, by focusing on developing their financial and business acumen, with the ability to articulate their financial achievements. Second, by showing how their soft skills help them achieve the company goals.”
The fact is, when managers step up and take key actions, women’s experience of work improves exponentially. Happiness climbs from 55% to 92%, while recommending the company as an employer shoots from 59% to 92%. Good managers mean 38% of women rarely feeling burned out, compared to 19% - and 75% say they are unlikely to leave in the next year, compared to 37%.
Leading by example
After decades of presenteeism and ‘hard work’ signalled by managers who stay late, the new way to genuinely impress a team is to remind it that it has a life to get back to. Among women under 30, two-thirds would be more interested in advancement if senior leaders demonstrated the work-life balance they aspire to.
"I know what it feels like to drown under a mass of tasks, to face unrealistic expectations and even worse to have to handle a toxic leader who pulls every inch of energy out of you," recounts Schaller. "I am no expert in HR but it seems obvious that the values used to praise leaders so far need to be turned upside down. To me, the baseline is actually common sense and ethics - not the typical heroization of working... impossible hours."
The way forward
McKinsey’s report tells the story of a woman entering the workforce and beginning her climb of the ladder. She quickly realises that, if she can get over the problematic first rung, she’ll face microaggressions, she will probably be expected to choose between her career and a family, and she will run the risk of being overlooked for progression.
Many of these challenges are embedded in social structures. Managers can help, of course, by bringing valuable soft skills into performance evaluations and leading by example, but they have a mountain to climb themselves. None of this is easy.
The result is clear, however. The Global Workforce of the Future shows that excessive workloads, compromised wellbeing and a lack of career progression are the main factors pushing people out of their jobs – either towards greener pastures or unemployment. McKinsey’s report confirms most of those suffering from these flaws are women. And while women are all different, a few things must happen to close the gender gap at work. The first rung must be fixed, the expectations placed on women must change and empathy must take a central spot in the world of work.
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