Gender progress under threat as 1/4 women ponder workplace exit

Years of progress towards gender equality could be wiped out this year as 1 in 4 women are considering leaving the workforce or downshifting careers due to Covid-19, according to the latest findings from McKinsey & Company and LeanIn.Org. The “always on” culture with “pressure to work more” and burnout are the primary reasons cited for women wanting to exit the workplace.

In a single year, this could wipe out all of the hard-earned gains for women in management and unwind years of progress toward gender diversity, reveals the annual Women in the Workplace report released today.  The findings are based on data and insights from 317 companies employing more than 12 million people, and surveys from more than 40,000 individual employees. 

The report urges companies to act immediately to avert this potential crisis. It includes recommendations for addressing the feelings of burnout and being “always on” for work that many employees are grappling with right now. “If we had a panic button, we’d be hitting it,” explained Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook and Co-Founder of LeanIn.Org. “Leaders must act fast or risk losing millions of women from the workforce and setting gender diversity back years.”  

McKinsey & Company’s Global Managing Partner at Kevin Sneader agrees. “This crisis for women is not going away, but the solutions are within reach,” said Sneader. “Companies need to adapt their strategies to more fully support women’s lives amidst a new world of work.” 

PANDEMIC DISRUPTION

Covid-19 has been hugely disruptive for all employees, but even more so for women. The new report highlights the effects of the pandemic on women, including the distinct challenges for mothers, women in senior leadership and Black women. According to the report, working mothers are more than three times as likely as fathers to be managing most of their family’s housework and care-giving during the pandemic.

They are also twice as likely to worry that their performance will be judged negatively due to their care-giving responsibilities. Working moms are also far more likely to feel uncomfortable sharing work-life challenges with colleagues – especially, if they’ve got children at home.

BURN-OUT & ALWAYS ON CULTURE

Senior-level women are juggling huge demands both at work and at home, and more likely to be mothers than women in other levels. Additionally, they are more likely to be in dual career couples than senior-level men, which means they are trying to balance work and home without the extra support that a partner who doesn’t work often provides.

Senior female leaders are also almost twice as likely to be the only woman in the room, which often comes with heightened scrutiny, such as needing to provide additional evidence of their competence. These factors mean that senior-level women are more likely than senior-level men to feel “always on” and under pressure to work more. They are also 1.5 times as likely to think about leaving the workforce or downshifting their careers and almost 3 in 4 cite burnout as a primary reason.

IMPACT ON BLACK WOMEN

Black women were already having a distinct – and by and large worse – experience at work. Compared to women of other races and ethnicities, Black women face more systemic barriers, receive less support from managers, and experience more acute discrimination. The difficult events of 2020 continue to disproportionately impact Black women. They are more than twice as likely as women overall to say that the death of a loved one has been one of their biggest challenges during the Covid-19 pandemic. Incidents of racial violence across the US have also exacted a heavy emotional toll on all Black employees. 

On top of this, the report found that work isn’t a supportive place for many Black women. Fewer than 1 in 3 Black women report their manager has checked in on them in light of recent racial violence. Plus, they are far less likely than their White colleagues to say they have strong allies at work. All of this is having a negative impact on Black women. Compared to other employees, Black women feel more excluded at work and are less likely to say “they can bring their whole selves to work”.

CORPORATE PIPELINE

Key findings regarding the state of the talent pipeline reveals that corporate America has made slow but steady progress in women’s representation over the past six years. This was most pronounced in senior management. Between 2015 and the beginning of 2020, the share of women grew from 23% to 28% in SVP roles  – and from 17% to 21% in the C-suite. That said, women of colour, remained dramatically underrepresented.

In short, the “broken rung” is still holding women back. For the sixth year in a row, women continued to lose ground at the first step up to manager. For every 100 men promoted to manager, only 85 women were promoted. The gap was even larger for women of colour: Only 58 Black women and 71 Latinas were promoted. Additionally, Black and Latina mothers are juggling more responsibilities than their White counterparts. They are more likely than White working mothers to have a partner that works full-time outside the home and have to handle all of their family’s housework and caregiving. 

INVALUABLE ALLIES

Companies, however, can’t afford to lose senior-level women as they have a meaningful impact on company culture. Compared to senior-level men, they are much more active allies to women of colour. They are more likely than senior-level men to mentor or sponsor women of colour, which means the loss of senior-level women could impact the pipeline for years to come.

According to the report, 60% of senior-level women say they publicly acknowledge the work of women of colour, compared to just 44% of senior-level men. Women in leadership are also more likely to enlist their peers to support racial equality and take a public stand in support of it.

SUPPORT FOR WOMEN AT WORK

So how can employers support female staff to stay in the workplace? Many companies are stepping up and have taken several steps to support employees during the Covid-19 crisis. Many are sharing valuable information with employees, including updates on the company’s financial situation and details about paid leave policies. They have expanded mental health services, such as counselling and enrichment programmes. And almost all companies are providing tools and resources to help employees work remotely.

That said, many companies have not adjusted the expectations that may be responsible for burnout. Less than a third of companies have adjusted their performance review criteria to account for the challenges of Covid-19. Furthermore, only about half have updated employees on productivity expectations during the pandemic. That means many – especially parents/caregivers – are facing the choice between falling short of pre-pandemic expectations that may now be unrealistic. Or, they are pushing themselves to keep up with an unsustainable pace.

LOOKING AHEAD

The pandemic has prompted companies to rethink fundamental beliefs about remote work. Around 93% of companies now say more jobs can be performed remotely. Approximately 67% predict a significant share of their employees will work remotely a year from now. Furthermore, 70% think remote work will allow them to increase diversity in hiring. Staff see benefits of remote work, with 77% saying they want to continue to work from home more often than they did before Covid-19. 

In short, nothing about 2020 is business as usual. Companies need to take bold action to make work more sustainable and inclusive for women –particularly women of colour. The Women in the Workplace report provides concrete steps that companies can take to support women more. This includes embracing flexible working norms, guarding against bias in performance reviews, communicating openly and empathetically with employees, and providing training to help managers and colleagues show up as allies. It also points to long-term opportunities. If companies set better norms for remote work and build on programmes they are putting in place to help staff weather this crisis, they will be setting the foundation for a better and more inclusive workplace. Click here to access the complete Women in the Workplace report. 

More than half of working parents also fear losing their jobs amid continued Covid-19 uncertainty, as many believe that “being a parent is a strike against them in the workplace”. Click here to read.