According to a new survey, women are switching jobs in unprecedented numbers.
Women are initiating a "great breakup" with their employers, with female leaders leaving their companies in unprecedented numbers, according to a new survey. These women aren't exiting the workforce. Instead, they're relocating to companies that share their values.
LeanIn.Org and McKinsey surveyed over 40,000 employees from over 330 companies for their annual report on women in the workplace. This year, they found that the gap between women and men leaders leaving their jobs is the largest it's ever been. For every woman at the director level who gets promoted to the next level, two women directors choose to leave their company.
Why are female leaders switching companies? Women are prioritizing career advancement, so they are looking for organizations where women can get ahead. They’re seeking flexibility and work-life balance. And they want to work for companies who share their diversity and inclusion values and to receive recognition for their DEI efforts.
Women Want Potential For Career Advancement
According to the survey authors, women are just as ambitious as their male counterparts. So, when a woman senses obstacles to advancement in one job, she's more likely to move to another that offers more potential to get ahead.
One way to assess the potential for advancement is to look at a company’s current leadership. One woman interviewed for the survey described her experience, "When I joined this company, I noticed a lot of women and people of color in leadership. That let me know it was possible for me to advance. When you come into a company, and there are leaders who look like you, it just feels different."
Other women described microaggressions and day-t0-day frustrations that they face at work. They report that their colleagues question their judgment or imply they aren't qualified for their jobs. The survey found women are twice as likely as men to be mistaken for someone more junior, and a whopping 37% of women leaders have had a coworker get credit for their idea (only 27% of men leaders reported having an idea stolen). It's not surprising that women are searching for more hospitable environments.
Women Want Flexibility and Work-Life Balance
While both men and women desire more flexibility, this issue is particularly important to women. Indeed, 49% of women leaders say flexibility is one of the top three considerations when deciding whether to join or stay with a company, compared to only 34% of men leaders. One survey participant reported, "For the first time in my career, we're seeing people leaving and going to companies with a more generous work-from-home policy. So I dug into the data, and I realized something about every single person leaving. They were all women."
According to the survey, only one in ten women want to work primarily on-site compared to 18% of men. Since the pandemic, flexible work arrangements have allowed women, often primary caregivers, more opportunities to balance their work and home responsibilities. In addition, there's evidence that work-from-home arrangements give women, and employees of color, safe spaces from microaggressions. Yet, with the increases in flexibility, another potential bias emerges, proximity bias.
Workplace proximity bias or flexibility bias leads to a preference for on-site employees. Think of this bias as "out of sight, out of mind." When it comes time for promotions or special assignments, it's easy for managers to choose those they physically see every day. In addition, hybrid workers may miss out on beneficial conversations in hallways and at water coolers and have more difficulty gaining face-to-face time with managers.
The LeanIn.Org report authors urge companies to level the playing field for remote and hybrid employees. They suggest organizations put safeguards in place to ensure that employees who take advantage of remote and hybrid options are not penalized for their absence from the office.
Report coauthor and LeanIn.Org's cofounder and CEO, Rachel Thomas, acknowledges that there's an untrue assumption that if you work from home, you must be less committed to your work and less productive. She says, "Companies really need to train their managers to recognize the signs of flexibility stigma and flexibility bias. Companies need to make this psychological shift that work should be evaluated based on results— what you're accomplishing—not where you're doing it."
Thomas also wants to make it clear that just because women are more likely to seek flexibility, that doesn't mean that women are less ambitious or don't want to work hard. "Women aren't asking for flexibility because they want to do less. Women are asking for flexibility because they're doing more. They're committed to their careers, they're ambitious and they want to fit it all in. I think that's such an important piece here. This idea that flexibility makes work easier is preposterous—flexibility just makes it doable. Women are demanding flexibility because they know that's what they need to be successful," she says.
Organizations are responding to the call for flexibility. The survey found that only 7% of companies plan to pull back on hybrid and remote work, and nearly a third of companies plan to expand these options.
Women Want To Work For Companies That Share Their DEI Values
Another reason women are switching jobs is that they want to work for companies that share their values. For example, women are twice as likely to spend substantial time on DEI work, yet 40% of women say this work isn't acknowledged in their performance reviews. Heading to companies that prioritize DEI and that reward leaders who promote inclusive environments helps these women advance and allows them to work with colleagues who share their values.
Thomas says that when it comes to DEI, "There's really a gap between what companies say they expect from their managers and how they reward them. And I think that's an important gap to fill because it will make the workplace better for everybody.” An additional benefit, she adds, “Since women managers are more likely to be doing DEI-related work, that means they will get the recognition, the reward, the pay bumps, and the promotions that come with showing up as better people leaders and better champions of diversity."
