Women in the Workplace 2022 Report: Why Women Leaders Are Quitting In Record Numbers
According to the Women’s in the Workplace 2022 report, 58% of women under 30 say advancement has become more important to them over the past two years, compared to 31% of women leaders overall. Women leaders of all ages are as likely as men at their level to want to be promoted and aspire to senior-level roles. Despite this statistic, women leaders are leaving their jobs in record numbers.
Dubbed the “Great Breakup," women leaders are demanding more from work, and are more likely to switch jobs to get their needs met. In a Consciously Unbiased LinkedIn Live conversation, I (virtually) sat down with Rachel Thomas, and Lareina Yee, the authors of the newly released “Women in the Workplace 2022” report. We talked about how remote work affected women’s personal and professional lives, how burnout occurs, and what people can do to support women experiencing burnout. You can listen to the full conversation here, and read below for some key takeaways.
Remote Work can Empower Women
“Individual women that we've interviewed have said, ‘I feel like I am more a member of this virtual table than I was before’. Or women who just feel incredibly empowered to say, I can choose how I work, so I would like to be in the office two days a week. I'd like to be really intentional about when I'm together with my team, and how I'm learning. But gosh, that flexibility on the other days is just making it so much easier.”
Young Women Are Ambitious And Want Work To Work For Everyone
“What we're seeing from younger women under 30 is they actually became more ambitious during the pandemic, not less ambitious. But all of those things that we talked about that matter to women leaders of all ages, such as flexibility, commitment to wellbeing, and diversity, equity, inclusion, [also matter]. So a culture of work that works for everybody is more important to younger women. I think what they're effectively saying is, we're ambitious, we're focused on our career, but we're not going back to the status quo when it comes to work. We want work to continue to move forward. We've seen what companies could do during the pandemic when they had to. We've seen that additional commitment to a wellbeing. We've seen them double down on flexibility and remote and hybrid work, and we don't want to go back.”
A Lack of Support Is Leading to Burnout
“Close to 40% of women leaders have found that a coworker has taken credit for their ideas this year. They're two times more likely to be mistaken for someone much younger, almost undercutting their sense of seniority or authority. And they're also far more likely to spend time on DEI, which is wonderful. But guess what? Less than 40% of them actually receive any credit for that work. So when you look at the numbers showing for every woman moving up into leadership, one woman leaves, part of it shouldn't be surprising. We can take a look at the day-to-day signals and women aren't being supported for further advancement and they're saying, maybe I should go somewhere else with my talent.”
Caregiving Isn’t Only a Woman’s Issue
“We need to normalize caregiving, whether that's elder care or parenting. Too often when we talk about it, it's still a women's issue. That does no good to women and ultimately it doesn't do good to men either, who should have the same freedom to take parental leave, to take time off to go watch [their child’s] soccer game. We really need to start talking more about parents, and less about mothers.”
Whether women leaders work remotely or in the office, our workplace policies can have a big impact on retention, and a big impact on the home. We can all help women do their best work by supporting them in all the roles they play, not only the position they hold at work. I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below. What steps do you think companies should take to help support women leaders and prevent burnout?