I cannot give what I do not have.
The pandemic created extremely challenging conditions for workplaces. Organizations have had to pivot and quickly adapt to a new normal, while employees faced their own set of challenges, like remote work, their own physical health, worry about finances and subsequently, burnout.
Women, in particular, have been adversely affected and are facing a critical tipping point.
The recently published McKinsey Report ‘Women in the Workplace 2020: Corporate America is at a Critical Crossroads’ is the largest comprehensive study of the state of women in corporate America. The results come from data gathered from 317 companies employing more than 12 million people. It is the largest annual benchmark of women’s progress in corporate America.
Over the past 5 years, women in the United States have seen slow, but steady growth in all sectors, including a 22% increase in the C-suite and an 18% increase in Senior VP roles.
During this same time, both men and women downshifted their careers at similar rates. Now, one in four women are looking to downshift their career or leave the workforce.
Between February and October of 2020, 2.2 million women left the labor force entirely. This means they are no longer working or looking for work, and are no longer counted in unemployment statistics.
The pandemic has created a critical pandemic trend: for the first time in history women are leaving the workforce at vastly higher rates than men. 275,000 women left the workforce in January of 2021, versus 71,000 men.
One big question is why? Why are women disproportionately affected?
Women—especially women of color—are more likely to have been laid off or furloughed during the Covid-19 crisis.
Working mothers have always had a ‘double-shift’: a workday followed by childcare and household labor. The pandemic exacerbated these challenges while also removing key support structures (like childcare, school, and assistance in the home) that women relied on.
The added stress of challenges all employees are facing like, virtual meetings, feeling the need to be ‘always on’ with few work boundaries, stress, and burnout.
Women feel unable to bring their whole selves to work, worry their performance is being negatively judged and face a lack of flexibility.
Lastly, women have no other choice. It is not a choice to care for and/or educate your child, when childcare or other resources costs nearly the equivalent to your take-home pay.
If organizations do not change how they approach women in the workplace, women will lose a majority of the progress from the past six years, and potentially revert to pre-2015 levels.
So, how can we take action, and support women in the workplace?
Expand family leave benefits beyond standard maternity and FMLA practices. Maternity leave conditions the woman as well as sends the message to the employees in the organization, that the responsibility of having a child is that alone of the mothers. Paternity or family leave – like childcare, is an inclusion strategy.
Offer childcare solutions – like childcare reimbursement, tutor sessions or subsidized care. Organizations have also seen remarkable success in offering on-site childcare.
Support women in the workplace with:
Organize Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) where women can connect with their peers and have a voice. (---insert ERG blog link ---)
Provide women with mentoring and professional development opportunities.
Update performance review criteria and productivity expectations to reflect the challenges of the past year. Women are pushing themselves to perform at pre-pandemic expectations and feel they are falling short. Women also feel that their performance is being negatively judged due to caregiving responsibilities.
There is a large opportunity here – for organizations to build a more equitable 'new normal', to create a more inclusive, diverse, flexible and empathetic workplace – where women can succeed for the long term.
So, the question is – what will you do today to support women in your workplace?