Many women feel like their careers have been threatened due to the pandemic – can leaders help?
Over four in five women said their lives have been negatively disrupted by the pandemic. Majority of whom (70%) are concerned that it’ll affect their ability to progress in their careers. Deloitte found that many working women experienced shifts in their daily routine because of the pandemic. They said they now have more responsibility for household chores (65%), with another third citing a rise in their workloads.
Those with caregiving responsibilities saw their duties triple compared with pre-COVID levels. Moreover, most women with children reported added childcare (58%) and home-schooling responsibilities (53%). Respondents who reported a shift in their routines said it led to a negative impact on their:
- Physical well-being (40%)
- Mental well-being (39%)
- Ability to balance work and life commitments (58%)
On the other hand, more women without caregiving responsibilities said they now feel a need to be ‘always available’ at work (53%) compared with those with duties at home (44%). This translated to different types of stressors, including non-caregivers feeling more overwhelmed than their caregiving peers.
Read more: Is HR obligated to offer paid eldercare leave?
Along with having to adapt their daily lives in significant ways, many working women are also concerned about the impact the pandemic could have on their career progression both in the short and long term. While most women surveyed see the potential for progress in their careers over the next year, like getting a promotion or pay increase, changing roles, or getting more responsibility, 60% questioned whether they wanted to progress at all.
This is because of the perception that it’ll take ‘so much more effort’ for them to move up in their organisation. For example, 23% of respondents who felt that they needed to always be ‘on’ for work feared they will end up having to choose between their personal responsibilities and their careers. Another 10% of professionals think they may need to consider a career break or leave the workforce entirely.
Read more: Are lockdown measures hurting women’s chances of recovery?
Why women are quitting – and how to avoid it
Now, pandemic or not, if you considered when women ‘fell behind’ in their careers, it tends to tie in with their life stage at the time. Maybe they’re having children and taking a break to care for the young ones, or they’ve decided to relocate with their families to support their spouse who got an overseas assignment.
“You [need to] look at the pivotal points where women drop out or get behind in their careers,” said Pratap Gopalakrishnan, chief experience officer at Nium. “I think understanding your workforce dynamics and where they need support to fit that time in their lives [is critical].”
Read more: These are the best companies for women in 2021
As head of HR at the fintech start-up, and with decades of leadership experience in Fortune 500 firms, he believes HR should make the effort to listen to employees’ needs to keep them engaged in their roles. Instead of a blanket benefit or policy, it pays to consider the individual’s needs and see how the company can meet the employee halfway at least. For example, he shared how a staffer asked if relocation was possible, likely because she had to move to follow her family, so leadership told her that they can set up a remote working arrangement.
“We consciously kind of intervene and give support around those pivotal decisions that they take in their lives, so that they don’t have to leave the workforce,” he told HRD.
Read more: How to help remote workers manage work-life integration
How to support returning employees
But sometimes career breaks are inevitable, for instance during maternity leave. To avoid permanent attrition, you need to have systems in place to effectively ‘reserve’ the job for the employee for about four to six months, depending on how long they’re away to care for their newborns. Also, even though it’s an entitlement, leaders need to understand that the employee may still feel insecure about the career gap and how it’ll affect their progress.
“It’s a big concern where women feel that when they come back, we actually give them a role that would be below their capability,” he said. “So understand those pivotal points and have programs and interventions to ensure that they feel comfortable to retain and stay with you for a longer term. If you look at it, you’re only making a compromise for about six months or so, and they may stay with you for about 10 years, so your company benefits in the long term.”
Read more: The 'Global Gender Gap' laid bare
The HR chief’s coworker, Nupur Mehta, global HRBP at Nium, added that the problem around women leaving the workforce at certain personal milestones sometimes lies with leadership’s lack of sensitivity towards an employee’s experiences.
“It is inevitable that women leaders take a break to build a family,” Mehta told HRD. “A lot of people are not confident enough to come back because they’ve seen their so-called batchmates [progress] to higher levels. So when they come back to work, it is extremely important for the organisation to build capability, whether they took a break and are rejoining the company.”
Nium’s team, for instance, takes a conscious approach to help returnees ‘restart’ their careers. It’s an exclusive capability building program that helps the individual build their confidence to comfortably return to their jobs and see to it that their career ‘takes off’. This program can take about three to six months, depending on progress made by the individual. Initiatives like this are especially crucial to help maintain and strengthen pipeline of female leaders in the organisation.
“Leadership pipeline for succession is a conscious [effort], so we need to start doing this,” she said.