This is why female employees quit – and how HR can stop them

A new study has revealed the top three criteria for women that would persuade them to quit their job in search of something new. The HiBob-commissioned study "Australian Women Professionals in the Modern Workplace" revealed on Tuesday that women look at these three things before switching jobs:

• increased pay (48%)
• flexible work (43%)
• strong and healthy culture (40%)

According to HR HiBob, the results prove that pay is not the "only issue" professional women look at before leaving for a new job. It also revealed that women working for large companies (43%) were more enticed by a strong and healthy culture than those work smaller companies (36%).

"Against the backdrop of the great realignment and the war for talent, our research this year has shown us that professional Australian women have a clear 'top three' criteria for evaluating job opportunities: pay, flexibility, and culture," added Nirit Peled Muntz, chief people officer of HiBob.

Employers could consider these factors as employees start transferring to new jobs in what people are calling the "Great Realignment."

"This gives Australian employers multiple great opportunities to hire and retain the many talented professional women in the Australian market," Muntz said.

The "Great Alignment" saw 39% of women leaving their jobs in 2021, while this year, 27% more of HR professionals, 19% of all respondents and senior managers, and 13% of women in tech are expected to leave their employers.

The study, which was released on International Women's Day, sought the responses of 1,000 Australian women who were employed full-time in a hybrid or in-person workplace in 2020 and 2021.

Read more: The Great Resignation: How to futureproof your business

Pay gaps and promotions

Another key finding in the study was about how 32% of professional women in Australia believe that they are paid equally to men, whereas 33% believe that men are better paid.

According to the research, 25% of women tech professionals believe that they are paid equally with their male colleagues, while 40% believe that men are paid more. For HR professionals, only 22% of them believe that they are getting equal pay with their male counterparts, while 37% of them believe that men are paid higher.

The results arrive after a Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) research revealed that there is a weekly average of $255 when it comes to the difference between the pay of men and women, and it favours the former.

This is still a 13.8% gender pay gap, according to WGEA, but it is a welcome progress after it declined slightly from the previous 14.2%.

"Any time we see the pay gap decline, it is a welcome sign that the labour market is moving in the right direction," said WGEA director Mary Wooldridge in a statement.

The study of HiBob also released some encouraging results, especially for women who plan to further their careers.

In 2021, more than half (55%) of the women surveyed said they received a promotion in salary, position, or benefits, with 37% saying that both men and women are promoted equally.

Less than half (35%) of the employees surveyed also said their company has made efforts to develop more women leaders. Twenty-eight per cent of the respondents said their company already has a balanced female-male relationship, which is trumped by the bigger 37% that said their company is not balanced yet.