Another one bites the dust
Elizabeth (Liz) Gulliver
Our business is your people. We elevate employee experience and drive retention & performance.
Last week, I covered the disconnect between employers and employees when it comes to ‘The Great Resignation’. It’s fairly straightforward: employers continue to try transactional solutions while employees are asking for relational changes - more meaningful connections vs parks and pay. It’s the kind of situation that leaves you shaking your head. Employers have the rare gift of knowing exactly what their people want, and they still fail to deliver.
This week, that picture got even clearer. McKinsey and LeanIn released their annual ‘Women in Workplace’ survey. The yearly survey covers what’s happening with women at work - the good, the bad, and the ugly. Last year, this survey provided the first data that emphatically showed just how bad things were getting for women during the pandemic. For many, this study was a loud warning that things would, could (and did) get far worse.
We’ve been given another red flag to watch this year. It is the first time that McKinsey and LeanIn have surveyed respondents on how well their managers are addressing their wellbeing. We’d all be wise to take that addition as a clear sign of where things are at right now. If they felt the need to make wellbeing part of the survey, it’s because our wellbeing is suffering and they predict a massive impact in the workplace as a result. We’re already beginning to see it.
What’s interesting is that leaders recognize this change. But they’re not ready to act, and they’re starting to pay a price for it. Across the board, leaders acknowledged how important emotional and work-life support is. Close to 90% said it is critical to their workplace. That’s not something most CEOs were talking about prior to the pandemic. So where’s that new, additional support coming from? Women. Female leaders are checking in on employee wellbeing, helping employees navigate work-life challenges, ensuring that workloads are manageable, monitoring for burnout, and spearheading diversity and inclusion efforts. Female leaders have stepped up to meet the growing needs of their teams and their families. And they’re getting nothing for it. Worse, they’re getting punished. They’re missing promotions, taking on extra work, falling behind, and burning out at twice the rate of men.
And we all know it. CEOs included. The same leaders who ranked this work as ‘critical’ openly admitted that it’s not being formally recognized in performance reviews or otherwise. Can you believe the sheer audacity, the blatant hypocrisy to essentially say ‘this work is critical, I expect it to be done, but I will neither acknowledge nor reward those doing it?’ I can. I bet you can, too.
Now take that in combination with what’s happening in The Great Resignation. All together this means that we know what it takes to keep the talent companies desperately need (ensure that employees feel valued, seen, and heard), we know that it is women who are doing that work internally, yet we refuse to acknowledge that work and are simultaneously surprised that women continue to leave work? I think it’s astounding more women haven’t left.
If companies continue down this path, they risk losing even more female leaders. It is imperative that companies start training, and evaluating, their managers on how to support & care for the wellbeing of their teams. These are not the management skills of yesterday. This will require massive upskilling and firm wide cultural shifts. It’s not too late just yet, but it will be soon.
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Research Analyst at Silverlight Research Expert Network
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