In this 100th episode of Crina and Kirsten Get to Work, our hosts check in on the annual Women in the Workplace study and report from LeanIn.Org and McKinsey & Company. Women in the Workplace | McKinsey
This year the study includes information from 333 participating organizations employing more than 12 million people, and surveyed more than 40,000 employees. The study included women of diverse identities, including women of color, LGBTQ+ women, and women with disabilities. The pandemic has changed what women want from their companies, including the growing importance of opportunity, flexibility, employee well-being, and diversity, equity, and inclusion.
What runs through all of the findings is women of color, LGBTQ+ women and women with disabilities are significantly more impacted than white women. This data point runs through every finding in the report.
Women are breaking up with their employers in record numbers, particularly when it comes to women in leadership. More women in management are leaving than can be recruited. Why? We know women want more flexibility at work. The study confirms women leaders carry more of the diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) at work than men. It is ironic women leaders do more DEI work, which improves retention and satisfaction for employees, but results in these women leaders being overworked – and in many cases unrecognized. And let’s not forget about the second shift many women carry at home. Women leaders want a workplace culture that prioritizes employee well-being and DEI. Finally, women experience less support and more bias in the workplace, which makes the workplace more challenging for women.
For the 8th consecutive year, the “broken rung” at the first step to manager continues to hold women back. For every 100 men who are promoted into management, only 87 women are promoted, and only 82 women of color are promoted. As a result, men in management outnumber women, and women can never catch up. Fewer women in lower management, means fewer women to promote into senior leadership.
Women in technology industries are underrepresented and struggling. These women are twice as likely to frequently be the only woman in the room at work – and they face higher levels of bias based on their gender. Tech roles are among America’s fastest-growing and highest-paid job categories. If women in these roles have negative day-to-day experiences and don’t see an equal path to advancement, it could lead to larger gaps in both representation and earnings between women and men overall.
While the workplace for women is similar to the last eight reports from McKinsey and LeanIn.org, this study reports good and bad news. The good news is women leaders are pushing back and not accepting the status quo. The bad news is disparities for women of color, LGBTQ+ and differently abled are still significant and we are not making progress for women in leadership or in technology. There is more work to do – so the podcast continues!