Recent studies show that women are leaving corporate jobs in the UK at alarming rates. This mass exodus highlights systemic issues of workplace inequality that companies must address.
While women make up nearly 50% of entry-level corporate positions in the UK, representation dwindles significantly in upper management. Women hold only 30% of executive committee positions in FTSE 100 companies. And just 7.4% of FTSE 250 companies have female CEOs.
These numbers are not changing quickly enough and this is being exacerbated by more women leaving the corporate workspace.
Many women cite lack of flexibility as a top reason for leaving corporate roles. 85% of UK women say they have left or considered leaving their jobs due to lack of flexible working options. Inflexible schedules and lack of remote work disproportionately impact women, who still bear the brunt of caregiving and domestic responsibilities.
One of the biggest challenges for working families in the UK at the moment is the cost of childcare. For many women it doesn’t make economic sense to stay employed, their whole income is going on childcare costs. Typically it is women who leave the employment market because they earn less than either male partners.
Analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) finds that most of the gender pay gaps can be traced to ‘child penalties’, or parenthood. It finds the average earnings of men are almost completely unaffected by parenthood, but women’s earnings fall sharply when they become parents and then stabilise at a much lower level with little growth.
Also interestingly a wide “gender commuting gap” opens in the years following the birth of the first child, which evolves over time in a very similar way to the gender pay gap between mothers and fathers
This is combined with the deeply ingrained gender conditioning that we still live with. This reinforces the notion that a woman’s primary role is that of carer and her career comes second. ‘Mum guilt’ and the feeling of never being good enough as a parent or as an employee, comes from the silent expectation that mothers should be with their children and responsible for the running the household. This is very real for the clients I work with, I hear it everyday.
Additional factors related to women leaving corporate life include lack of mentorship and sponsorship, exclusion from informal networks, discrimination, sexual harassment, and bias in hiring and promotions. These issues stifle career growth, prompting women to seek opportunities elsewhere.
Another interesting dimension to this problem is around women’s appetite for more senior roles in corporate life. There is still a distinct lack of female role models to look up to as the numbers above demonstrate, so women are sceptical about the opportunity to progress. When women do see these role models what they often perceive is a women doing the job in the traditional male model of leadership, one which involves long hours and a macho culture. This is not an attractive proposition to many women. The scarcity of female representation in executive roles creates stagnation and frustration.
Many women are leaving corporate life and setting up their own businesses which is great and really empowering, however the vast majority of these businesses will remain micro SME’s. These talented women are then lost to the larger businesses who complain that they don’t have a strong female pipeline.
The female brain drain presents serious risks for UK companies. Research shows diverse leadership improves innovation, problem-solving, and financial performance.
Some UK companies are taking steps to retain and advance women, including implementing flexible work policies, setting diversity goals, providing mentoring programs, and ensuring fair family leave and pay. But more work is needed to dismantle systemic barriers.
If you want to retain women in your workplace you need to support them, really listen to the challenges they face and take action. The numbers of my clients who don’t feel their managers have any understanding of their situation is quite staggering. And furthermore so many managers don’t show any interest in trying to understand either.
This does not just apply to women, fathers are facing challenges too. They increasingly want more a more flexible approach to work and more paternity leave so that they are able to co-parent effectively, however in most organisations this is simply not available.
Isn’t it about time we overhauled our current approach and refocused on a ‘dual-earner dual-carer model’?
Alongside active work towards dismantling gender biases embedded in their structures, promoting inclusive cultures and fostering environments that support work-life balance, organisations can support their female employees by listening to them and supporting them individually, helping to explore ways to utitlise their talents and ensure they feel valued. Individual coaching and mentoring can be invaluable tools as part of this approach.
If you are an organisational leader reading this you may also want to reflect on what your policies say about diversity, flexible working and similar initiatives and what’s the reality? How do they really play out for the individuals experiencing life in your organisation? Do you know?
I can tell you that what’s in a policy and what’s happening in real life are often very different things – often to the detriment of your female employees.
If you’re a woman in the corporate world what are your views on this I wonder? What further support would help you to stay and thrive?
We can address this challenge, we can make change, let’s do it!
You’ll find more blogs and videos on topics related to women in leadership on my website and You Tube channel.
As always if you’re looking for more individual support please do get in touch. I’m always happy to chat about the work I do to help more women become senior leaders.
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