CAREERS
New research shows that we are feeling more despondent at work than ever. But, says Arielle Steele, companies know they need to do more to retain brilliant women in the workforce – or to lure them back – and positive change is underway
There was, at least, one positive thing to emerge from the global pandemic: we were forced to reassess the rules of the workplace we’ve been abiding by for decades. We adjusted to commute-less workdays and kids inadvertently attending meetings. Despite the challenges, many of us realised we could be productive away from the office, we could more seamlessly juggle the demands of family life and work, squeeze in time for self-care and bring our full, often messy, selves to work. But has the workplace changed for the better since then? Well, it’s complicated.
‘People understandably feel strongly about maintaining the flexibility they gained during the pandemic,’ says Ngaire Moyes, UK country manager at LinkedIn, which found that 65% of women now say work-life balance is an important factor of a company’s culture and values. And the workplace has responded: ‘hybrid’ working – a combination of office and home-working days – has become the norm, with flexible working and core hours policies becoming standard in even the most old-school corporations. There’s a growing expectation for employers to view staff as human beings, instead of cogs in a machine.
‘That said, companies are increasingly trying to get their people back in the office, with more than half of employers believing their workforce are more productive in an office environment,’ says Moyes. ‘We’re seeing a growing gulf between the viewpoints and needs of employers and employees.’
The result of this gulf? ‘Flexible’ working that just isn’t as appealing as it once seemed to be. Arrangements such as reduced hours (for reduced pay) often mean women have the same workloads but are rewarded less for it. Flexibility often means logging back on after our kids have gone to sleep, blurring the boundaries between work and home. Then there’s confusion about company policies that seem to care about mental wellbeing and women’s health concerns, but with little practical support or understanding from managers who insist on tight deadlines and stressful meetings. Add all of this to a cost-of-living crisis, rocketing childcare costs and the continued pressure for women to shoulder more of the domestic load and caring responsibilities, and it’s unsurprising that women are more fed up and burned out than ever.
Recent studies have found that fewer than half of women rated their job satisfaction, motivation and productivity as ‘good’ post-pandemic, while one in three women are considering downshifting or dropping out of the workforce altogether. With stats like
