Forget the ‘great resignation’ – now it’s the turn of the ‘great break-up’.
Women in senior roles are “breaking up” with companies that fail to provide them with the flexibility to juggle work and childcare and are seeking employers that offer them greater work-life balance, according to a leading flexible recruitment expert.
The ‘great break-up’ – a term first coined in the US by management consultants McKinsey & Co – refers to the way women are more likely to leave their jobs to get their needs met but are not leaving the workforce.
Karen O’Reilly, the founder of recruitment firm EmployFlex, said 81pc of women who contacted the firm in the last 12 months are mothers in senior roles who have been refused flexibility in their current roles or feared requesting it because they were concerned they would jeopardise their positions or be demoted. This is partly because many male colleagues do not often avail of flexible work practices or decline to take their parental leave.
Women are “happy to move to obtain a more flexible role, whether that be reduced hours, core hours, or moving to a more empathetic and family-friendly employer,” O’Reilly said. “We are talking to women every day who approach us seeking flexible work, so we know women are burnt out and leaving senior roles, particularly mothers who are experiencing the motherhood penalty while trying to juggle it all.
“These ambitious women aren’t leaving the workforce. Instead, they are walking away in search of better opportunities. Because they are re-evaluating their priorities. Some are even switching industries or setting up their own businesses. The losers are the companies who are not hanging on to their valuable diverse talent.”
Our top tips on avoiding the #motherhoodpenalty are :
Our top tips to obtain and retain diverse talent:
1. Offer authentic flexibility
2. Be returner friendly
3. Remove bias at hiring stage
4. Be committed to your Equality, Diversity and Inclusion policies
5. Have definite career progression paths for women
6. Encourage Shared parental leave
7. Offering other parental support
8. Get the men onside as allies – Irish Mammy’s boys mentality needs to be stamped out! Women are tired of being sold a pup that they can have it all while expected to do it all!
Full article in the Irish Independent here