The
following article was published in Northern Nevada Business
Weekly,
June 2005.
Keeping Women in Business: What Business Leaders Can Do to Retain High-Achieving
Women Joelle K. Jay, Ph.D.
Leaders take notice: a crisis is brewing.
Today, U.S. businesses are losing some
of their very best talent – educated, experienced women – in
what may be the largest talent drain ever.
Why? Because the balance of work and family, for many, is
exacting too high a price.
Census Bureau data shows nearly a quarter of women with professional
degrees absent from the workforce at the height of the recent
labor crunch. Other surveys of Ivy League graduates reveal
that
57 percent of women graduates leave the work force
Only 38 percent of women graduates end up in full-time careers,
and one in three white women holding an
MBA is not working
full-time (Harvard Business Review, March 2005).
And Time magazine (March, 2004)
recently reported “the
first-ever drop-off in workplace participation by married mothers
with a child less than 1 year old…mostly among women
who were white, over 30, and well-educated.”
These statistics indicate a disturbing trend that those abandoning
their careers are largely high-achieving women, whose jobs
tend to demand longer hours, who carry more responsibility
and whose absence arguably makes the greatest impact on business.
Among the women leaving are the best of
the best. Examples include former Bush advisor, Karen Hughes;
former CEO of PepsiCo, Brenda Barnes; and former ambassador
to Pakistan, Wendy Chamberlain—all
of whom at one point or another have left high-profile careers
to spend time with their families. Time, Newsweek, 60 Minutes,
the New York Times, and other media have recently profiled
numerous other less prominent accomplished women representing
the thousands who face the issue every day.
Why are so many capable women turning away from their work?
Sylvia Ann Hewlett, writing for the Harvard Business Review (April,
2002), reports that they are “forced out of their jobs
by family demands, punishing hours in the office, and unrewarding
work.” Some are compelled to become full-time mothers,
to care for elderly parents, or for personal health reasons.
Whether they are pushed away by an unforgiving work environment
or pulled away by the lure of family life, one thing is clear:
for high-achieving women, life balance is becoming an increasing
impossibility.
Business women play a special role in addressing
this issue. Because we understand the issue so intimately—whether
directly through our own experiences or indirectly through
the women around us—we can consciously make an effort
to pave the way for a healthier approach to success that honors
career and quality of life. The well-being of businesses
and the women within them are at stake.
What can be done to retain talented women?
Many prominent solutions include companywide policy changes,
such as paid parenting leave, flexible workdays, job sharing,
and telecommuting. But as Hewlett argues, many of these policies “seem to
be of limited use to time-pressed, high-achieving women” – particularly
given the tendency for such choices to be stigmatized.
While companies begin to examine their
response to the issue, businesswomen and men can take action
personally – not
by perpetuating all-or-nothing choices, but by using the talents
that have made them successful in business to address the issue
head-on. Some suggestions:
Establish mentors. The tensions of work/life
balance tend to be felt most intensely by women in their
30s, when marriage, career, and motherhood converge. These
women can benefit from the experience women who have successfully
navigated this particularly challenging time of life.
Hire a coach. Because this issue is so
personal, one-on-one coaching with a professional can help
promising women make choices that truly honor all of who
they are.
Use creativity. Find
new ways to meet the needs of women leaders—which
in many cases may simply mean asking them what they want.
Beware the punishing
workload. Many
professions value long hours over quality work. Take a
second look at the business culture and see if it really
awards what’s
most important.
Work against the stigma. Combat stereotypes
against people who choose flex time or job sharing by making
opportunities available to them and being fair with recognition.
As this issue becomes more widespread, many
are calling for the increased participation on the part of companies
to address the problem. Women leaders can help make that happen.
In the meantime, businesswomen and men can also continue to work
one by one on an individual basis that makes change possible – if
not for the entire population of women in business, at least
for one at a time.
Joelle Jay, Ph.D., is the owner and president of Pillar Consulting
LLC, a leadership development firm in Reno, N.V., specializing
in leadership and personal effectiveness. She coaches business
leaders and executives in achieving success while maintaining
a healthy life balance. She can be reached at Joelle@pillar-consulting.com.
Reprinted with permission from Northern Nevada
Business Weekly, June 2005.
