Keeping Women in the Workplace

Key findings from the Lean In Women in the Workplace study[i] , last updated in 2022, reveal, “women leaders are leaving their companies at higher rates than ever before. To put the scale of the problem in perspective: for every woman at the director level who gets promoted, two women directors are choosing to leave their company.” Why is that? The Lean In report collected information from 333 participating organizations employing more than 12 million people, surveyed more than 40,000 employees, and conducted interviews with women of diverse identities, including women of color, LGBTQ+ women, and women with disabilities, focusing in 2022 on how 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. And many end up on the other end of that decision.

I left a thriving job to take what felt like a big promotion in a fast-moving organization. At the same time, I was ramping up a new team and my body started to protest the long hours. It literally started shutting down. I wasn’t sleeping well, and my body clock was not, let’s say, very productive. Not only was I walking into walls, I was also so bloated that I couldn’t fit into most of my clothes. The gut dysfunction and lack of sleep led to severe headaches. People asked if I was okay, and I just smiled. I was overwhelmed, but too concerned about making the right impression to ask for help. The more I isolated myself, the more crazy I felt.

Many women I’ve talked to are afraid to express their personal issues because we don’t want the team to see us as a weak link. At one point in time working for a women-owned business, I had three kids from 8 to 18 attending three different schools. It was not feasible to be at work downtown by 8 a.m. One of my teammates spent 60% of her salary to keep reliable in-home childcare and she had zero work-from-home flexibility.

If a woman-owned business is not friendly to women in the workplace, what future do we have?

On that note, I worked for a women in Silicon Valley in 1993 who didn't ask permission to change this narrative. She started a successful high-tech PR firm (that has since sold to Golin) and hired brilliant women (like me) to serve the area's high-tech product promotion needs. Many of our top managers had young children and we had on-site childcare. We had scheduled walking breaks on random days and used that time to connect with each other and have a rare side-by-side moment with the CEO.

What good news can you share about an employer that cultivates a healthy environment for employees to thrive?

And if you haven't yet, you can reserve the Kindle (or ebook) version of Crazy, as Usual on Amazon here . Print version is in the works!!!

[i] Lean In Women in the Workplace study (2022) https://leanin.org/women-in-the-workplace/2022/recommendations-for-companies