For Women, Real Flexibility Is The Key

businesswoman entrepreneur working on laptop from home office spAnne-Marie Slaughter, author of Unfinished Business: Women Men Work Family, wrote in the New York Times last fall that today’s fast paced, ultra competitive workplace is losing women. She speculates that too many women look at their lives and discover that what was a manageable and enjoyable work-family balance earlier in their careers can no longer be sustained — regardless of ambition, confidence or even a partner who shares tasks equally.
Pew researchers recently asked more than 1,800 American adults, “What’s holding women back from top jobs?” The top three answers were the same for both business and political positions: That women are held to higher standards, that the country isn’t ready, and that family responsibilities don’t leave enough time.
The need to make it all work is something that employers need to consider to maintain high-performing employees. Many women who started out with all the ambition in the world find themselves in a place they never expected to be. They do not choose to leave their jobs and they are shut out by the refusal of their bosses to make it possible for them to fit their family life and their work life together.
FastCompany.com recently reported that as many as 43% of working women quit their jobs when they have children. Even many of the best-credentialed businesswomen aren’t exempt from the pull of family responsibilities. Harvard Business School recently found that many of its female alumni are choosing more flexible jobs, slowing the pace of their careers, and declining promotions.
Looking at the facts, many business leaders must increase workplace flexibility in order to retain top talent. While some have stepped in line with the progress being made on family leave policies, others are looking at remote work as an option. Remote work eliminates some of the obstacles that tend to throw women off the traditional leadership course – namely inflexible schedules, long hours away from home, and long commutes. Why remote? Well, according to Sara Sutton with Remote.com, it works. She recently reported that remote companies have nearly three times more women in leadership roles – 42% of the leadership at remote companies, compared with 14.2% in S&P 500 companies.
Pam O’Hara, CEO of Batchbook, a small-business CRM provider, goes one step further in the FastCompany.com and says, “The flexibility of a virtual workplace can empower men and women to take an equal part in raising children, caring for elderly parents, or other life occurrences that have traditionally fallen to women to handle.”
This isn’t just a workplace culture issue; it affects every company’s bottom line. As my Leading Women co-author Gloria Feldt points out in her book, No Excuses, many women are opting out of the very career paths that could shift them to the highest clout positions and lead to gender parity. We need women to step into leadership roles, and take the opportunities as they present. That’s why it’s important that companies look for ways to make leadership positions more appealing to women – like through remote work options, and we create a workplace that is truly woman, man, AND family friendly to move closer to equality.
Everyone wins with an open and flexible path to leadership that maximizes the desire to lead with the environment that supports it for both genders. Removing these out-of-date barriers would make the greatest move toward improving the lives of women. And when we improve the lives of women, we improve the lives of everyone around the world.
 
 

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