Women leaders experience burnout, work unrecognized

The COVID-19 pandemic has had devastating consequences for many women in corporate America, including in travel, tourism and hospitality .

Although women have made gains in representation as well as in senior leadership over the past year and a half, women are more burned out than ever – nearly double the level of men.

In fact, one in three women says that they have considered downshifting or leaving the workforce this year, compared with one in four who expressed the same last year . Four in 10 women have also considered leaving their companies or switching jobs, resulting in higher employee turnover.

Despite this, women have put forth the effort to advance diversity, equity and inclusion within their workplaces and are more likely to practice allyship.

But that critical work is going unrecognized and unrewarded by most companies, according to McKinsey & Company and LeanIn.org’s Women in the Workplace 2021 study , putting businesses at risk of losing the leaders they need most right now.

The Women in the Workplace study, which the organizations have been producing since 2015, reflects contributions from 423 participating organizations employing 12 million people and more than 65,000 people surveyed on their workplace experiences.

The report also incorporates in-depth interviews with women of diverse identities, including women of color, LGBTQ+ women and women with disabilities.

The “broken rung” remains

According to the report, while there are encouraging signs around women’s representation in corporate America, there are still gaps in the pipeline.

A “broken rung” at the first step up to manager remains a trend since 2016: Women are promoted to manager at a much lower rate than men, making it nearly impossible for companies to lay a foundation for sustained progress at more senior levels.

Meanwhile, women of color continue to lose ground in representation at every level. Between the entry level and the C-suite, the representation of women of color drops off by more than 75%. As such, women of color account for only 4% of C-suite leaders.

The study finds that for every 100 men promoted to first-level manager at the end of 2020, 86 women were promoted. Of every 100 men, 89 were white women and 85 were women of color. This year marks the first time women of color were promoted at about the same rate as women overall, though men still significantly outnumber women at the manager level.

Women's work

The events of 2020 put a spotlight on gender and racial inequalities, leading many companies to declare diversity, equity and inclusion a key area of focus.

However, women leaders are the ones meeting the moment and taking on the extra work that follows, the Women in the Workplace report finds.

Compared to men at the same level, women managers are taking more action to support their teams in managing their workloads and well-being, and senior-level women are twice as likely as senior-level men to spend more time on diversity, equity and inclusion work that falls outside their formal job responsibilities.

Women leaders are also more likely than men to be allies to women of color and are more likely to educate themselves about the challenges women of color face at work.

According to the report, although companies that prioritize diversity, equity and inclusion leads to happier and less burned-out employees, relatively few companies formally recognize employees who go above and beyond in these areas.

Overlooking work around diversity, equity and inclusion has serious implications, hurting women who are investing disproportionate time and energy in these priorities. In turn, all employees are affected, because progress is rarely made on efforts that are undervalued.

“If companies don’t recognize and reward leaders’ efforts to support employee well-being and advance diversity, equity and inclusion, this critical work is at risk of being relegated to ‘office housework’ - work that contributes to the business but isn’t taken into account in performance reviews, doesn’t lead to advancement and isn’t compensated,” the report states.

"Only" ones

As women move into leadership roles, their day-to-day experiences often get more difficult, the study continues.

Compared to entry-level women, they are more than twice as likely to say they are “Onlys” – often the only or one of the only women in the room at work. They are also more likely to face microaggressions that challenge their competence.

Women of color sometimes have to contend with being Onlys on two dimensions: both as the only woman in the room as well as the only person of race in the room. These “Double Onlys” face even more bias, discrimination and pressure to perform and are more likely to be experiencing burnout.

Being an “Only” can also amplify the challenges of being a working mother. Mothers already face more bias and barriers than fathers and women overall, but when they are the only woman in the room, their experience is even more difficult and they’re more likely to be burned out and to have considered leaving their companies.

The road ahead

To drive change, companies need to invest deeply in all aspects of diversity, equity and inclusion.

This requires bold action – a statement echoed by UN Women UK advocate Simon Gallow, speaking during Phocuswright’s Diversity in Leadership event last month .

Companies must also create a culture that allows women and all employees to feel comfortable brining their unique ideas, perspectives and experiences to the table.

Further, companies must take action to address two systemic weak points in the corporate pipeline: the “broken rung” in promotions at the first step up to manager and the sharp drops in representation of women of color at every level of advancement.

The study suggests companies put more practices in place to ensure promotions are equitable and that they track representation and hiring and promotion outcomes more fully.

“To accelerate progress for all women, on all fronts, companies need to double down on accountability. Despite saying that gender and racial diversity are among their most important business priorities, only about two thirds of companies hold senior leaders accountable for progress on diversity goals, and less than a third hold managers - who play a critical role in hiring and promotion decisions – accountable,” the report states.

“Moreover, among companies that hold senior leaders accountable, less than half factor progress on diversity metrics into performance reviews and far fewer provide financial incentives for meeting goals. Companies need to treat diversity as they would any business priority, and that includes tying progress toward goals to advancement and compensation.”