08 May Why Women Leave

Why do women leave their companies in search of greener pastures?

A number of factors that companies can fix play a large role, according to Women in the Workplace 2022, the annual study by LeanIn.org and Mc-
Kinsey & Company. For this latest survey, more than 40,000 employees from 333 organizations shed light on why women are leaving some employers behind.

They are not getting the recognition they want. Women leaders are twice as likely as men leaders to be mistaken for a more junior employee. Likewise, 37 percent of women leaders say a coworker has gotten credit for one of their ideas, compared with only 27 percent of male leaders.

They don’t have the flexibility to work remotely. Sixty-four percent of women who work where they want to are unlikely to leave their organization in the next year, compared with only 41 percent of women whose preferences don’t align with where they work, i.e., remotely, on-site, or a hybrid.

They don’t believe their employer is committed to diversity. Women leaders are more than 1.5 times as likely as men at the same level to have left a job because they wanted to work for an employer with a stronger commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

The three factors mentioned are even more important to young women:

• Fifty-eight percent of women under 30 say advancing has become more important to them in the past two years, compared with 31 percent of women leaders in general.

• Seventy-six percent of women under 30 say flexibility has become more important in the past two years, compared with 66 percent of women leaders in general.

• Forty-one percent of women under 30 say a company’s commitment to DEI has become more important to them in the past two years, compared with 31 percent of all women.