According to new research, more than 40% of women cite work/life balance as a top challenge, which is exacerbated by company leaders who plan to issue return-to-office mandates and cut resources throughout 2024. These findings were revealed in a report published by Women in Revenue (WIR), a non-profit organization created to empower and elevate women in revenue roles.
According to “Career Success vs. Quality of Life: Balancing Professional and Personal Goals for Women in Revenue,” the top challenges for women in revenue roles include:
- Economy-related job security concerns (41%);
- Work/life balance (41%);
- Lack of women in revenue roles (40%);
- Compensation/salary transparency (38%); and
- Not having an equal seat at the table (36%).
“Work/life balance has been a persistent struggle for women, but that doesn’t have to be the case,” said Debe Rapson, Board Co-Chair for WIR, in a statement. “The past four years have proven that remote work and flexible work hours don’t have to impact productivity. Our community of women in revenue-generating roles is pragmatic. If they are seeing compensation and job security softening, they’re going to look to these benefits to compensate and achieve the quality of life they want.”
Women In Revenue Remain A Retention Risk
With cutbacks, a bleaker outlook for compensation and the prospect of losing location flexibility, women in revenue remain a retention risk: More than 45% of all women surveyed considered quitting their jobs last year, and a full 15% did quit. To promote acquisition and retention, the most important benefits women consider when weighing a new role include:
- Work from home options;
- Flexible work hours;
- Transparent compensation information;
- Training and professional development; and
- Top healthcare.
Compensation Equality
Overall, women earned just 84% of what men make for the same role. That gap extends much further for women of color, where marginalized populations of women make as little as 57% of what men do. Pay disparity is worse in the technology industry, where women earn only 82% of what men make, on average. Improving pay equity requires information: Compensation salary, transparency and negotiating is a top challenge for 39% of survey respondents. While 78% of women want a mentor to help them navigate these issues, 72% currently don’t have a mentor at work.
The answer? Elevating more women into leadership roles. As it stands, just 28% of women hold C-suite roles, severely impacting the ability to influence a company’s culture.
Discrimination In The Workforce
Finally, discrimination continues to plague most women in the workforce. The survey included the open-ended question, “Have you experienced discrimination in your workplace?” More than half of all respondents took the time to share a story of discrimination in their workplace. In addition to sexual harassment, the responses included words and phrases like “bro culture,” “abuse,” “excluded,” “sexism” and “passed over.”
“We were disappointed, but not surprised, to read the experiences of women who shared gut-wrenching, yet familiar stories of discrimination,” said Rapson. “It’s imperative that we not only compensate women equally, but that we eliminate discrimination from their experience in the workforce. It’s unacceptable.”
For a deeper dive into the current state of women in revenue, download the report now.
