“A clear indication of commitment is the desire to stay. The data of a lower permanence coincide with this phenomenon of the ‘great resignation‘”, explains Yvette Mucharraz, director of IPADE’s Center for Research on Women in Senior Management (CIMAD). At the beginning of 2022, the proportion of managers intending to stay in their companies, the most noticeable reduction is observed in the women in leadership positions.
According to the study Trends in the employee experience for 2022 of Qualtrics, this year the proportion of executive women intending to stay in their current jobs has dropped from 86 to 68% compared to 2021.
This trend among corporate female leadership to stay in their companies contrasts with the reduction observed in the case of men in executive positions with the desire to change jobs, the proportion of which went from 81 to 72 percent.
Specialists agree that the low intention of managers to stay in their current positions is linked to the lack of flexibility in companies, the increase in care tasks, differentiated benefits and the increase in levels of stress and uncertainty, among other factors.
“If talent now makes different decisions about where to invest their skills, they can decide to invest it in a company in another country that works in their place of origin, because there is the possibility of working remotely for more advanced economies that do this flexible schemes and that they are not only committed to having a better experience for the employee, but also a better offer life experience“, Says Yvette Mucharraz.
The “great resignation” This is a phenomenon that was first observed and studied in the United States last year and refers to the massive departure of workers from their jobs due to the setback in the flexible work schemes implemented in the pandemic. An interesting point is that some of these resignations are concentrated in employees at industry level, largely due to public policies to support unemployment.
In Mexico, this phenomenon is closer to the executive levels due to the greater capacity of these jobs to join a new job and income that enables them to stay out of the labor market longer to find a better job offer.
In this sense, the loss of flexibility is an aspect that has a greater impact on women in leadership positionsespecially due to the increase in care tasks, which also fall heavier on them.
Historically, society has imposed a role on women as “caregivers” and on men as “providers”, explains Aideé Zamorano, founder of the Mamá Godín platform. “It is no coincidence that the participation of women today is so low. I attribute this to the lack of a gender perspective in both public and corporate policy. ”
At a general level, the Qualtrics report shows that throughout the female workforce diminished intention to remain in current employment. From the point of view of Fátima Masse, director of the Inclusive Association of the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness (Imco), this is due to the increase in care tasks. However, the fact that the trend is more pronounced in management roles is related to other factors.
“When we talk about the women leaders Something more complicated is happening. These types of jobs require a greater investment of time, have a higher degree of competition, require greater interpersonal contact, have fewer limited hours, and have greater uncertainty. As the responsibility increases, control over the tasks that have to be done is also lost and with that the uncertainty increases ”, the specialist points out.
In a pandemic context, these factors combined with an increase in care tasks and uncertainty on a personal level make executive roles “unmanageable”, emphasizes Fátima Masse. Hence the importance of policies that promote a work-life balance. “Same and you arrived at an address and you say: it’s great, but better at another time, no way, I had to live in the pandemic and you can not.”
Setback in labor flexibility
The latest data reported by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi) indicate that the proportion of companies planning to home office as a permanent measure it was reduced from 7.6 to 5.7% and the distributed schedulesfrom 17.5 to 9.5 percent.
“If you do not have a network of benefits that accompanies these women, even if you have them in leadership positions as part of a representation feeWhen someone becomes a mother, how will they be accompanied in a highly demanding job? ” asked Aideé Zamorano.
For Yvette Mucharraz, the increase in care tasks, online classes and the setback to Work flexibility These are factors that work together to create a less favorable environment for women in leadership positions, leading to a lower intention to stay with a company.
According to the Qualtrics study, women in 2021 had the highest retention value86 out of every 100 female executives planned to continue in their company, compared to 81 out of every 100 men. With the change in trends, the roles have been reversed, male leaders are now those who are considering the greatest opportunity to continue in their organizations.
“Women are more likely to be child and parent carers and they are also more likely to have a partner with a more demanding job than their own. This means that the trajectories between women and men are not the same and reduces self-confidence “, says Fernanda Lima, co-partner of Bain & Company in Mexico City.
The specialist believes that corporate efforts to keep women in leadership positions they must be based on a greater generation of trust and a new model of success that does not lie in devoting 24 hours a day, seven days a week to work.
According to Gender Monitor for Latin Americawomen in management positions in Mexico were the least home office outperforms their Colombian, Chile and Peru counterparts.
From inclusion to permanence
Fátima Masse believes that part of the challenge of balancing the balance between women and men in leadership positions is not only found in actions that incorporate female talent In addition to decision-making roles, policies are also required that accompany women at this level and help them stay there.
“The ambition is there, the joke is that it is compatible. Certainly, if companies want to add more women and retain them in such a way that they climb the ladder of responsibility, it is necessary to implement these types of work-life integration policies. Workers are first and foremost people and life happens at the same time as work happens ”, the specialist points out.
According to the IMCO, in our country only the 3% of companies listed on the Mexican Stock Exchange has women in their general management and only 10% of the board members are women.
“The idea of leaving companies or the risk of losing women leaders and non-leaders definitely reduces the diversity what we can have in the composition of the labor force. This land that we have advanced has been lost in some way, ”said Yvette Mucharraz.
The specialists agree that flexibility policies, work-life balance policies, unbiased benefits and the implementation of a care system These are some ways that can help more women join the economy and, most importantly, help them stay in their current jobs.
“The Federal Labor Act gives 84 days maternity leave, in the case of men it only gives them five days. Our own framework law strengthens a gender bias and a stereotype in which women are the caregivers ”, says Aideé Zamorano.
The reforms to create a national care system and to increase paternity leave and establish equal pay at all levels are part of the hanging subjects in the Congress of the Union, some of them frozen for more than two years.
The attention of these public policies is a priority for the permanence of women in the labor market, but also to generate a better environment that promotes the growth of the female workforce and the greater involvement in paid economic activities.
Reference-www.eleconomista.com.mx