Released today, new research from Encompass Equality and Clifford Chance has revealed the significant impact company culture and line management has on the retention of women in the workplace. The study, Why Women Leave, based on survey responses from around 4,000 women, looks at the factors that impact women’s decisions on whether to stay or leave their employer.
Overall, the findings highlighted that women’s propensity to leave their employer is not determined by personal circumstances such as age, motherhood or menopause. In doing so, the survey challenges the assumption that employers have limited ability to retain certain groups of women in their workforce.
The research found that, on average, women are 38% likely to leave their organisation within the next two years, but that there were significant factors that would change the propensity for a woman to leave her role. The report highlights the top five factors organisations need to focus on, which are:
- Support from line manager
- Organisational culture
- Prospects for career progression
- The day-to-day work itself
- Amount of work
The role of line management
82 per cent of women say that the support they get from their line manager has a “huge” or “significant” bearing on their decision to stay or leave.
Indeed, for those women who have the lowest likelihood of leaving a role, line management and team are the factors that matter to them the most and which they feel most positive about. Conversely, women who view the support they get from their line manager negatively are 1.7 times more likely to leave their employer (64% chance of leaving, compared with the 38% average).
Getting culture right
Company culture is also identified as an important and impactful “pull” factor, for ‘stayers’ (women who have a 0-25% chance of leaving current employment). But the flip side of this dynamic is the negative effect company culture can have on women. 65 per cent of women who have left their employer say culture had a “huge” or “significant’ bearing on their decision to leave, whilst women who view the culture of their organisation negatively are 68% likely – or 1.8 times more likely than average – to leave their employer in the next two years.
Moving up, not out
Career progression and prospects also play an integral role in the ability to keep female talent within an organisation. But the survey paints a picture of waning positivity toward career progression over time. For women in their 20s, salary and benefits and career progression are identified as the factors that have the most impact on retention. Yet, only 38% of women in their 40s feel positive about career progression prospects, compared to 65% of women in their 20s.
Joy Burnford, Founder & CEO, Encompass Equality, says
“The most important conclusion of this report is also the simplest: in attempting to understand why women leave their employers we tend to put all our focus on the women themselves. The assumption is that the women need helping. That women need fixing. Our survey squarely challenges that assumption. Although things like menopause, childcare, eldercare, or physical and mental health issues are clearly something that many women are contending with, they tend to sit behind a long list of other factors in terms of influencing their decision to head for the exit door.
The big deal isn’t personal. The big deal is management. It’s culture. In other words, we need to face the other direction. We need to see the retention of women as a systemic and cultural challenge. We need to fix organisations.”
Nina Goswami, Head of Inclusion UK, Clifford Chance says:
“What these findings highlight is that the issues impacting our female colleagues’ decisions to stay or go are not that dissimilar to any gender. So, ensuring women have a comparable cultural experience in the workplace as other colleagues becomes all the more important. That is why research like this is important. It keeps us live to the ever-changing factors that our organisations should consider when trying to create a culture in which colleagues feel valued.”
CASE STUDY
Why one woman left her job at a leading corporate wealth management company
Samantha Bradford has worked for a number of large financial institutions throughout her career since 1992. She had children in her early career and after returning to work gained more and more qualifications. This gave her access to more senior roles, but she was often the only woman in these positions. Her last role before setting up her own business was working in a team of 12 alongside 11 men. She had learned to tolerate the male back-slapping culture and tried to fit in as ‘one of the lads’ but it was the unfair bonus culture and the extortionately high targets that made her leave. The organisation did try to tackle this and gave 10 women access to a coaching programme. Whilst they offered the coaching, what they didn’t do was fix the system and change the culture which meant that they couldn’t actually get the full benefit from the programme. The women, like Samantha, who were in client-facing roles were still effectively trying to do their jobs at the same time – in evenings and breaks. As a consequence, 40% of that cohort of women left the organisation. Whilst the senior leadership team and CEO at the time were very supportive, it was often in the layers below (the line management) where there was still very much an ‘old boys network’ and behaviours that needed to be addressed.
About the Why Women Leave survey
The survey of 3,916 women was conducted between April and May 2023. Survey responses came from a wide range of professional sectors, across all working ages and ethnicities. The majority of responses (86%) were from the UK.
About Encompass Equality
Encompass Equality is the leading provider of practical solutions to advancing gender equality in the workplace and partners with organisations to support the attraction, retention and progression of women. Its mission is to champion gender equality at work through research and consulting, leadership development programmes, awareness-raising talks and workshops, and one-to-one and group coaching.
For more information, please see www.encompassequality.com and https://www.linkedin.com/company/11446021.
