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It is widely known that women leave their work because they face difficulties balancing work, personal life and motherhood. Nevertheless, according to a new research conducted by ICEDR (a global HR Talent Academy), it appears that four of the five main reasons for which women leave organizations are the same as men. According to a McKinsey study, women are not getting out of the workforce but the big majority of them are leaving their current job for a different one. Employers are therefore losing valuable talents, not to forget the costs of hiring and training these women.
By 2025, millennials will form roughly 75% of the workforce and over 50% of them will be female. How can companies attract and keep the next generation of women leaders? For Lauren Noel from ICEDR and Christie Hunter Arscott, there are little efforts to support millennial women, and they offer some unique research based solutions to women earlier in their career growth. Moreover, the main reasons for which women around age 30 leave enterprises are: Pay; Access to learning and development opportunities; Access to meaningful work.
In addition, a recent study of ICEDR shows there are five things that millennial women expect from their supervisor and enterprise:
1. Know Me.
Everyone has passions, interests, and pursuits outside of work. Women want theirs acknowledged, just like anyone else.
Solution: Know better the person behind the work she is doing. Connect with her and provide her flexibility to engage in these passions outside of work.
2. Challenge Me.
Millennial women look forward to new experiences and opportunities, learning and growth, and stretch assignments.
Solution: Offer women the opportunity to go in for learning and growth opportunities that they themselves see as important. Provide them with many creative paths to development.
3. Connect Me.
Women want an engaging and dynamic community.
Solution: Assist these women in creating a supportive network of colleagues, advisors, and influencers. Ask them who they want in their network and encourage them to reach out directly or help them in making the connection when needed.
For instance, Blackrock, with its “Art of the Ask” program is challenging women to improve their negotiation skills, which also promotes connection amongst women going through the program together. The company is also developing access to informal networks through a “Managing Director Chats” program, which connects women directors with managing directors at the firm through two 90-minute small group sessions.
4. Inspire Me.
Women want determination, significant work, and women role models. In addition, they want their contributions valued, recognized, and rewarded.
Solution: Set a higher mission to your company and ask individuals to link with their individual objective by asking what their big “why” is and how they can follow it through their work.
Spend time on appreciating the work of people in your team and make sure they are valued and recognized.
5. Release Me.
Women want to take risks, lead initiatives, experiment, and innovate.
Solution: Encourage women to have autonomy and ownership over projects. Give them controlled risk.
Innovative companies such as HubSpot, a company that develops and markets a software product for inbound marketing and has 700 employees and 49% revenue growth, are conceiving their organization around millennials’ needs. At HubSpot, “results matter more than the hours we work”. For example, a millennial woman has attained HubSpot’s Management Team as VP of Operations and got when she was expecting her first child. According to ICEDR study, “At HubSpot, leaders highly encourage horizontal movement. HubSpot’s Chief Marketing Officer encourages people on his team to switch tasks every six months.”
In the near future millennials will lead the workforce and consumer need, and the most successful companies will be those that can meet the needs of these future leaders.
