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A report released on Monday found that women working in the United States are more exhausted than a year ago, and the promise of promoting diversity, fairness and inclusion has not translated into a better work experience for women of color.
The seventh annual of McKinsey & Company and LeanIn.org report The survey on women in the workplace studied data from 423 major U.S. companies, surveyed more than 65,000 employees, and interviewed people from different backgrounds to assess how women in the United States have been The performance of the virus pandemic.
The report found that with the constant disruption of the face-to-face workplace paradigm, the gap in job burnout between women and men has almost doubled in the past year, while women have taken on greater care due to the closure of mixed education and daycare centers burden.
In the latest survey, the percentage of women who said they were often or almost always exhausted at work rose to 42%-7 percentage points higher than the percentage of men and a full 10 percentage points higher than last year.
“Women in the management team are more exhausted than men of the same level,” McKinsey & Company partner and research co-author Isana Rambakan told Al Jazeera. “We see the real risk here. Women face the risk of leaving their jobs, and in many cases, it is these women who have stepped up in the pandemic and played a leading role in really helping the office and building culture.”
The results of the survey reflect the level of exhaustion. One-third of women said they had considered reducing their careers or leaving their jobs altogether. In the first few months of the pandemic, one-quarter said they had this. There is a feeling that this proportion has risen sharply.
The ruthless 24-7 company work culture is causing exhaustion. More than one-third of employees said they feel they need to be on standby 24/7 and need to work long hours to improve their company’s status.
“We found that remote work will not be a panacea for attracting and retaining diverse talent,” Rambachan explained. “Of course, both men and women want to work remotely at least one day a week. But we have cancelled commuting and now we are all sleeping in the office. Therefore, remote work requires real guardrails and thoughtful considerations. What is the daily structure? When Will we all leave and come back online?”
Obstacles for women of color
The report found that there is a disconnect between the growing commitment of American companies to promote diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and the actual daily experience of women of color and marginalized women.
“I think we are all surprised to see that despite people paying more attention to racial equality and more attention to diversity, fairness and tolerance, the experience of women of color in the workplace has not changed or has not improved significantly. LeanIn.org joint Founder, CEO and research co-author Rachel Thomas (Rachel Thomas) told Al Jazeera that they experienced similar frequency and types of micro-attacks as they did a few years ago.
“The most important thing is that this year white employees are more likely to say they are allies. On the surface, this is good, but they are less likely to appear as allies and take ally actions,” Thomas added. “As far as allies are concerned, there is a big gap between intention and action.”
In addition to micro-aggressions, women of color have also experienced higher levels of “others” and a wider range of disrespectful behaviors-from being interrupted or speaking more than others to feeling as if they should represent everyone Speaking of people with the same identity-all these will lead to a higher degree of burnout.
“By definition, micro-attacks are everyday discrimination,” Thomas said. “Over time, micro-aggressive behaviors occur and create work experience for women who start to feel untenable. If you suffer a lot of discrimination, a lot of daily contempt, and other behaviors every day, it’s just common sense. cause some damages.”
The report found that women who frequently suffer micro-aggressions are twice as likely as those who have not experienced burnout, and the report is more than twice as likely to feel negative about work.
There has been a “discontinuity” in the promotion of women to managerial positions: for every 100 men promoted to managers, only 86 women are promoted. For women of color, this gap is even more pronounced. The study found that by 2021, only 12% of managers are women of color, compared with 42% of white men.
This has resulted in one in eight women of color reporting that they are “the only dual identity”-the only woman in the work room and the only person of their race or ethnicity. The report found that the lack of diversity led to micro-attacks for women of color, and the incidence of this situation was the same as it was two years ago.
The report found that Asian women with “dual identities” are more likely to have experienced micro-aggressions at work. A quarter of Asian women reported that in the past year, as anti-Asian prejudice spread, racial trauma The increase has had an impact on them personally. Coronavirus, the first case of which was reported in China.
Studies have found that black women face the most disproportionate barriers to promotion at work, and experience the most micro-aggression and prejudice in recruitment and promotion. Sixty percent of black women reported being affected by racial trauma in the past year.
Latino women report that compared with other women, they are not flexible enough in working hours and time spent on housework and care tasks. 43% said they spend more than 5 hours a week on housework. In other words, this proportion is 34%.
The report found that Latinos are also more likely to take care of children and older family members. This, coupled with the lack of flexibility in taking vacations due to family or personal reasons, has led many people to consider leaving their jobs or reducing their careers.
DEI disconnect
Although the company is promoting DEI, the actual recruitment and support of diverse talents falls to a large extent on women, except for their regular workload-there is almost no formal recognition that this requires time or commitment.
The study found that approximately 20% of senior female leaders reported that they “spend a lot of time on DEI work that is not related to their job”, compared with less than 10% of men at the same level.
In addition, studies have found that women of color, women with disabilities, and LGBTQ+ women are more likely to spend time on DEI duties outside the scope of work.
Not all companies’ DEI plans are equal. Although 60% of employees said their company prioritizes ethnic diversity, only 25% of employees said their company prioritizes people with disabilities in their DEI work.
Although most companies say it is important to cultivate diversity and promote employee well-being, only 25% of companies recognize that this plays an important role in their formal review process.
This gap may mean that when managers need to review employees’ jobs and make recommendations on potential salary increases, promotions, or other promotion opportunities, all the time and emotional labor invested by women is not as valued as quantitative goals. .
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