New Report Highlights Benefits of Workplaces That Are Gender Equality Leaders

Creating a culture that is responsive to the concerns of working women results in greater engagement according to Deloitte’s Women @ Work 2024 report. 

What’s new: In organizations described by Deloitte as “Gender Equality Leaders” (those that have built cultures where their employees benefit from work/life balance and where women are supported in career progression), 62% of female employees plan to stay with their employer more than three years, compared to 13% in organizations that don’t lead on gender. Similarly, 92% of female employee want to progress to senior leadership positions in organizations that are Gender Equality Leaders, compared to 31% in other organizations.

The big picture: The study, which surveyed working women in 10 countries identifies persistent workplace concerns for female employees. The 2021 and 2022 reports reflected the burnout and stress of working during the pandemic, but in 2023 high stress, domestic duties and expectations, apprehension regarding workplace flexibility, and lack of security talking about mental health at work, remain top concerns.

The bottom line: Many of the concerns reflect broader societal issues with 14% of women believing that women’s rights have deteriorated in their home country over the past year. Nearly half (47%) of women are concerned about personal safety in the workplace, during their commute, or during work travel. One in 10 women report having been harassed while traveling for work. An equal number report having been sexually harassed by a colleague. Yet, more than one-third didn’t report the sexual harassment, with 14% citing concern that the behavior would worsen and one in ten believing that reporting the behavior would damage their career. 

Other findings include:

• 51% of women say their stress levels are higher than a year ago. This percentage jumps to 60% for women in an ethnic minority.
  
  
• 56% of women cite mental health as a top concern along with financial security and women’s rights generally. Additional stress related to work/life obligations impact women’s mental health with mental wellbeing scores declining from 50% to 23% for women working overtime. Similarly, 47% of women who share caregiving and household obligations with a partner rate their mental well-being as good whereas only 35% of women who serve the primary role in caregiving and cleaning rate their mental health as good or very good.
  
  
• Despite the important role of mental health for women employees, only 25% feel comfortable talking about mental health in the workplace, down from 33% who felt comfortable with these conversations in the pandemic years. The top reason for not disclosing mental health challenges is concern about adversely impacting career progression.

Deloitte’s recommendations for addressing the issues:

• Understand what is driving workplace stress and take action to mitigate it.
  
  
• Revisit workplace culture and policies addressing women’s safety concerns.
  
  
• Normalize the conversation on women’s health and making sure women can access workplace support.
  
  
• Focus on family-friendly policies and understand the impact of return to office and hybrid policies.
  
  
• Address non-inclusive behaviors at work and develop a gender equality culture.