An online professional network, LinkedIn, has launched its latest consumer research based on 2,266 respondents in India to uncover the challenges faced by women at work, and spotlight opportunities for employers to help break biases that are holding women back.
The research has found that poor employer sentiment towards flexible working and career breaks are the main reasons that are holding women back from asking for greater flexibility and re-entering the workforce.
The reasons behind India’s working women are quitting or considering quitting their jobs in 2022 as pay cuts, bias, and exclusion become their penalties for working flexibly.
Nearly, 72 percent of working women in India reject roles that don’t allow for flexible working. The research also shows that following the impact of the pandemic, 8 in 10 (83 percent) working women have realised they want to work more flexibly.
The survey has found that 72 percent of working women are rejecting job roles that don’t allow them to work flexibly, while 70 percent have already quit or considered quitting their jobs because they weren’t offered the right flexible policies.
When asked about the benefits of flexible working, around two in five women said it improves their work-life balance (43 percent) and helps them progress in their careers (43 percent), while one in three said it improves their mental health (34 percent) and increases their likelihood of staying in their current jobs (33 percent).
Nine in 10 (88 percent) working women had to take a pay cut to work flexibly, two in five (37 percent) had their flexible working request denied, and one in four (27 percent ) struggled to convince their bosses to accept their request.
Given the impending guilt and stigma around flexible policies, one in every three working women in India shy away from telling their clients (34 percent), colleagues (35 percent), and friends (33 percent) that they work flexibly. 77 percent working women felt a career break had set them back in their careers due to stigma
Four in every five (78 percent) working women in India are taking career breaks to improve their well-being, plan career changes, and boost their confidence at work.
With nine in 10 working women using their time off to learn new hard and soft skills, career breaks are helping women to upskill and boost their employability in today’s tight job market.
But despite these benefits of sabbaticals, about four in every five (77 percent) working women in India who took a break say that it had actually set them back in their careers.
This is due to the prevalent stigma associated with career breaks among recruiters and employers, which has made it difficult for every second (50 percent ) working woman in India to explain their career break to recruiters.
As a result, many choose to exclude career breaks from their CVs (42 percent) or lie about their breaks to potential recruiters when being interviewed (35 percent).
Forced to tiptoe about their career breaks, 80 percent of India’s working women wish for ways that would help them represent their career breaks more positively to hiring managers.
“Flexible working is the No. 1 priority today for all professionals, especially for working women. In fact, our research finds that India is at the brink of a ‘flexidus’ with 7 out of 10 working women quitting or considering quitting their jobs due to lack of flexibility.
This is a warning sign for companies and recruiters to remove the stigma surrounding the need for flexibility and career breaks, and introduce stronger flexibility policies if they don’t want to lose top talent.
As LinkedIn is uniquely positioned to help professionals in such times, we have also launched a new ‘Career Breaks’ feature to normalise taking career breaks and help women re-enter the workforce.
“This feature will de-stigmatise resume gaps as part of our professional journeys, and empower women to better communicate their unique experiences to their connections and recruiters,” says Ruchee Anand, Senior Director, India Talent & Learning Solutions, LinkedIn. New feature to normalise career breaks and help professionals re-enter the workforce
