How women may suffer from leadership bias

Author Moonshot.news

Published on: 23/03/2022

65% of women say the pandemic has made them rethink the place that work should have in their lives. Nearly 70% of women with children agree the pandemic has changed how they value certain aspects of their life outside of work. To retain female workers and attract new talent, organizations must include women´s experiences and preferences, according to marketing and research company Gartner. 

“In a hybrid work design – where women are more likely than men to take advantage of remote work – they may suffer from leadership bias,” said Alexia Cambon, research director, Gartner HR practice.

“59% of women knowledge workers think in-office workers will be seen as high performers, and 78% think in-office workers are more likely to be promoted.”

An earlier Gartner survey of business leaders shows 64% believe onsite workers are higher performers, and 76% say onsite workers are more likely to get promoted.

Gartner recommends three strategies:

Allow Control Over the Workday to Avoid Fatigue: 59% of women reported they feel tired before they even arrive at work, compared to 49% of men. Only 43% of women agree they have enough energy for leisure activities, notably lower than their male counterparts, 54% of whom agree.

Moving forward, the hybrid workplace will require new norms and codified behaviors to safeguard performance, well-being and engagement. HR leaders should work with other business leaders and managers to establish set collaboration hours where everyone in a particular region agrees to be available for synchronous collaboration. Similarly, time should be blocked for focused work and asynchronous collaboration.

Equity in the Workplace: Women are more likely to want flexible work than men. Yet, nearly half of remote female employees said they feel left out of activities and meetings that could enhance their career at least some of the time.

To ensure female employees’ careers are not negatively impacted, HR leaders should employ two tactics:

1. Be intentional about in-person gatherings:Approximately 32% of women want their organization to set a minimum number of days per year that teams must gather in-person.
2. Move away from visibility-based management: In a hybrid workplace, leaders who rely on visibility to manage are less likely to be successful. Instead, being clear about the outcomes to be achieved and providing autonomy to employees in deciding how to achieve them helps level the playing field between remote and non-remote workers.

Offer Fulfilling Work: One of the most important retention attributes for women – exceeded in importance only by compensation – is the satisfaction they get from the work they do.

“Women are tired and due to the pandemic, many are lacking access to the re-energizing activities that provide personal fulfillment,” said Cambon. “In the absence of a life outside work, the pressure grows for work to be worth the burn-out. Employers must start redesigning work to be a unique value proposition in and of itself.”