What will the workplace look like for women in 2023?

What will the workplace look like for women in 2023?

by Alma Sheren, Greenacre Group

The last two years have seen a seismic shift across our work spaces, with millions quitting their jobs and looking for roles with more meaning, purpose, value and flexibility. According to the latest Women in the Workplace Report from McKinsey, women are switching jobs at the highest rates we’ve ever seen.

There has, up until recently, been little research published on the experiences of women of diverse identities, however this latest study has collected information from more than 12 million people across hundreds of organisations, including women of colour, LGBTQ+ women, and women with disabilities, to get an intersectional look at biases and barriers.

Women in ‘Leavership’

Whereas before employers had the upper hand, the latest statistics show the evolving workforce are now demanding better conditions and opportunities which align with their individual needs and goals. There has, by necessity, become a stronger requirement for the workplace to offer environments which support wellbeing, mental health and personal choice, as well as individualised growth opportunities.

As well as these general workforce demands, senior leaders are also quitting in droves, with women outranking men in the ‘leavership’ stakes, due to their organisations not accommodating the flexibility and wellbeing measures needed to lead effectively and efficiently in today’s changeable work climate. This is creating an even bigger gender inequity between the amount of C-suite leaders currently in active roles, not just in the UK and US, but across the globe.

Complex challenges can be hidden from view

We are living in a time of enormous challenge and complexity, which is creating a shift in how we survive, cope and thrive, with our personal and work lives blending in ways never before experienced. Women, particularly women of colour, have borne the brunt of the challenges initially brought on by the pandemic, and are not only contending with continuing pay inequity, but less opportunities to progress, and, in the background, greater personal struggles such as juggling their workload with a bigger share of familial responsibilities, and higher instances of domestic abuse, which has increased in correlation with the cost-of-living crisis. This last challenge is often hidden from others, but has far reaching implications in terms of safety (due a decrease in available support services), financial (due to coercive control), lack of affordable accommodation (due to the housing crisis and reduced funding), and lack of opportunity to develop themselves professionally (due to reduced prospects).

But whilst the pandemic has created more uncertainty for women in many ways, there is also an acknowledgement that gender diversity across the workplace (and in leadership specifically) statistically breeds success. And this recognition is driving the much-needed change required to transform the way employers are attracting, retaining and developing their future workforce. Quite simply, without diversity, the bottom line suffers. And this is when the decision makers start to listen, adapt and reform workplace culture. Without this transformation, organisations can no longer survive and thrive in the new work world.

Drivers for positive change

This gender drop out is also starting to create a supply and demand issue for organisations as they compete for fewer top senior female leaders to secure the most effective, diverse (dividend-led) leadership teams, and we might finally start seeing, as we head into 2023, that this begins to narrow the distance across the gender pay gap divide. Even with the current economic outlook, we are seeing the skills shortages across the sector create higher salary scales for the most in demand skill sets, particularly across Development and Sustainability.

In essence, 2023 will be a year where the new employee demands from every gender in terms of flexibility, mental health and wellbeing support, individualised development offers and job security, should start to create the welcoming spaces needed for the millions of women, alongside others, who have dropped out of the workforce to return, contribute, flourish and grow. And this can only be a good thing for the workplace, the economy and society.