CLOSING THE GAP

For women in management, there’s never been a better time to quit. 

Women leaders are leaving their companies at the highest rate ever, and the gap between women and men in senior roles quitting their jobs is the largest it’s ever been, according to new data from LeanIn.org and McKinsey & Co., which started tracking these numbers in 2015.

Their “Women in the Workplace” report found that it’s increasingly important to women that they work for companies that prioritize career advancement, flexibility and employee well-being as well as diversity, equity and inclusion — and they’re leaving their companies in droves when these needs aren’t met.

Lean In and McKinsey & Co. call this mass exodus “The Great Breakup.”

“Let’s be clear: Women aren’t saying they don’t want to work,” Lareina Yee, a senior partner at McKinsey & Co., says. 

“They’re breaking up with companies because they’re confident they will get an opportunity to advance somewhere else … it really speaks to the fact that loyalty has its limits.” 

Working women in the U.S. are among the most stressed employees globally, according to Gallup. As they undertake more responsibilities at home and at work, they are experiencing burnout at higher rates than men. 

The shift driving more female bosses to put in their two weeks’ notice, as LeanIn.org's co-founder and CEO Rachel Thomas sees it, is that these women have seen what’s possible when companies “really commit to something,” whether it’s offering more flexible work arrangements or doubling down on equitable hiring practices — and “they don’t want to take their foot off the gas,” she adds. 

While women aspire to senior management positions as much as their male colleagues, the report found they are far more likely to experience microaggressions that undermine their authority and discourage their ability to advance.  

Women leaders are twice as likely as men leaders to be mistaken for someone more junior — and 37% of women leaders have had a co-worker receive credit for their idea, compared with 27% of men leaders. 

“It’s a disastrous situation … you’re not promoting enough women into the leadership ranks, and now you have more women leaving leadership roles,” Thomas says. 

Building an equitable workplace where women can thrive starts with fixing the “broken rung,” Yee says: making sure women and men are considered for promotions at the same rate, and evaluating the process for promotions to ensure it’s equitable.

Flexibility can help improve gender parity, too: Women who can work remotely at least part time, especially women of color and women with disabilities, experience higher levels of psychological safety, the report found. 

Thomas also encourages companies to include metrics related to people management and DEI in their performance reviews, and provide more career development and formal sponsorship programs specifically for women.

“Women are highly ambitious,” she says. “And the companies that get these things right will get the very best out of having so many women at the top of their organization — better collaboration, more diverse problem-solving, the list goes on — and driving their companies into the future.”

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