Women in the Workplace 2021

In spite of the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, women’s representation had improved across most of the corporate pipeline at the end of 2020. This is an encouraging sign—and worth recognizing after an incredibly difficult year. But there are also persistent gaps in the pipeline: promotions at the first step up to manager³ are not equitable, and women of color lose ground in representation at every level.

There is still a “broken rung” at the first step up to manager. Since 2016, we have seen the same trend: women are promoted to manager at far lower rates than men, and this makes it nearly impossible for companies to lay a foundation for sustained progress at more senior levels. Additionally, the gains in representation for women overall haven’t translated to gains for women of color. Women of color continue to lose ground at every step in the pipeline—between the entry level and the C-suite, the representation of women of color drops off by more than 75 percent. As a result, women of color account for only 4 percent of C-suite leaders, a number that hasn’t moved significantly in the past three years.

The representation of women is only part of the story. The pandemic continues to take a toll on employees, and especially women. Women are even more burned out than they were a year ago, and burnout is escalating much faster among women than men. One in three women says they have considered downshifting their careers or leaving the workforce this year, compared to 1 in 4 who said this a few months into the pandemic.⁴ Additionally, 4 in 10 women have considered leaving their company or switching jobs—and high employee turnover in recent months suggests that many of them are following through.⁵

Women’s representation has increased across the pipeline since 2016. However, women—especially women of color—remain significantly underrepresented in leadership.⁶

Representation of women of color falls off relative to white employees and men of color at every level of the corporate pipeline—leaving women of color severely underrepresented at the top.

Women continue to face a “broken rung” at the first step up to manager: for every 100 men promoted to manager, only 86 women are promoted. As a result, men significantly outnumber women at the manager level, which means there are far fewer women to promote to higher levels. The broken rung likely explains why representation of women at the senior manager, director, and VP levels has improved more slowly than the pipeline overall.

Women are even more burned out than they were a year ago, and the gap in burnout between women and men has almost doubled. In the past year, 1 in 3 women has considered leaving the workforce or downshifting their careers—a significant increase from 1 in 4 in the first few months of the pandemic.

The events of 2020 put extraordinary pressure on companies and employees. COVID-19 shook the economy and turned people’s lives upside down at work and at home. A heightened focus on racism and racial violence triggered a reckoning on diversity, equity, and inclusion.¹¹ Companies’ priorities reflect these changes: an overwhelming majority say managers’ efforts to promote employee well-being are critically important and that DEI is one of their key areas of focus.

Women leaders¹² are meeting the moment and taking on the extra work that comes with this. Compared to men at the same level, women managers are taking more action to support their teams, from helping employees manage their workloads to checking in regularly on their overall well-being. Senior-level women are twice as likely as senior-level men to spend substantial time on DEI work that falls outside their formal job responsibilities, such as recruiting employees from underrepresented groups and supporting employee resource groups. And women leaders are more likely to be allies to women of color. Compared to men in leadership, they are more likely to educate themselves about challenges women of color face at work, speak out against discrimination, and mentor or sponsor women of color.

When managers support employee well-being and companies prioritize DEI, employees are happier, less burned out, and less likely to consider leaving their jobs. In spite of all this, relatively few companies formally recognize employees who go above and beyond in these areas—and this needs to change.

Overlooking critical work around employee well-being and DEI has serious implications: It hurts women, who are investing disproportionate time and energy in these priorities. And it hurts companies and all employees, because progress is rarely made on efforts that are undervalued.

Compared to men in similar positions, women managers¹⁴ are consistently doing more to promote employee well-being—including checking on team members, helping them manage workloads, and providing support for those who are dealing with burnout or navigating work/life challenges.

Compared to men at their level, women leaders are up to twice as likely to spend substantial time on DEI work that falls outside their formal job responsibilities—such as supporting ERGs, organizing events, and recruiting employees from underrepresented groups. They are also more likely than men to take allyship actions such as mentoring women of color, advocating for new opportunities for them, and actively confronting discrimination.

When managers support employee well-being, employees are happier, less burned out, and less likely to consider leaving. The same is true of employees who have strong allies and believe DEI is a high priority for their company.

Companies see the value of women leaders’ contributions. Almost 70 percent of companies say that the work employees do to promote DEI is very or extremely critical, and an even greater number say this is true of the work managers do to support employee well-being. But less than a quarter of companies are recognizing this work to a substantial extent in formal evaluations like performance reviews.

Even after a year of increased focus on DEI and racial equity in corporate America, women of color continue to face significant bias and discrimination at work. They are experiencing similar types of microaggressions, at similar relative frequencies, as they were two years ago.²² And although the number of white employees who identify as allies to women of color has increased over the past year, the number taking key allyship actions has not.

While all women are more likely than men to face microaggressions that undermine them professionally— such as being interrupted or having their judgment questioned—many women of color experience them at a higher rate. And women of color are much more likely than white women to face disrespectful and “othering” microaggressions that reinforce harmful stereotypes or cast them as outsiders. These experiences can take a heavy toll: women who regularly experience microaggressions are twice as likely as those who don’t to be burned out, more than twice as likely to report feeling negatively about their job, and almost three times as likely to say they’ve struggled to concentrate at work in the past few months due to stress.

Not only do women of color still face higher rates of microaggressions, they also still lack active allies. We continue to see a troubling gap: although more than three quarters of white employees consider themselves allies to women of color at work, less than half take basic allyship actions such as speaking out against bias or advocating for new opportunities for women of color. On top of this, there’s a notable disconnect between the allyship actions women of color find most meaningful and the actions white employees prioritize.

Given the day-to-day challenges women of color face, it’s not surprising that they are less optimistic than white women about their company’s commitment to DEI. Women of color are much less likely than white women to say their company prioritizes gender and race in DEI efforts—and less than half feel their company has substantially followed through on commitments to racial equity.

All women are more likely than men to face microaggressions at work. But for women of color and women with other traditionally marginalized identities, these experiences are more frequent and reflect a wider range of biases. For example, compared to white women, Black women are more than three times as likely and Latinas and Asian women are twice as likely to hear people express surprise at their language skills or other abilities—and we see a similar pattern for other common microaggressions.

Allyship from more privileged colleagues can make a big difference in women of color’s experiences: when women of color feel like they have strong allies at work, they are happier in their jobs, less likely to be burned out, and less likely to consider leaving their companies. But although more than three quarters of white employees consider themselves allies to women of color at work, far fewer are consistently taking key allyship actions.

There’s a notable disconnect between the allyship actions women of color say are most meaningful and the actions white employees prioritize. Although white employees recognize that speaking out against discrimination is critical, they are less likely to recognize the importance of more proactive, sustained steps such as advocating for new opportunities for women of color and stepping up as mentors and sponsors.

Although we have seen important gains since 2016, women are still significantly underrepresented at all levels of management. On top of this, women continue to have a worse day-to-day experience at work. Women are more likely than men to have their competence questioned and their authority undermined, and women of color and other women with traditionally marginalized identities are especially likely to face disrespectful and “othering” behavior.

To drive change, companies need to invest deeply in all aspects of diversity, equity, and inclusion. This starts with taking bold steps to ensure that women of diverse identities are well represented, but diversity of numbers isn’t enough on its own. Companies also need to create a culture that fully leverages the benefits of diversity—one in which women, and all employees, feel comfortable bringing their unique ideas, perspectives, and experiences to the table. When women are respected and their contributions are valued, they are more likely to be happy in their jobs and to feel connected to their coworkers.

Over the last few years, more companies have implemented practices to ensure fairness in hiring and performance reviews, from requiring diverse slates for open roles to providing bias training for evaluators. These changes have produced positive results: companies that have made the greatest strides in women’s representation are more likely to have these practices in place.

However, gains since 2019 have been much greater in the C-suite than at lower levels, and they have benefited white women more than women of color. To drive sustainable progress for all women, companies need to take action to address two systemic weak points in the corporate pipeline: the “broken rung” in promotions at the first step up to manager, which leaves women dramatically underrepresented in mid-level management, and the sharp drops in representation of women of color at every level of advancement. These gaps largely explain why we see so few women—and almost no women of color—in senior leadership.

Although there are no quick fixes to these challenges, there are steps companies can take. First, they should ensure they are applying the same best practices, with the same level of rigor, across both hiring and performance reviews. Companies are currently doing more to reduce bias in hiring—for example, almost two thirds of companies offer bias training focused on hiring, compared to less than half of companies that offer this for evaluators involved in performance reviews. But performance reviews largely determine promotion outcomes, which means making them more equitable is critical to fixing the broken rung and advancing more women across the pipeline.

Second, companies need to more fully track representation, as well as hiring and promotion outcomes.²⁸ Although most companies track representation for women overall, far fewer do this for women of color, which means many companies are missing the critical visibility they need to make progress. Companies would also benefit by tracking hiring and promotions to determine whether women, and especially women of color, are being hired and promoted at similar rates to other employees.²⁹ If they see gaps, they may need to fine-tune their hiring and promotion processes—and, more broadly, ensure that all women are getting the mentorship, sponsorship, and professional development needed to advance.

To accelerate progress for all women, on all fronts, companies need to double down on accountability. Despite saying that gender and racial diversity are among their most important business priorities, only about two thirds of companies hold senior leaders accountable for progress on diversity goals, and less than a third hold managers—who play a critical role in hiring and promotion decisions—accountable. Moreover, among companies that hold senior leaders accountable, less than half factor progress on diversity metrics into performance reviews and far fewer provide financial incentives for meeting goals. Companies need to treat diversity as they would any business priority, and that includes tying progress toward goals to advancement and compensation.

Since 2019, the number of companies implementing best practices to reduce bias in hiring and performance reviews has increased significantly. This is a step in the right direction—but there is a sizable gap between the share of companies that apply certain best practices to hiring, and those that apply the same practices to reviews.

More than two thirds of companies say senior leaders are held accountable for progress on diversity goals—but less than half as many hold managers accountable. In addition, among companies that hold senior leaders accountable, less than half say diversity goals are a component of their performance reviews, and less than a quarter offer financial incentives for progress.

Companies have strengthened their commitments to DEI and racial equity over the past year, but creating a more inclusive culture for women of all identities will take deep work and sustained investment. HR leaders say two things are critical to driving progress: senior-level sponsorship and high employee engagement.

Senior leaders need to fully and publicly support DEI efforts. When leaders actively participate in programs and events to advance DEI, they signal that this work is important. Senior leaders also have a critical role to play in ensuring that DEI initiatives are appropriately resourced. This is just another reason why it’s important that all company leaders, starting with the CEO, are held accountable for progress on diversity metrics.

But women’s day-to-day experiences are primarily shaped by their interactions with their direct managers and colleagues, which means companies need to equip employees at all levels to be part of the solution. This starts with raising awareness. Employees need to understand the barriers faced by women, particularly women with traditionally marginalized identities, and the benefits of a more inclusive culture. Companies can promote awareness by sharing data on the experiences of women in their organization, bringing in thought-provoking speakers, and encouraging employees to openly share their experiences and ideas for advancing DEI.

For employees to move from awareness to action, training is an important step. The number of employees receiving training on bias, anti-racism, and allyship is on the rise—but only 34 percent of employees have received anti-racism training in the past year, and just 14 percent have received allyship training. This suggests companies may need to take bolder steps to encourage participation, such as offering incentives or making training mandatory. They should also invest in ongoing employee education; it takes consistent reinforcement to reshape deep-rooted biases and change behavior, so a one-and-done approach to training is not enough. And companies need to be sure they are incorporating new ideas and tools from training into everyday processes, too. One example of this is sending out reminders of how bias can influence evaluations before hiring and promotion processes; research shows that this simple practice can improve outcomes for women and other people from underrepresented groups.³¹

Finally, companies should clearly communicate what’s expected of employees and what it means to have an inclusive culture. Building this thinking into company values is a good place to start, but organizations would benefit from articulating the specific behaviors and actions that promote inclusion. In addition to signaling the importance of this work, clear guidelines will help set managers and all employees up for success.

The share of employees participating in anti-racism, unconscious bias, and DEI training has increased significantly in the past year. But only 34 percent of employees have participated in anti-racism training, and, notably, only 14 percent have received allyship training—which may explain the gap we see between employees identifying as allies and taking the actions that are most meaningful to women of color

Companies have demonstrated a strong commitment to employee well-being over the past year. They have taken a wide range of steps to help employees weather the pandemic, including increasing mental health benefits, adding support for parents and caregivers, and offering more paid leave. These steps have led to better outcomes for all employees, and they have likely played a key role in helping women to stay in their jobs.

But burnout is still on the rise, especially among women. There is no easy fix, so continued investment will be critical. In addition to maintaining the successful policies and programs they’ve put in place, companies should look for opportunities to expand on them and try new approaches. It’s also important that companies establish new norms and systems to improve employees’ everyday work experiences—even with all the right policies and programs, employees will continue to struggle if the cadence and expectations of their work feel untenable.

Across all of their efforts to combat burnout, companies would benefit from embracing experimentation. There is no playbook for this unprecedented moment, but companies can make strides by listening closely to employees, exploring creative solutions, and trying something different if a new norm or program falls flat.

Over the last 18 months, companies have embraced flexibility. More than three quarters of senior HR leaders say allowing employees to work flexible hours is one of the most effective things they’ve done to improve employee well-being, and there are clear signs it’s working. Employees with more flexibility to take time off and step away from work are much less likely to be burned out, and very few employees are concerned that requesting flexible work arrangements has impacted their opportunity to advance.

However, many companies are missing a crucial piece: without clear boundaries, flexible work can quickly turn into “always on” work. More than a third of employees feel like they need to be available for work 24/7, and almost half believe they need to work long hours to get ahead. Employees who feel this way are much more likely to be burned out and to consider leaving their companies.

The fact that so many employees feel “always on” signals that companies need to more explicitly define expectations. Right now, many companies are leaving it to employees to establish their own boundaries when they work remotely or work flexible hours—and while employees should be empowered to carve out personal time, companies have a responsibility to put formal boundaries in place across the organization. Only 1 in 5 employees says their company has told them they don’t need to respond to non-urgent requests outside of traditional work hours, and only 1 in 3 has received guidance around blocking off personal time on their calendars. Establishing or reinforcing work norms like these would go a long way toward reducing the feeling of being “always on.”

As companies navigate the transition to increased remote and hybrid work—with more employees working different schedules across different time zones—the risk of feeling “always on” will likely increase. Putting clear boundaries in place now can help companies ease this transition.

Managers are on the front lines of employees’ day-to-day experiences, which means their actions have a significant impact on employee burnout and well-being. To improve outcomes, managers should focus their attention in three key areas: modeling work/life boundaries, ensuring that performance is evaluated based on results, and supporting employee well-being.

Employees often look to their manager to understand unspoken company norms and expectations. This means managers need to respect company-wide boundaries around flexible work—if employees aren’t expected to respond to emails during certain hours, managers need to abide by that norm. Managers can further reinforce the importance of these norms by celebrating employees who push back when boundaries are crossed and by encouraging candid conversations and problem-solving across the team if boundaries start to erode.

To underscore that employees are not expected to be “always on,” companies and managers need to work together to make sure all employees are evaluated based on results rather than when or where they work. A results-oriented lens is critical in formal performance reviews, and managers should be mindful of the day-to-day feedback they deliver to ensure they aren’t inadvertently signaling that long hours and face time are unspoken measures of performance.

It’s also important that managers actively monitor employees for signs of burnout and adjust workloads as needed. Although some managers are stepping up on this front—especially women—a majority of employees report their manager doesn’t check in on their well-being or help them shift priorities and deadlines on a regular basis. This suggests that managers need to touch base with their teams more consistently, and that these check-ins should be more explicit. Prompting employees to rate their level of stress and exhaustion on a one-to-ten scale, as opposed to generally asking them how they’re doing, creates more space for open, honest discussion.

Finally, companies need to impress upon managers that the work they do to support employee well-being is critical to the health and success of the business. For this work to feel like a real priority, it needs to be tied to concrete outcomes for managers, including performance ratings and compensation.

Many companies have significantly increased support for employees in the past year—from expanding mental health supports, to adding support for parents, to increasing flexible work and paid leave options.

Almost all employees say they have at least some flexibility to take time off and step away from work. However, more than a third feel like they are expected to be “always on,” and employees who feel this way are much more likely to say they are often or almost always burned out.

Companies that are making consistent gains in women’s representation across the pipeline are more likely to have certain best practices in place. The following data are based on an analysis of top performers—companies that have higher representation of women and women of color than their industry peers, have made progress at most levels of the pipeline over the past four years, and have achieved greater equity in promotions at the broken rung.

The immediate challenge for companies is to help employees get through the pandemic—and the work to get this right is far from over. But companies also need to start to plan for the future. The disruption of the last year and a half is driving a fundamental change in the way we work. Companies are embracing flexibility and remote work at levels that would have seemed impossible just a few years ago—and employees welcome the shift. It will take time for the full impact of the pandemic to come into focus, but one thing is clear: hybrid work is here to stay.

What’s unclear is whether companies can capitalize on this seismic shift—and the growing cultural focus on employee well-being and racial equity—to create a better workplace. It will require pushing beyond critically important but smaller wins in the representation of women, and doing the deep cultural work necessary to create a workplace where all women, and all employees, feel like they belong.

This will demand a level of investment and creativity that may not have seemed possible before the pandemic, but companies have shown what they can do when change is critical. Now they need to treat women’s equality and diversity, equity and inclusion with the same sense of urgency—and they need to reward the leaders taking us into the future.

Although women are broadly underrepresented in corporate America, the talent pipeline varies by industry. Some industries struggle to attract entry-level women (e.g., Technology: Hardware; IT and Telecom; Engineering and Industrial Manufacturing), while others fail to advance women into middle management (Energy, Utilities, and Basic Materials) or senior leadership (Oil and Gas)