Earlier this year we partnered up with Women’s Agenda to survey over 800 women to find out what they really want from employers. The results are not surprising to me, but yet another reminder that although the discussion of equality and flexibility in the workplace has increased in popularity, there is still a long way to go.
Before we go into the results however I do want to congratulate Soccer Australia for this week announcing that both the men and women will receive equal pay moving forward, let’s hope other industries follow suit!
The key findings of the study concluded that genuinely flexible working opportunities trump pay when it comes to what women want most from an employer. When asked which would be the most beneficial to each respondent in terms of pursuing further leadership opportunities in their industry, flexibility was once again the top of the list followed by a mentor, a sponsor and leadership training.
On other interesting findings, nine in ten stated ‘bad management’ was the leading barrier preventing women from succeeding in a job or progressing their career, followed by organisational bureaucracy and sadly, workplace bullying.
When asked which company they would most want to work for with the top three responses included; Google, Atlassian and Qantas.
So, how do you get genuine flexibility in the workplace?
At Konnect Learning we have an open work-from-home policy where any employee, male or female, can work from home. My belief is that as long as the work gets done, it doesn’t matter when, or where, it is done. We have also recently announced a paid paternity program for our employees.
If you’re looking for ways to lead the change in your organisation and create a genuinely flexible workplace, I recommend you attend our Authentic Leadership Summit in March 2020. Early bird tickets are on sale now here.
