Dive Brief:
- A Washington, D.C.-based workplace rating site, InHerSight, surveyed more than 5,000 professionals to find out how women and men’s experiences differed in the workplace. Most of the respondents, 62%, were women.
- InHerSight found that men inaccurately assessed women's experiences at work and therefore rated their companies' support of women higher than it really was. The site also found that men rated their companies higher on women's access to equal opportunity and their representation in top management roles.
- Women in the survey said their satisfaction with how many women were in senior management roles declined as they advanced. 42% said they were satisfied when their careers started, but their satisfaction lessened (27%) when they reached management levels.
Dive Insight:
Inequity starts early in the workplace, as young women are often overlooked for management promotions early in their careers. That could be one reason that women had lesser satisfaction once they managed to climb the ranks.
Employers can review managers' records on promotions, mentoring, career advancement and pay for signs that women with qualifications equal to their male colleagues are being short-changed in these areas. Talented women will look for more satisfying work experiences elsewhere if they feel less valued than men. As this study shows, women must be the ones asked about how their own experiences, since men do not seem to see the same problems.
