Dive Brief:
- Only 36% of women surveyed by HiBob said they feel empowered to perform at their best at their workplaces, and 28% of women said they feel their company’s culture actively supports them, according to survey results released Feb. 26.
- Notably, 34% of men surveyed said they earned a promotion in 2024, compared to 22% of women; similarly, 46% of men said they received a raise in 2024, compared to 32% of women.
- Mentorship also seems to be lacking for women. Less than 10% of women surveyed said they have a formal mentor at work, compared to 15% of men.
Dive Insight:
HiBob surveyed 2,000 full-time employees working in hybrid or in-office environments; 51% of those workers identified as women.
“The persistent gender gap in pay and career growth isn’t just a women’s issue — it’s a workplace issue,” Ronni Zehavi, CEO of HiBob, said in a statement. “Businesses thrive when all employees have equal opportunities to advance.”
The “broken rung” of advancement for women is a documented phenomenon. A 2024 report from LeanIn and McKinsey & Co. showed that overall investment in programs focused on women, such as women-specific recruitment, internship and sponsorship programs, had fallen. The report also said women were underrepresented at every stage of the corporate pipeline.
Various survey results similarly suggest that women face pay discrimination; a SHRM report from March 2024 showed that more than 70% of HR professionals agreed that women face discrimination in the labor market. People managers are often left out of pay equity discussions, the report noted, and receive little training in pay equity or in making business-related pay decisions.
Additionally, about two-thirds of women professionals surveyed by Glassdoor in 2024 said they don’t believe they are being paid fairly for their work.
Work-life balance and job security are also particular issues for women, especially those in revenue-generating roles, such as sales, marketing, revenue operations and customer success, according to a Women in Revenue report from last year. Those roles tend to be key stepping stones to the C-suite, as well.
To help keep women on board, Women in Revenue suggested employers offer flexible work options, transparent pay information and a strong professional development program, on top of solid healthcare benefits.
Employers may feel stymied in their ability to approach issues of equity, however. Among a slew of executive orders issued Jan. 21 by President Donald Trump, one was aimed specifically at rooting out “illegal” diversity, equity and inclusion programs, such as “preferences” in the hiring cycle, at private companies. That order has since been enjoined by a judge, but some C-suite leaders told Littler in a survey that companies may be likely to decrease corporate DEI commitments in 2025 because of the administration’s rhetoric on the topic.
