Women in the Workforce

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Women have really been negatively impacted in the Workforce due to COVID-19.  Many of them have been laid off or furloughed having to put their careers on hold and struggling financially.  It particularly puts a strain on working mothers.  We have always put in a full day of work, then getting home to care for our children and doing household labor. The Pandemic has also added schooling and childcare to the list.  More than one in four women are now considering what many would have never considered just six months ago: downshifting their careers or leaving the workforce completely. Companies now risk losing women in leadership roles.  The progress that was made in gender diversity now looking to start over again.

According to an article from McKinsey there are 6 steps that companies can do to reduce the additional pressures that women are experiencing:

1. Make work more sustainable - Employers need to look at productivity and performance expectations set before COVID-19 and ask if they're still realistic, new goals an expectation may need to be set
2. Reset norms around flexibility – Employers should establish set hours for meetings and put policies in place for responding to emails outside of business hours, as well as improve communication about work hours and availability within teams.
3. Take a close look at performance reviews – Leaders and employees should speak publicly about the potentially outsize impact of bias during COVID-19.  Employers should conduct more Bias Training.
4. Take steps to minimize gender bias - Companies should not make assumptions about employees' performance, and this increases the chance of bias creeping in.
5. Adjust policies and programs to better support employees – Companies should be offering more paid time off to providing resources for homeschooling and should make sure employees are aware of the full range of benefits available to them.
6. Strengthen employee communication - Open and frequent communication with your employees is critical.

It is important that Employers learn to support working women now more than ever.  Work life balance is so important to maintain healthy, focused, and happy employees.  Just by taking these 6 steps is a start in the right direction.  If you are a working mother and are currently dealing with these issues I would love to hear from you.    


Margherita C. Amplo
President, MCA Consultants
Email:  Margherita@mcacs.us

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