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As 5% of women lose jobs, the pandemic has widened the gap says Deloitte survey

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Even before the COVID-19 pandemic overtook the globe in early 2020, inequities were holding women back in the workplace.

In 2020, women globally earned 81 cents for every dollar earned by men. The pandemic has widened the gap. In 2020, as 114 million jobs were lost across the globe, employment losses for women were at 5%, compared with 3.9% for men.

And studies have found that during the crisis women assumed additional responsibilities, such as taking on more household, childcare, and other caring duties— while continuing to work.

To understand the impact of the pandemic on gender equality in the workplace, Deloitte Global conducted a survey of 5,000 women across 10 countries between November 2020 and March 2021. The survey probed several areas relating to their work lives, including their experiences during the pandemic and career expectations for the future. Respondents varied across age groups and the data from the survey has also enabled analysis through the intersectional lenses of race and ethnicity and sexual orientation and gender identity.

The survey findings indicate that gender equality in the workplace regressed during the pandemic. But the findings also demonstrate the vital role that employers can play in reversing that trend.

Survey Highlights

Women’s wellbeing has fallen since the pandemic

Healthy boundaries between work and home have deteriorated. Only 22% of women believe that their employers have enabled them to establish clear boundaries between work and personal hours. As many as 77% of women say their workload has increased and 51% of women feel less optimistic about their career prospects today than they did before the pandemic, and 29% of the women who said their career isn’t progressing as fast as they would like (42% of the total sample) say poor mental health is one of the reasons for this.

Women continue to deal with non-inclusive behaviour at work, even in the virtual workplace

More than half have experienced some form of harassment or microaggression in the past year, ranging from the belief that their judgment is being questioned because they are women to experiencing disparaging and/ or sexual comments. The data also shows that many of these events go unreported to employers, with concerns over career penalty being one of the main reasons cited.

LGBT+ women and women of colour face even more challenges

LGBT+ women and women of colour are more likely to report lower levels of mental wellbeing and work-life balance compared with the overall sample. LGBT+ women are less likely than those who are not LGBT+ to say that their employer’s commitment to supporting women has been sufficient since the COVID-19 crisis  began (35% vs. 44%). Women in these groups have also experienced more non-inclusive behaviours. Compared with white women, women of colour in the survey are more likely to say they have heard comments about their communication style (15% vs. 5%) and to have their judgment questioned (14% vs. 8%). LGBT+ women are nearly four times more likely to say they have experienced jokes of a sexual nature than non‑LGBT+ women.

The Majority of women are not satisfied with their jobs and do not see a long-term future in their current job

Less than half of the respondents rate their current job satisfaction, motivation, and productivity at work as “good” or “extremely good,” compared with about three-quarters before the pandemic. Almost half (45%) of the women who had to change their working hours due to care responsibilities say their relationship with their employers was negatively impacted, increasing to 54% for women of colour and 65% for women who are sole parents. Women of colour are also more likely to say that their careers are not progressing fast enough (52% vs. 42%) compared with the overall sample. With regard to satisfaction with their jobs, 57% of women say they plan to leave their current job within two years, and 21% of these women expect to be gone in less than a year. Work-life balance was the top reason why women would consider leaving their current employer.

On the bright side, when women experience a truly respectful and inclusive culture, they are more engaged, productive and loyal.

Some companies have created genuinely inclusive cultures where women believe they are fully supported by management and respected by their peers. Women who work for these organizations  report higher levels of mental wellbeing, motivation, productivity, and loyalty to their employers. They are also far more likely to say they are planning to stay with their employers for longer than two years, compared with women who work for businesses that have not demonstrated an inclusive culture.

Six unique insights into actions organizations can take now

  1. Create and maintain a culture that is truly inclusive – EVERY DAY
  2. Enable work-life balance
  3. Visible commitment of leaders is key
  4. Provide fulfilling development opportunities that work for women
  5. Success at work is empowered by support for life outside work
  6. Rebuild better – with gender equality in mind

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Visit our searchable Knowledge Bank for a range of reports and studies on gender diversity, leadership and related topics.

Pension pots may be rising, but the gender savings gap is widening

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changing trends of financial wellbeing

The average pension pot of UK employees in large firms is now £120k, a 35% increase on three years ago, according to new Changing Trends of Financial Wellbeing research undertaken by Close Brothers. However, outside of pensions, average savings and investments have fallen 3%, and delving into the detail reveals a widening gender savings gap.

The overall average pension savings pot, including all workplace pension schemes, has increased from £89k in 2017 to £120 in 2020.

Men have seen an increase of 35%, and whilst women have experienced a higher percentage increase of 38% over that time period, women’s retirement savings still lag significantly behind men’s at £73k compared to £162k.

uk employee savings

Figures from: Close Brothers Lifetime Savings Challenge 2017 and Changing Trends of Financial Wellbeing 2020

In the wake of the coronavirus crisis, Close Brothers found that 16% of workers are going to reduce the amount they save into their pensions, due to pressures on shorter term needs, despite the risk that this could affect their longer-term financial wellbeing. Female workers, however, are less likely to make this decision (12%) compared to nearly one in five (19%) of their male counterparts.

As well as more people having to draw on their savings during the coronavirus, there are some positives to have emerged when it comes to savings: 50% plan to make changes to their finances, with the top changes being to keep a closer eye on day to day spend and to put more into their rainy day fund.

All demographics have spent less in lockdown and all but 18-34 year olds have realised they can live happily on less, which bodes well for putting more aside into savings once the acute effects of the pandemic ease their finances.

 

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To discover more about the impact of lower pension provision on women watch this video produced by the Chartered Insurance Institute as part of its Insuring Women’s Futures programme.

 

Virtual Inclusion in the City, Obstacles and Actions

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On March 16th 2020 the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson started giving the nation daily updates urging its citizens to work from home as part of the COVID-19 response.

Even before that date, over in the City of London, many firms had introduced working from home for a large proportion of their workers, expecting that they would soon no longer be able to travel to site. Therefore, throughout March 2020, as part of the COVID-19 response, financial and professional services firms made the transition from physical workspaces to virtual ones, with limited or no planning time. Soon, save for those people nominated as key workers, such as certain traders and salespersons, the majority of employees from the City of London were working at home.

In order to understand the obstacles that stand in the way of virtual inclusion for the City of London’s workers, Dr Grace Lordan, Director of The Inclusion Initiative, at the LSE went on a virtual listening tour engaging 35 of its most senior leaders who work in financial and professional services in the City of London.

The aim was to identify their perceived obstacles to enhancing virtual inclusion in their firm during the COVID-19 response. Ten major obstacles were identified, each with a set of three independent actions that can be easily pursued to enhance virtual inclusion in the firm, with a view to benefiting business outcomes now.

The Ten Obstacles are:

  1. Physical distance can lead to psychological distance
  2. Presenteeism may be replaced by virtual presenteeism
  3. Communication
  4. In-groups
  5. Virtual group think
  6. Unfamiliar context
  7. Work is now home
  8. Maintaining motivation
  9. Beware of illusory correlation
  10. Re-start with inclusion

We’re publishing this report in retrospect and wonder how many of the actions have been implemented.

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Engaging with Millennials – the future of retail banking

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The Millennials are the squeezed generation. Many find themselves adrift in a harsh world of low wage growth, increasing living costs, and an uncertain future influenced by climate change and the imminent automation of jobs.

It’s not all doom and gloom however… Millennials may actually be on the cusp of the greatest inter-generational transfer of wealth in modern times. This looming inheritance boom, not to mention the buying power of one of the biggest generations ever, means banks inevitably spend a lot of time thinking about how to engage with Millennials. The question is, are they getting it right?

MoneyLIVE recently surveyed over 200 senior banking executives to understand more about the role of trust, loyalty, customer co-creation, ethics and environmental change for effective engagement with the Millennial demographic.

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Visit our searchable Knowledge Bank for a range of reports and studies on gender diversity, leadership and related topics.

Missing Millions – the training gap in the UK workforce

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  • only 33% of working age people in the UK feel positive about their future career prospects
  • 34% of respondents have either not received workplace training in the last five years or have never had any such training – equating to 17.8 million people with outdated skills.
  • 31.3 million people (60% of respondents) feel their skills are underutilised

In its latest research report, Missing Millions, City & Guilds shines a light on the worrying reality of the UK’s skills and productivity crisis.

As productivity continues to decline, it’s widely understood that businesses and Government need to prepare to meet the demands of the workplace of the future and ensure the country has the skilled workforce it will need over the next decade. However, the research reveals that people across the nation are being denied access to training and opportunities to upskill that would enable them to be more productive.

According to the report – which is based on findings from labour market economists Emsi and a poll of 5,000 working age people – only half (53%) have received workplace training in the last three years, and a third (34%) have either never received training, or did so more than five years ago. The lack of opportunity for skills development leads to only a third (33%) of the UK working age population feeling positive about their future career prospects.

In addition to this, 60% of respondents stated that they felt the skills they did have were underutilised at least 50% of the time, suggesting that employers are not fully capitalising on the skills they already have within their businesses.

Kirstie Donnelly, Interim CEO at City & Guilds Group, commented:

Today we are fortunate that unemployment sits at its lowest level since 1975, but this masks the fact that many people in the country are in fact underemployed and could contribute far more to society if given the opportunity. By unlocking more people’s full potential, we can both increase opportunities for social mobility and help to drive up productivity.

Over the last decade, we have witnessed continued cuts to adult education funding, which has meant that certain groups of people have effectively been ‘left behind’. As the impact of Artificial Intelligence and the fourth industrial revolution continues to totally reshape the labour market, we need to see urgent action from the Government to reverse the decline of the lifelong learning sector – ensuring people in all areas have access to critical skills development and employers have access to the talent they so desperately need.

The research found:

  • Those from lower socio-economic groups were much less likely to have received training in the last five years (44% vs 68%) and were less satisfied with their career prospects (22% vs 39%) than those from higher socio-economic groups;
  • Those living in the North East of England faced a significant disadvantage in access to training and opportunities for progression when compared with other regions. Only 21% of people in the North East felt positive about the jobs market in their local area, compared to 45% in London;
  • Those working part-time – significantly more women than men – were also less likely to have received training in the last five years than those working full-time (61% vs 72%). Part-time workers were additionally far less likely to believe there was opportunity to progress than their full-time counterparts (22% vs 36%);
  • People highly value the training they do receive – 77% of those who had received workplace training stated that it had enabled them to be more effective at their job.

Kirstie continued:

From better provision of training and education across regions of the UK to better access to childcare giving more part-time workers the chance to upskill, we need to see immediate action from government and policy makers. We are already lagging behind the other G7 countries when it comes to productivity so it’s critical that we address this challenge head on if we are to retain our status as a leading global economy post Brexit. Harnessing the full potential of the people that are already in work – and are yearning to learn – would be a significant step in the right direction.

As a result of the findings in the report, City & Guilds is calling for government and policy makers, employers and individuals to take action:

  • Employers need to invest in skills development for people at all ages and levels of their career. They also need to get better at recognising and utilising people’s full skillsets.
  • Individuals need to start looking for more opportunities to upskill themselves outside of the workplace or put themselves forward for training at work, as well as showcasing their full range of skills to employers, both current and potential.
  • Government and policy makers need to urgently review adult education and create a system that encourages lifelong learning, retraining and reskilling. They need to provide better careers guidance and advice to people at all stages of their career.

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Visit our searchable Knowledge Bank for a range of reports and studies on gender diversity, leadership and related topics.