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Reinvention & Money : Careers & Work

How Women Really Feel About Work

by the Editors at MORE

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For MORE’s third annual workplace report, we surveyed women about their feelings about ambition and career flexibility. What we found will surprise you.
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92% of women consider FLEXIBILITY to be important in a job, up from 73% in 2009. That’s second only to salary, which 99% of women consider important.
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22% of women say flexible work options are in their top two most important criteria for a job. Salary is in the top two for 57% of women; health benefits rank up there for 31%.
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42% say they are interested in owning their own business
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43% say they are LESS AMBITIOUS now than they were 10 years ago; 15% are MORE AMBITIOUS.
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58% say that flexibility is more important to them now than it was 10 years ago; only 10% say flexibility is now less important.
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25% of women are always looking for the next professional promotion. 15% say they are ambitious—but other responsibilities hold them back from advancing
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65% say MONEY is the reason they want to advance in their careers. 34% say advancement would give them MORE FLEXIBILITY
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54% say other women have NEVER helped them advance in their careers—and 9% say other women have HELD THEM BACK deliberately.
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13% of women were PROMOTED in the last year; 10% don’t want to get promoted because of the sacrifices it would entail.
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73% say if their boss left her job, they would NOT apply to replace her. 15% say they’d go for it—mostly for the money.
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Household or childcare demands have prevented 16% of woman from trying to advance in their careers. But 53% say those demands have never gotten in their way.
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Instead, a reluctance to give up their life and time to their career have held back 25% of women. Lack of opportunity has held back 24%.
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Other factors preventing women from advancing professionally include:

--their own inhibitions (17%)

--unsupportive bosses (15%)

--their husbands’ or partners’ careers (11%)

--lack of a good network (10%)

--eldercare issues (6%)
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57% of women say that working a flexible schedule would allow them to have MORE TIME to themselves; 18% would use a flexible schedule to spend more time volunteering.
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If they had to sacrifice something for a flexible schedule, 28% would sacrifice TITLE; 22% would sacrifice the opportunity to ADVANCE.
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65% of women say it’s more important to have TIME in their life than to make more MONEY at their job.
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40% of women would take a pay cut for more flexibility. But 60% say NO WAY.
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Flexibility does come with PENALTIES: 33% of women agree that at most companies, employees with flexible schedules are promoted less often than employees who work regular hours.
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60% of women would feel worse about missing a personal obligation like a birthday party than about leaving work without finishing their tasks for the day.
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30% of women agree that asking for a flexible schedule is CAREER SUICIDE.
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Gender parity? 18% agree that if a woman puts work first, it makes her a bad parent; 17% say the same about men.

 

Related:

10 Great Careers: stats, videos and MORE from our 2011 workplace survey

 

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First Published November 9, 2011

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