Today's FT had this in which I was just reading on the train.
Are the women less motivated by money because they have men who pay for them?
"What works for women works for all
By Rosemary Berkery
Published: May 24 2007 03:00 | Last updated: May 24 2007 03:00
Many highly qualified women take a detour from their career paths because of personal responsibilities. But when they want to resume their jobs, they may find themselves stalled. Developing workplace policies and practices that help them get back on track is the focus of Sylvia Ann Hewlett's new book, Off-Ramps and On-Ramps.
To attract talent, she says, companies must work harder to retain women professionals. Diversity increases a business's competitive edge. Women achieve more than half of all professional and graduate degrees and will remain a significant portion of the workforce. Combine those facts with a tightening high-echelon labour market brought on by the retirement of baby boomers and the brain drain of departing foreign workers, and a talent void is opening up, Hewlett says. Yet finding on-ramps for talented "off-ramped" women who want to return to work can be difficult.
Part treatise, part call to action, Off-Ramps and On-Ramps urges companies to reverse the "female brain drain". Hewlett drives her arguments with data gathered by her Hidden Brain Drain Task Force of "leading-edge" companies and other sources, compelling accounts of high-achieving women executives who took time out because of family-related issues, and case studies from companies managing the issue successfully.
What Hewlett calls the "male competitive model" fails to work for many women professionals. It is characterised by cumulative careers and a continuous, linear employment history; emphasises full-time employment and face time at the office; expects the steepest gradient of a career to occur during one's thirties; and assumes most professionals are motivated primarily by money.
"While this career model suited the needs of Jack Welch and his peers, it's exceedingly problematic for women," Hewlett writes. A minority may bend their lives to fit the male competitive model, but many won't or can't.
Family demands are one reason many women may have non-linear careers as they take time off, cut their hours or telecommute. What's more, the decade when career demands are rising is precisely when child-rearing demands peak. Hewlett notes that women are also less driven by money than by other factors such as working with "high-quality colleagues", or "deriving meaning and purpose" from work.
Women seeking a return to their career are often sidelined by a business model that views career gaps with scepticism. The average leave is a mere 2.2 years, says Hewlett. However, many successful women executives struggle to get back on track after the short break. (It's worth noting that men who do the same might meet with the same result.)
The problem becomes even more urgent as the rise of "extreme jobs" - with tight deadlines, long hours, extensive travel and instant communication - may force more women to take off-ramps.
The solution, Hewlett says, is for companies to provide on-ramps and flexible work arrangements and reduce the stigma associated with them. Equally important are "arc-of-career flexibility" policies that allow women to ramp down when necessary and ramp up when desired, Hewlett says.
At Merrill Lynch, we offer flexible work arrangement options, such as telecommuting, compressed work weeks, flexible hours, and job-sharing. We are trying to address some of the more challenging issues posed by the extreme jobs that are a common feature of the financial services business. We also have a new daycare centre in New York, which provides full-time and back-up childcare, as well as help for all working parents that several high-achieving women have said made it possible for them to resume their careers.
Most of my female law school colleagues who had children did so in the 1980s and 1990s, a period well before any discussion of the possibility of off-ramp and on-ramp career paths. The choice most of us faced was: either stay home with our children and forsake (or severely derail) our careers or continue working while relinquishing the chance to be a significant part of our children's lives on weekdays.
The off-ramp, on-ramp career model, while challenging for businesses in which extreme jobs and intense client demands are the norm, opens up a world of opportunity for talented professionals. My recent experience in recruiting women graduates from business schools and law schools leads me to believe that those who successfully surmount the implementation challenge will quickly become the employers of choice and easily attract and retain the best and brightest women professionals.
The author makes the persuasive case for a new competitive model that takes into account the pressing needs of women employees. Women are often the "canaries in the coalmine", she says, for judging the effectiveness of talent management policies and practices. Doing what works for women professionals is good for everyone.
The writer is executive vice-president and general counsel of Merrill Lynch & Co"