Non-supportive manager is the top reason STEM + women are
quitting, with 100 percent citing the situation as negatively
impacting life, including 54 percent saying it impacts mental
health
SEATTLE, June 28,
2022 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- The Great
Resignation is far from over for women in careers in Science,
Technology, Engineering and Mathematics with 50 percent of STEM +
women ready to quit their job. Gotara (http://www.gotara.com),
creator of the leading global career growth platform for women in
STEM +, today announced its REACH Report results for the first half
of 2022. Gotara has more than 13,000 members across 160 countries,
and recently surveyed its women in STEM + (members and non-members
alike) for the Gotara REACH Report offering a post-pandemic
analysis to capture the state of STEM+ women's careers. The average
years of experience of those who participated was 13.5, creating a
significant brain drain and negative impact on diversity and
inclusion efforts if the challenges of attrition aren't quickly and
systemically addressed.
In 2021, a record 48 million people (about twice the population
of Texas) quit their jobs,
according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. This became known
as the Great Resignation. Throughout the pandemic, women were at
the forefront of the Great Resignation, with payroll provider Gusto
finding that the quit rate for all women was 1.1 percentage point
higher than men.
Employers Must Brace for Immediate and Continued Resignations of
STEM + Women
According to the Gotara Reach Report, 50 percent of those surveyed
said they are planning to leave their job, with 56 percent of these
women indicating they plan to leave in 0 to 3 months, 15 percent
before the end of the year, and 28 percent next year. Even before
the pandemic, Gotara found that up to 40 percent of STEM + women
were quitting within 5 to 7 years after launching their careers,
compared to a 23 percent attrition rate of men. When women in STEM
+ leave, a company's intellectual property also leaves, slowing
innovation, dulling competitive edge, and dampening top-line growth
and margins.
"Contrary to popular belief, the Gotara REACH report highlights
that when it comes to women in the STEM + workplace in a post
pandemic world, women's reasons for still wanting to join the Great
Resignation are not primarily about compensation, benefits, or
struggling to balance work and family life," said D. Sangeeta,
founder and CEO of Gotara.
The Real Reasons STEM + Women Want to Quit
The primary reasons women report wanting to leave their jobs? Top
of the list is non-supportive managers (27%), followed by lack of
opportunities for promotion (18%), and a tie between lack of
recognition (12%) and lack of communication (12%). Additional
reasons reported were not having remote work opportunities (10%),
being overworked (9%), not being heard (6%), and having low or
non-competitive compensation (6%).
In addition, 36 percent of those who reported wanting to quit
their job rated their company's efforts to hire, retain, and
accelerate careers of STEM + women as "poor to very poor."
Ninety-nine percent of those considering leaving said that senior
management at their company does not truly engage in diversity and
inclusion efforts that led to positive outcomes, with 69 percent
indicating that they do not have allyship initiatives. Those
preparing to leave overwhelmingly rated their company's culture as
authoritative, not collaborative.
Sangeeta continued, "It's easy to blame managers, but it's not
their fault. They are not the root cause. While serious commitments
are being made to help managers become more aware of DEI efforts,
many managers don't know where to begin to truly become an agent of
change."
Being Unhappy and Wanting to Quit Job Negatively Impacts
Life
Unhappiness at work does not stay at work. It follows employees'
home and into virtually every aspect of their lives. Our research
found that 100% of women preparing to leave reported that their
primary reasons for leaving negatively impacted their life,
including a negative impact on mental health (54%), finances (28%)
and the relationship with their children (13%).
By the end of 2021, many American adults found themselves in the
worst mental state in years. According to the US Census Bureau, 47
percent of adults reported symptoms of anxiety, 39 percent reported
symptoms of depression, and 1 in 5 adults disclosed suffering from
a mental illness. Add that to the stress women preparing to leave
their jobs are already feeling.
Empowered and Valued Women in STEM + Key to Diversity and
Inclusion
Where women continue to be vastly under-represented in areas like
engineering (15%), computing (25%) and physical sciences (40%),
Gotara found that 53 percent of women do not always feel empowered
to recruit women into their organizations. In fact, 26 percent
rarely to never feel empowered to recruit women into their
organization. Overall, 81 percent of women in STEM + jobs reported
that they do not always feel valued in their contributions at work,
and 77 percent said they do not always feel included at work.
"Let's face it. If a woman doesn't feel valued in her workplace
she isn't going to recruit someone. In fact, she may join the Great
Resignation like many of her colleagues," said Michael Alicea, Chief Human Resource Officer at
Trellix. "Employees deserve more from their workplace, which is why
we partnered with Gotara. Not only do we get actionable data to the
root cause of retention and attrition, we get a platform for
upskilling, coaching, and mentoring to accelerate women's careers
as we build the premier home for diverse cybersecurity talent."
About the REACH Report
The Gotara REACH report is produced by Gotara twice per year.
First, a mid-year report in June and then another in January. Both
reports are designed to help employers explore various aspects and
insights of how to help women and their manager's succeed in the
STEM + workplace. This includes talent trends, root causes of
attrition, approaches to address attrition, to grow them into
leaders and to create a pipeline for senior leadership roles. REACH
stands for Risk, Empathy, Analytics, Communication, and Hunger,
which Gotara believes are the core skills to succeed in the digital
information age—in which products are launched fast and markets
whipsaw.
Download the full Gotara REACH report for complete insight.
About Gotara
Gotara is a global AI/ML career growth platform for women in STEM
+. Gotara's STAR Programs offer women nano-learning opportunities
in mentoring, coaching, and upskilling. Our innovative methods
accelerate women's STEM careers and support companies that truly
care about recruiting, retaining, and growing a diverse workforce.
Founded by D. Sangeeta, a 27-year career STEM woman with 27
patents, Gotara believes that a diverse workforce in STEM + has the
power to create more innovative, sustainable, and prosperous
outcomes for individuals and their organizations. More at
https://www.Gotara.com.
Media Contact
Michele Mehl, Gotara, 1
425-205-9444, michele.mehl@gotara.com
SOURCE Gotara