Women motivated by pay, not work-life balance

A recent article in Harvard Business Review by Christie Hunter Arscott indicates that there are major misconceptions about the reasons why women in their 30s change jobs. Hunter Arscott cites a survey by ICEDR and claims that such women are motivated by pay, rather than work-life balance as is commonly believed.  Hunter Arscott also claims that four out of the top five reasons why men and women leave a job are the same.  While family, flexibility and work-life balance are important to women, these factors are fifth on the list of reasons for leaving a position, behind pay, lack of development opportunities, insufficiently interesting and meaningful work and lack of a fair balance between hard work and compensation.

What is the main reason women in their early thirties are leaving your company?

Organizational leaders report that women are leaving primarily because of flexibility needs and family demands. Women in their thirties disagree.

A recent global ICEDR study revealed that leaders believe that the majority of women around the age of 30 leave because they are struggling to balance work and life or planning to have children, whereas men leave because of compensation. However, according to women themselves (and in sharp contrast to the perceptions of their leaders), the primary factor influencing their decision to leave their organizations is pay. In fact, women are actually more likely to leave because of compensation than men.

Not only are women’s reasons for leaving misunderstood, differences between women and men are overstated. Four out of the five top reasons thirtysomething women and men leave organizations overlap.

This research boils down to two simple findings. Firstly, women care about pay. Secondly, women and men leave organizations for similar reasons. Based on these insights, here are a few key actions that leaders can take:

Ask, don’t assume: Women in their thirties should play an integral role in developing talent retention strategies. Instead of talking about them, talk with them. Want to know why women are leaving your organization? Don’t assume. Ask them and then develop data-driven strategies based on these findings. To be successful, retention initiatives must be rooted in the needs and desires of the talent segments that they are designed to target.

Women in their thirties should play an integral role in developing talent retention strategies. Instead of talking about them, talk with them. Want to know why women are leaving your organization? Don’t assume. Ask them and then develop data-driven strategies based on these findings. To be successful, retention initiatives must be rooted in the needs and desires of the talent segments that they are designed to target. Address challenges beyond family and flexibility: While options for flexibility and work-life balance are important, the bottom line is that motherhood is not the primary reason why talented women are leaving organizations. Focusing retention strategies on this alone, without also considering pay and compensation fairness, will ultimately jeopardize retention and advancement efforts.

While options for flexibility and work-life balance are important, the bottom line is that motherhood is not the primary reason why talented women are leaving organizations. Focusing retention strategies on this alone, without also considering pay and compensation fairness, will ultimately jeopardize retention and advancement efforts. Propose women’s strategies as broader talent strategies: Gender appears to have little impact on an individual’s reasons for leaving an organization. This is good news for organizational leaders. By implementing strategies and programs informed by the needs and desires of women, leaders will simultaneously be addressing what matters most to broader talent pools, men included. There is less of a need to segment and complicate talent strategies by gender. Instead, there is the opportunity to create broad impact through strategies that address the desires of both mid-career women and men.

As a result of the misperceptions about why women leave their organizations, there is a disconnect between current talent retention strategies and the desires of top female talent. While work-life balance, flexibility, and family are important, they are not the only — or even the primary — reasons women leave companies. With men and women expressing similar concerns about why they leave their jobs, leaders have the opportunity to retain and advance their top talent, both male and female, by focusing on common priorities: pay and fair compensation.