Lack of flexibility at workplace drives 72% women to reject job roles, finds LinkedIn study

Women professionals in India are paying a heavy price for demanding flexibility at workplace, reflects a recent survey. Lack of supportive work environment is pushing most of them - about 72 percent - to turn down job roles, while flexible working is often claiming a pay cut.

At least 83 percent working women have realised that they want to work more flexibly, the survey by professional networking platform LinkedIn showed on Tuesday.

“In fact, 72 percent of working women are rejecting job roles that don’t allow them to work flexibly, while 70 percent have already quit or considered quitting their jobs because they weren’t offered the right flexible policies,” LinkedIn said on March 12.

Asked about the benefits of flexible working, around two out of five women said it improves their work-life balance (43 percent) and helps them progress their careers (43 percent), while one in three said it improves their mental health (34 percent) and increases their likelihood of staying in their current jobs (33 percent).

But strong employer bias pushed nine out of ten (88 percent) working women to take a pay cut to work flexibly, almost two in five (37 percent) had their flexible working request denied, and one in every four (27 percent) struggled to convince their bosses to accept their request, the survey said.

“This has made women reluctant towards asking for greater flexibility because they fear exclusion, being held back from promotions, working overtime, taking pay cuts, and being treated unfavourably by their superiors,” it said.

Given the impending guilt and stigma around flexible policies, one in every three working women in India shies away from telling their clients (34 percent), colleagues (35 percent), and friends (33 percent) that they work flexibly.

“Flexible working is the No 1 priority today for all professionals, especially for working women. In fact, our research finds that India is at the brink of a ‘flexidus’ with seven out of ten working women quitting or considering quitting their jobs due to lack of flexibility," said Ruchee Anand, Senior Director, India Talent and Learning Solutions, LinkedIn.

"This is a warning sign for companies and recruiters to remove the stigma surrounding the need for flexibility and career breaks, and introduce stronger flexibility policies if they don’t want to lose top talent.”

Career break

As working women continue to juggle between personal commitments and career progress within rigid schedules, four in every five (78 percent) working women in India are taking career breaks to improve their well-being, plan career changes, and boost their confidence at work.

With nine out of 10 working women use their time off to learn new hard and soft skills, career breaks help them upskill and boost their employability in today’s tight job market.

But, despite these benefits of sabbaticals, about four in every five (77 percent) working women in India who took a break say that it had actually set them back in their careers. This is due to the prevalent stigma associated with career breaks among recruiters and employers, which has made it difficult for every second (50 percent) working woman in India to explain their career break to recruiters.

As a result, many choose to exclude career breaks from their CVs (42 percent) or lie about their breaks to potential recruiters when being interviewed (35 percent), according to LinkedIn data.

Forced to tiptoe about their career breaks, 80 percent of India’s working women wish for ways that would help them represent their career breaks more positively to hiring managers, the platform said.