for. Indeed, in the business sector, only 4% want to return to the company they used to work for. These findings are disturbing because they show that, in retrospect, the vast majority of women feel unattached to their previous employer.
On-ramping women take a number of steps when preparing to reenter the workforce. One-quarter have joined an online network such as LinkedIn (see Figure 4.7). Another quarter have taken steps to update their skills, such as enrolling in a computer class or a general business course. Sixteen percent have joined an online network exclusively for on-rampers, and 16% have leveraged their former employers’ alumni networks. A smaller number have taken one of the on-ramping seminars that, as a result of our 2004 survey, have been offered at prestigious business schools, such as Columbia University and the Wharton School of Business.
On-ramping networks and seminars can be extremely valuable in bringing ambitious off-ramped women together and showing them that they aren’t alone. Several of the women in our focus groups had participated in the Greater Returns program at Columbia and praised the training and networking opportunities it had provided. Linda, an on-ramped financier, said, “The networking was terrific. It was great to meet a group of women in the same boat. It also gave me a boost and encouraged me to move forward with my job search. I took a job within a month of the program.”
That women like Linda can and do resume their careers despite significant challenges is a positive sign. However, a key point to remember is that on-ramping women rarely return to their former employers. In most cases, when a woman leaves a company, she leaves for good.
Takeaways
Despite the changes evidenced in our study, women still face serious challenges and consequences when they attempt to on-ramp. Only 40% of off-ramped women are able to return to full-time, mainstream work. Those who do on-ramp
successfully take severe hits on salary, title, and management responsibilities.
Due to the economic downturn, getting back into the workplace was even more challenging in 2009 than it was in 2004. There are fewer job openings at the senior level as Baby Boomers stay longer in an attempt to restore recession-ravaged retirement accounts.
On-ramping women suffer tremendous hits to their career progression: 26% found their management responsibilities curtailed and 22% had to accept a lower job title.
Earnings also suffer: on average, women lose 16% of their earning power when they take an off-ramp.
Women are working longer hours, driven by a tight economy and a hyper-competitive workplace: 49 hours per week, compared to 40 hours per week, or more than an extra day compared to five years ago.
Chapter 5
Ambition is Problematic
Danielle was always a high achiever. She excelled in college and law school, eventually settling at a seven-person law firm in a small town in Delaware. When she became pregnant, she never questioned that she would return to full-time work.
But balancing motherhood and the demanding schedule of a litigator was, Danielle recalls, “too unpredictable and stressful.” After three unhappy months, she off-ramped, only to encounter an unforeseen difficulty: “On the one hand, I was so happy to be home with my son. But on the other hand, I had been recognized throughout my life for my accomplishments.” Danielle realized that she needed to find a different career, one that enabled her to care for her son and satisfy her ambition.
An avid baker, Danielle had often thought of turning her interest into a business. A friend offered her use of an industrial kitchen and Danielle had the opportunity to turn her dream into reality. “To be able to look at a wedding cake that I made, to see the happiness it brings and have people compliment it is a great feeling of accomplishment.”
Sustaining ambition is key to keeping women on track in the corporate world. Yet just as we found five years ago, there is a significant age and gender gap when it comes to professional ambitions. Our survey data shows that highly qualified women are significantly less ambitious than their male peers. As Figure 5.1 shows, more than half of the men (51%) surveyed consider themselves very ambitious as compared with about a third of women (36%). In the business sector the gap is slightly wider—57% of men describe themselves as very ambitious, compared with 40% of women.
Anna Fels, in her groundbreaking work on women’s ambition, makes a compelling case that for both men and women ambition is a function of three things: mastery of skills, recognition by others, and the probability of achieving desired goals.13 She finds that women are much less likely than men to receive reinforcement and recognition, and this is one of several powerful factors that force a downsizing of female ambition.
As women grow older, their ambition levels decline. While 40% of women between the ages of 28 and 40 describe themselves as “very ambitious,” only 32% of women in the 41 to 55 age range do.
Not surprisingly, there is a correlation between off-ramping and ambition levels. Thirty-eight percent of women who have never off-ramped describe themselves as very ambitious; only a third of women who off-ramped say the same.
Circumstances often collude to shrink a woman’s ambition, however, and diminished ambition often precedes her decision to off-ramp. Women often cut back their career goals in response to a “push” from their workplace rather than a “pull” from outside forces.
When we asked the women in our focus groups why they had chosen to leave, the overwhelming response was the inflexibility of their workplace, managers and coworkers. Rose, a focus group participant, explained, “My manager was so incompetent! I saw how our group was making the work/life balance nonexistent. I tried to look for opportunities within the company but he did not make it easy. Life is too short to work hard for people who don’t value your contributions and don’t respect your life outside of work.”
As women are forced to choose between career and family obligations, a vicious cycle ensues. With every request for flexible work arrangements, every promotion passed up because it might involve an onerous travel schedule, or every high-profile assignment avoided because it would require single-minded focus, the perception grows that women are less committed to their work. That, in turn, makes them less likely to be promoted, which only further erodes their commitment. Confronted with an “either/or” choice, women either cut back their original career ambitions or, like Danielle, find another field in which they can flower.
The downsizing of ambition has a cascading effect for all women in the workplace. As Figure 5.4 shows, women in the workplace experience a distinct lack of support networks. Only 11% of women in our 2009 survey have a sponsor—someone to “use up chips on their behalf” in order to move them forward in their careers. Similarly, just over a third have role models they can look up to, and even fewer (32%) have mentors. With few women in senior roles to guide them, and even fewer whom they see successfully balancing their work and personal lives, young women start to feel stalled in their careers and respond by downsizing their professional ambition—and the vicious cycle continues.
Such lack of support not only pushes women who are wavering about whether to stay or go to depart, but it leaves them without a network of colleagues to connect with when they do. “Many of the women in my department had never off-ramped and didn’t have children, so there was no example or understanding of what I was going through,” recalls Sharon, a mother of two. When she did off-ramp, she told us, “My support systems were not as supportive as I thought. I was depressed a lot, and could not explain why. In addition, there was a loss of self-confidence.”