Post pandemic, women seek more flexibility at work: study

It says 70% women have either quit or want to quit jobs because of lack of flexibility

As offices re-open after two years of remote work, the failure on the part of employers to offer flexible working hours could result in many women quitting their jobs or unable to rejoin the workforce, according to a survey conducted by LinkedIn.

The findings are based on a consumer research conducted by LinkedIn and Censuswide that collected responses of 22,995 respondents from 19 countries, including the U.K., the U.S., France, Germany, Australia, Singapore, Canada and India.

A total of 2,266 Indian respondents participated in the research conducted between January 21, 2022 and February 8, 2022.

According to the study, eight in 10 working women said they want to work more flexibly and 72% of working women were rejecting job roles that didn’t allow them to work flexibly. As many as 70% of the respondents said they had quit or considered quitting their jobs because they weren’t offered flexible policies.

There are several reasons why women employees favour flexible working hours. Around two in five women said it improved their work-life balance and helped them progress in their careers. One in three respondents said flexi-hours improved their mental health and the same percentage of women felt that such a policy increased their likelihood of staying in their current job.

“Flexible working is the number one 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 10 working women quitting or considering quitting their jobs due to lack of flexibility. 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,” said Ruchee Anand, senior director, India Talent and Learning Solutions, LinkedIn.

But there is a strong bias among many companies in permitting flexible work, says LinkedIn, as nearly nine in 10 working women had to take a pay cut to work flexibly.