Forget about mentoring, sponsoring, empowering and all that other jazz. What women want and need in the workplace is simple and ridiculously inexpensive: Flexibility.
That’s right, they’re not asking for reduced work load, on-site yoga classes or other exotic treats—just more control over the way they do their work. That’s the finding by efinancialcareers.com based on responses from women finance professionals (the survey covered 5,000 people) around the world:
Our research suggests that flexible working is key to a more gender diverse workforce. It was the most cited reason in every country, ahead of mentoring or sponsorship, cultural change, quotas and bias training. In the UK, 35% of respondents said it was the most important factor in advancing women’s careers in banking, compared to 42% in Singapore, 25% in Hong Kong and 24% in the US.
