The No. 1 thing women really want at work

It boils down to two words.

VIEW IN BROWSER | SUBSCRIBE CLOSING THE GAP Thursday, April 6, 2023 Morgan Smith is a Work reporter at CNBC Make It. You can follow her on Twitter @thewordsmithm. There's a huge disconnect between what companies think women want versus what they really want from their jobs.    "Rising burnout rates, an ongoing childcare crisis and lingering effects of the pandemic have forced thousands of women to reevaluate their relationship with work," Carolyn Childers, co-founder and CEO of Chief, a network designed to support and connect executive women leaders, wrote recently for CNBC Make It.    Chief recently asked more than 800 female executives who, together, manage roughly $220 billion of the U.S. economy, what would keep them from quitting their jobs.    Women leaders are leaving their companies at the highest rate ever, widening the quitting gap between women and men in senior roles, according to recent data from LeanIn.org and McKinsey & Co.   In February, Youtube CEO Susan Wojcicki and Meta's chief business officer, Marne Levine, both announced they were stepping down from their C-suite roles. These are just two high-profile examples of a trend that threatens to unwind decades of progress toward gender equity, McKinsey senior partner Alexis Krivkovich told CNBC Make It.   The secret to convincing women to stay in the workforce, says Childers, "boils down to two words": Value them.      Pay and promotion are the two most "tangible manifestations of value" for working women, according to the survey.    Forty percent of the women Chief spoke with said pay transparency is important to them, but less than 20% said their workplace has implemented such practices. Women also cited learning and development funds as an important benefit, but just 52% said their employer offers them. "Investing in these opportunities could be the catalyst for women to get promoted with more pay, helping to close the gender wage gap," says Childers. A lack of power, however, is the "top driver" pushing executive women to consider quitting, Chief found.  For many women, power comes in the form of a promotion, Childers points out — but one-off efforts are less impactful as retention drivers on their own. Instead of just offering women promotions, managers should sponsor networking opportunities that help women "leverage and expand their power, so that they're better positioned to lead," says Childers.   Employers should also continuously set goals with the track women they work with and track their progress to ensure that promotions are equitable, she adds. Ultimately, supporting women is better for business. Says Childers, "It's only when we make workplaces work for women leaders that we will see a more equitable and diverse workplace for everyone."   More articles from Closing the Gap Barbara Corcoran says every successful person she knows has imposter syndrome: 'That's what drives them' "Shark Tank" investor Barbara Corcoran says she looks for employees and entrepreneurs with impostor syndrome, because the uncertainty drives them to work harder. Read More Comparing salaries — and uncovering gender pay gaps — could be easier under these new EU rules Last week, the European Union's parliament approved new rules designed to help employees get key salary information. Companies in the EU with a gender pay gap bigger than 5% will have to go through a salary assessment with employee representatives — and could be fined. Read More 'Over-mentored and underfunded': The biggest challenges facing AAPI women-owned businesses AAPI and Native Hawaiian women entrepreneurs have limited access to capital, even as the number of businesses they own continues to grow in the U.S. Read More Unsubscribe Manage Newsletters Digital Products   Feedback Terms of Service Privacy Policy   © 2021 CNBC LLC. All rights reserved. A property of NBC Universal. 900 Sylvan Avenue, Englewood Cliffs, NJ 07632 Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes. Global Business and Financial News, Stock Quotes and Market Data and Analysis. Data also provided by THOMSON REUTERS