Gender

As
Make Careers Paths
On-Ramping Easy Change,
by Sylvia Ann Hewlett and Carolyn Buck Luce
July 08, 2010

This post was written with Carolyn Buck Luce.

What organization can afford to sideline or lose nearly three out

of five of its most talented workers? That’s the risk uncovered by
the Center for Work-Life Policy‘s latest research on off-ramps and
on-ramps, published last month in the Harvard Business Review.
Some 58 percent of high-echelon female talent experience career
interruptions that sidetrack them from traditional lock-step linear
career paths, penalizing earning power, sabotaging long-term
promotional prospects, sapping ambition and causing many
women to switch employers or quit work altogether.

Since our original 2005 study, a growing number of influential

companies have fundamentally changed their views about the
value of female talent, putting into place policies that support and
sustain women’s ambition despite the detours that life throws in
the way.

For example, in 2004, the overwhelming reason for accomplished

women to downshift from their high-speed career track — or even
get off entirely — was childcare. Now, programs like Goldman
Sachs‘ “Great Expectations” Maternity Strategy strengthens the
firm’s comprehensive maternity leave with “Keeping in Touch”
days for returning mothers, assigning maternity mentors (women
who have successfully returned to work after childbirth), and
training managers to support their employees throughout the
maternity cycle. Similarly, Intel‘s New Parent Reintegration
Program supports new parents — both fathers and mothers —
struggling with the transition back to full-time work by
permitting them to coordinate flexible work arrangements,
including telecommuting and part-time and staggered hours, for
as long as they and their managers agree.

But our new survey, which used the same questionnaire and
sampling a similar pool of women, discovered that the ground
had shifted.
Although childcare is still the main impetus for off-ramping,
eldercare is becoming an important concern, cited by 30 percent
of 2009 respondents compared to 24 percent in 2004. The bump
is likely due to demographics, as a larger proportion of the
American population moves into old age. And while off-ramping
for childcare tends to occur at the mean age of 31, when a woman
is at the beginning of her career trajectory, off-ramping for
eldercare hits baby boomers at the peak of their powers, sucker-
punching their careers and prematurely eradicating a company’s
top talent. That’s where programs like Moody’s Backup Childcare
and Eldercare makes a huge difference. Through a partnership
with Bright Horizons, a national provider of work-life services, the
program offers employees up to 20 days of care, at rates far below
the average market price. Employees are even able to utilize the
eldercare program from other states; for example, a New York
City-based employee with a sick mother in Florida can request a
caregiver to visit her mother in her home.

But that’s not all. Over a quarter of the women in our sample were
single and 38 percent of them were childless. Yet even without the
pulls of childcare, these women off-ramp in significant numbers
— 14 percent of single, never married women have taken a break
at some point during their careers, as do 31 percent of childless
women. Moreover, 44 percent of childless off-rampers cited an
unsatisfactory or disappointing career as a major factor in their
decision to depart, while 28 percent said they felt stalled.

No matter what their reason for taking a break, the vast majority
of highly qualified women want to return to work. Yet just 73
percent of highly qualified women who want to get back to work
succeed in finding a job, and only 40 percent of these were able to
find full-time, mainstream jobs.

With the majority of college degrees going to women, the face of

future talent is predominantly female. Rather than stand by as
the off-ramp undertow wreaks havoc on the career ambitions of
their accomplished women employees, corporations have a
unique opportunity to throw them a lifeline. Realizing a woman’s
potential for a non-linear career path is only the first step. What
can your company do to attract and retain the best and brightest
over the long haul?

Carolyn Buck Luce is the Global Life Sciences Sector Leader for
Ernst & Young in New York and co-founder of the Hidden Brain
Drain Task Force.

SH
Center
Sylvia Ann Hewlett is president of the
for Work-Life Policy and Sylvia Ann Hewlett
Associates. She is the author of 11 books
including Winning the War for Talent in
Emerging Markets. Follow her on Twitter at
@sahewlett.
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