COVID-19 has disrupted our world in so many ways and we are now drastically facing losing more women from our workforce. This pandemic disrupted home life and work lives for many mothers, and they have been stretched thin as a mother, caregiver, teacher, and full-time career-driven women earning a full-time salary. Mothers are reaching their breaking point and this pandemic has brought on anxiety and depression to a new level in mothers. We’re in somewhat of a mental health crisis and mothers get no space of their own and little time of their own causing them to be overwhelmed. In the New York Times, Philip Fisher, a professor of Psychology from the University of Oregon stated in a survey he conducted that the impact of the pandemic on families is magnified by several issues that intersect, including poverty, race, having special needs children, and being a single parent. This is all so damaging to our family’s health and mothers are at the core of holding the family and household together.
What is it going to take to prevent this?
Women have been impacted much more than men have due to an increase in domestic violence and rape, higher unemployment rates and more women contracted the virus as women typically work in the healthcare industry. Alexis Krivkovich, writer for Forbes indicated in an interview that this year they found 1 in 4 women have considered leaving their corporate role or stepping down in roles since the onset of COVID-19, and in the 6 years prior to the pandemic they hadn’t seen a difference in rates that women and men have left the workforce. If women begin to leave, we are at risk of losing 2 million women from our workforce which will be a damaging impact on our gender diversity initiatives in the coming years. This results in fewer women in leadership roles or on the track to become a leader.
COVID-19 has presented some major challenges in our workforce, but now more than ever is the opportunity for organizations to pull through this and build an improved workplace culture where all women feel welcome, valued, and have equal opportunities to advance in their careers.
Organizations need to have programs like emerging leadership, mentorships, sponsorship, and advancement opportunities built into their vision and strategic plans with commitment and good intentions. Our leadership teams need to have open communication and transparency with their teams to keep the morale high and avoiding surprises when it comes to our work and performance. Being in the dark about your performance is not a good business practice to have. Discussing health and mental wellbeing is top of mind and since we’re on year two of this pandemic, it’s more important than ever to offer an EAP mental health program to your employees and their families. A great benefit to add to your benefits package.
As we know, this pandemic is not over, and schools aren’t fully back in session which is impacting women’s ability to get back to work as we move into 2022. Organizations need to create an improved sustainable workplace for employees with an inclusive and supportive culture. Encouraging and supporting a remote workforce will benefit the group of women and single parents that will help them have a good work-life balance, at least in the months to come. Consistently delivering good business practices ensures you care about your most important asset, your people. If organizations create a strategic plan about how they will embrace these challenges and take steps in the right direction, they will help women advance in the workplace. Consistently delivering good business practices ensures you care about your most important asset, your people.
