Why women are no longer working for free
Are you fine with human wreckage? Are you fine with moral injury? Are you fine with churn? Are you fine with continually unraveling societal bonds? Are you fine with snow-capped organizations? Are you fine with the enduring wage gap? Are you fine with the toxicity that pervades your company?
These are questions that Anne Helen Peterson poses in this in depth article on how our work is threatening our survival.
I could relate to so many of her points.
The academic doing multiple jobs, on top of parenting, that made success not impossible but sustainability impossible – I reached the top 1% of most cited scientist but burned out and left with the survival scars she mentions.
The lack of support, I was denied an assistant, and called a prima donna when I asked for the job security for a leadership position that in the past came with that FTE.
Even recently a teaching position at UCLA was posted with zero salary. They can try to claim the position was meant for someone bringing in grant salary, as I did. But it demonstrates the total lack of value universities place on teaching or faculty as a whole, as most poverty stricken adjuncts can tell you.
She also reminds us:
“you can sense pretty quickly if a company is actually blind to the ways it’s trying to blow you, or if that explosion is designed as a test to survive. Sure, maybe you can survive it, and continue surviving it. Humans are resilient. We can, and have, endured so much. But it’s worth asking, particularly when it comes to work: at what cost, and at whose exclusion?”
This echoed a student’s question after my keynote at the society of behavioral medicine:” What do I do with a female mentor who wants me to pass the same test of struggle that she endured?” Can we not move on?
There’s so many solutions out there. Companies can no longer make the excuse that they don’t know what to do. I believe most DEI strategies will prevent burnout. And there are clear guidelines for these here https://haas.berkeley.edu/equity/industry/playbooks/
And Here’s some burnout prevention strategies I recommend in my guide:
Multi-level solutions and behavior change strategies
Provide paid leave as a default for all caregivers.
Flexible schedules, paid time off, and times when whole company is not working. Meeting free times for high impact work.
Subsidize coaches for personal and professional development and learn to coach others to be compassionate.
Ban NDAs to prevent harassment. Publish pay bands to limit negotiations. Allow job crafting.
Have an automatic promotion review process, and achievement logs not self selection or self appraisals.
Use diverse teams and a system of structured interviews and objective criteria for hiring and promotions decisions. Set targets for diversity and retention of diverse leadership at all levels. Put photos of female leaders on the walls where important decisions are made.
Measure and include team well being in key performance criteria and provide programs and support for well being. Do personal check ins.
Create safe spaces for mental health and inclusion discussions. Fund ERGs. Have DEI and mental health teams not just one officer.
Evaluate DEI strategies and well-being programs using learning collaboratives.
But read Anne Helen Peterson’s article if you still need convincing that it is time to change. Wives are no longer willing to work without pay, so another solution is needed. What if your organization became a leader in the Great Return? How do you demonstrate that you do care?
Source: The Expanding Job - Some problems even a wife can't fix
