Women in the New Economy Survey: Highlights and Implications

Upsides and Downsides of working in the new economy

 The responses women provide in this survey have helped us to better understand the relationship between the upsides and the downsides women experience working in the new economy.  

• The majority (73%) of women in the survey experience working in the new economy with an exhilarating sense of achievement, impact, satisfaction and opportunity for creative freedom they didn’t have before. This self-validation for women is profound, and fills-in such a gaping hole that existed in the old economy, that women are willing to tolerate the downsides.
  
• Women greatly value new avenues for rapid growth and constant learning that have often been closed to them. This helps to diffuse the reported downsides, as the more women learn and grow, the more transferable are their skills.

• Many women enjoy doing significant work within the context of the family-like, collaborative community characteristic of their companies. Women have long been stifled in bureaucracies that treat performance as a function of “time spent in the office.” 
  
• Women accomplish work in creative ways and in places best suited for them. Time is often women’s most precious resource, yet they willingly give more of it to the company because they can do work from home, or have flexible work schedules tied to performance rather than face-time.
  
• There is also a common thread we hear from women who are willing to stay in their current workplace as long as they are learning, and as long as the environment stays non-hierarchical, and they have opportunities for growth. With 41% of women considering leaving, they are continuously assessing whether to stay or leave, since there are so many opportunities available. 
  
• While some of the women want to dedicate their life to work, for others there is great conflict as they potentially risk their marriages, having children or a having an active social life.

How do we reconcile the passion for the upsides in the new economy with the pervasive sense of paying a high a high price for working in the new economy?

 Women are just as passionate about the “downsides” of working in the new economy as they are about its benefits. Two-thirds of the women (68%) spoke candidly about the stress of a “24/7 life,” the constant change, the uncertainty, and the difficulty balancing work and family/personal life. This theme reverberated again in the question concerning how work impacts women’s lives, and has serious implications for new economy companies. Two-thirds of women (65%) reported a negative effect on personal, marital and family life, while 41% were considering leaving their jobs. We believe what is significant for women in new economy companies is that women are willing to tradeoff balance in their lives to have the powerful and rapid impact that was not available to them in the old economy companies.  This may be a plausible explanation for the short term. We wonder, however, how long women will be willing to maintain the “demanding, exhausting albeit exhilarating” work/life?  How will this change as the uncertainties turn into sobering realities? We believe that what women are reporting may well be illustrative of what men are also experiencing. This is a question for further research.

 We were surprised to note that almost a third of the women did not think they were treated equally, not because of gender per se, but because they were single, or working mothers, or older women. We were also surprised that approximately a quarter of the women indicated that they still encounter the familiar gender problems of feeling devalued, invisible, underpaid or overlooked for advancement or VC funding. It seems that the gender issues look different in the new economy. People “talk the talk;” however, they excuse inappropriate behavior because everyone is under such stress, or people are so young.

 Another 22% of women reported that the lack of communication, organizational infrastructure, and experienced management were also significant downsides. This issue came up again as 51% of women wished their companies operated differently through having more experienced leadership and better organizational infrastructure, business processes and HR structures. While women don’t want to go back to the old bureaucracy, they do miss the infrastructure and support that went with it. The challenge for start-ups as they grow is not to recreate the unproductive aspects of hierarchy, but to create working environments that are collaborative and agile.

 Strategies women used

 Puzzled by the apparent paradox of passion for both the upsides and downsides of women working in the new economy, we examined the strategies women reported using.  Perhaps the particular women in our survey are indicative of characteristics of women at higher levels of management, as 50% of the women listed their position as president, owner, senior or upper level manager. This would be an area for additional research. What we found is that the strategies women use to navigate in the new economy are powerful ones. Women tap into their inner capacity to adapt, be flexible, and at the same time, maintain a broader perspective to cope with working in the new economy. Women also reach outward to develop peer support, and obtain needed resources through constant learning and networking. So while there are significant downsides to working in the new economy these women have figured out strategies that work best for them.

 Almost a third of the women reported that work did not negatively affect their personal lives. Women talked about how they set limits in the workplace and how they renew themselves by being involved in their community or church. What surprised us was the number of women who indicated that this lifestyle worked well for them, not because they set limits, but because they blended their personal and professional lives. They talked about meeting their spouses and working with them in the workplace, or using the workplace as a substitute for community and social outlet. 

  Implications for New Economy Companies

 Companies may interpret these results as cause for optimism and as a warning alarm.

1. One cause for optimism is that women believe they are thriving, and faring much better than in the old economy companies. The non-hierarchical atmosphere, where one can accomplish work in flexible ways, is much better suited to women than the culture of traditional companies. For women, the ability to be creative and develop professionally is extremely self-validating as opposed to the slow progress that women often experienced in traditional companies. The implication for companies is that understanding what works for women, and how new economy companies can create that environment, can be powerful recruitment and retention tools.

2. Companies can be optimistic that new opportunities have been created for women based on their abilities rather than on gender.  We believe that freeing women from the old stereotypes has removed obstacles and unleashed great energy and talent into the workplace. We would like to believe that the reduction of stereotypes has to do with the young generation of entrepreneurs who have more egalitarian value systems. We sense from these women that the reduction of stereotypes is driven partially by new values, and partially by the systemic necessity to give people multiple tasks in order to meet the rapid growth of the business. The implications for new economy companies is that while they have made progress in this arena--and it is appreciated by women--more must be done to remove obstacles to high performance.

3. Companies would be wise to take to heart that the high price women pay regarding their personal/family lives, may be a bell-weather for how men experience the impact on their lives.  We know that women’s experience often reflects what is occurring in the larger environment. Women may be willing to maintain the lifestyle for the short term, perhaps several years. The question is how long any employee, no matter how dedicated, can keep up this lifestyle before it has detrimental effects on both family life and productivity in the workplace? We believe that the implication for companies is that stress and work/life balance is a hidden sleeper that has the power to destroy productivity in the long run. This compelling addiction to “faster, smarter, newer” has kept companies competitive. It may also be a time-bomb waiting to damage companies that do not take these warning signs seriously.

 Implications for creating a better workplace

1.      As insights solidify into evidence, we hope to learn the leverage points that companies can use to create a better workplace for us all. The implication for companies is to explore how they can build on women’s wishes for more experienced leadership, better infrastructure and processes, without turning themselves into a bureaucracy. We believe we can help companies develop a collaborative infrastructure to sustain the exciting, dynamic aspect of start-ups as the company grows.

2.      Some women suggest that the perception of gender issues in the new economy may have changed, yet in practice they “are alive and well.”  So it’s disappointing for women when they occur. The implication for companies is how to develop awareness and interventions that help align perception and reality.

3.      Companies would do well to pay attention to the importance of networking for women, as well as understanding how time is a precious commodity for them. One implication is for companies to set up informal peer networks for women within the company, or create on-line peer networking groups.  Companies can provide coaching to help women further develop their leadership strategies, and their efforts to balance work and family.  

 Next Research Steps 

1.      This initial research is a work in progress. We still have further mining of the data to do to understand the finer-grained nuances of responses.

2.      Next, we will test these results with a broader sample of women. Are these results specific to women in this survey, or are the results generalizable to a broader community of women?

3.       Our third step will be to compare the experiences of women to those of men. What are the issues that men and women experience in common as they work in the new economy?

 How can you become involved with this work?

We personally invite a dialogue with you regarding this research, and regarding strategies for creating meaningful support for women in the new economy. We also welcome your ideas on how to disseminate these results. Contact  Ann Lindsey at alindsey@glsconsulting.com or at 617-739-4200 ext. 222.

GLS Consulting is a leadership development company providing strategic, durable solutions for rapidly growing companies. Mindy and Ann’s experience developing and coaching women is indicative of their commitment to help women tap into their inner resilience and leverage external resources to lead their companies to success.

Copyright 2000.GLS Consulting, Inc.