Women Who Step Out of the Corporate World Find It Hard to Step Back In
- Sep 9, 2005
- Article is provided courtesy of Wharton School Publishing
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This article is provided courtesy of Knowledge@Wharton.
Women executives who leave the corporate world when they hit a glass ceiling, want to raise a family fulltime or decide to focus on other interests, encounter frustrating roadblocks in their attempts to re-enter the workforce, according to new Wharton research.
To overcome the obstacles, women should confront the difficulties they face and prepare for their return to the labor force the moment they leave, says Monica McGrath, adjunct professor of management at Wharton, executive coach and co-author of the study entitled, “Back in the Game. Returning to Business after a Hiatus: Experiences and Recommendations for Women, Employers, and Universities.” “I was seeing many women who, when they reached 50 and their kids were heading off to college, said, 'Now let me get back to work,' and they couldn't,” says McGrath. “These are talented professional women. Why was it so impossible?”
The study found that while 36% of the women who left their jobs said they were conflicted about their decision, 70% remained positive overall about the decision. When they were asked to describe their hunt for a job after deciding to return to work, 50% said they were frustrated and 18% said the experience was depressing. The women were “angry about having to justify the time they took off and start over as if they had never gotten an MBA,” says McGrath, who is also the former director of leadership development for the Wharton MBA program.
McGrath conducted the research with two Wharton alumnae, Marla Driscoll, a former partner at Accenture, who has been an independent consultant for two years, and Mary Gross, head of learning and development with Merrill Lynch Investment Managers. The Wharton Center for Leadership and Change Management and the Fort Foundation, a non-profit organization that develops women business leaders, supported the study.
In late 2004 and early 2005, the researchers surveyed 130 executives who had stepped out of the workforce for at least two years and had already returned, or were trying to do so. Of those who responded, 83% were over 35 and 81% had an MBA. Sixty percent had left their jobs within the last five years and 18% within the last 10 years. At the time of the survey, 60% of the respondents had re-entered the workforce and 32% were actively seeking employment.
Most of the respondents — 64% — had planned to step out for five years or less, while 48% had planned to stay out for two years or less. In the end, 29% stayed out for about the amount of time they had anticipated, while 28% stayed out for a shorter period and 43% stayed out longer. A full 87% of those who initially never planned to return to work were already back on the job or looking for employment.
The women indicated that they wanted to find a job for the intellectual challenge and stimulation of being back in the workforce. They were also returning out of economic necessity. “Economic times change. Children's ages change. What these women thought was going to be a lot of money in their IRA is now not a lot,” McGrath says, citing comments that survey respondents made in follow-up interviews. Those who are part of the baby-boom generation seemed reluctant to fully retire between ages 50 and 65, McGrath noted. “That's a long time to play golf.”
The study showed that the participants entered into their new job searches with realistic expectations. Forty-nine percent anticipated that the process would take at least a few months, and 36% thought they might have to take a lower-level position. Frustration developed when they actually started the interview process and had trouble even making it past initial gatekeepers.
