New research shows men and women are equally committed to doing their best at work, but there’s a growing ambition gap among women who want to get ahead — and companies rolling back commitments to women’s career advancement, sponsorship and stretch opportunities could be to blame.
That’s according to Lean In and McKinsey & Company’s latest Women in the Workplace report, now in its 11th year, which looked at data from 124 U.S. and Canadian companies as well as 9,500 employees to assess talent pipeline data, employee experience surveys, and HR programs and policies.
The survey found that 80% of women overall say they want to be promoted to the next level, compared to 86% of men.
The ambition gap is highest at the entry level, where just 69% of early-career women want a promotion vs. 80% of their male peers, and at the senior level, where 84% of women want to be promoted vs. 92% of their male colleagues.
It’s part of a larger and “concerning” trend of companies rolling back their commitments to women’s career advancement at work, says Rachel Thomas, CEO and co-founder of Lean In.
“Only half of companies remain committed to women’s career advancement,” Thomas tells CNBC Make It, citing the report’s data. “Our sense is [women] are feeling that. How couldn’t they be?”
Despite the first-time ambition gap, it disappears among women who reported having the same levels of career support, sponsorship and stretch opportunities as their male peers, from entry- to senior-level employees, says Megan McConnell, a partner at McKinsey.
Entry-level women face a broken rung to advance early on
Historically, entry-level women under 30 have been among the most ambitious workers who want to be promoted and aspire to be senior leaders, even more so than men under 30, Thomas says.
But they also go “overlooked” in being supported to go after new opportunities, especially to become first-time managers, which can delay career advancement for years down the line.
Only one-third of all entry-level people managers are women, according to the report, and just 31% of entry-level women have a sponsor compared with 45% of entry-level men.
“Sponsorship is one of the biggest drivers of advancement and also feeling confident and supported at work,” Thomas says. “In this year’s Women in the Workplace study, employees that have sponsors are twice as likely to get promoted.”
With less support, “it’s hard to imagine that just doesn’t impact your optimism, and may actually directly impact how ambitious you feel,” Thomas says.
Support to learn AI and flexibility bias play a role
Young professional women also receive less support from their manager to use AI at work, which matters when early adopters are rewarded and promoted.
“We know that AI is going to be challenging for jobs, and it’s going be the most challenging for the people that don’t know how to use those tools,” Lean In founder and former Meta chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg told CNBC’s Julia Boorstin in an interview Tuesday.
Encouraging more men than women to use AI early in their careers could exacerbate the broken rung for young professionals. “We are going to see disproportionate impacts,” Sandberg said, “and that would be a real shame for our companies [and] bad for our economy.”
Young women are also more likely to be held back in their careers by the flexibility bias, according to the report: Entry-level women are more likely than men to work remotely offsite, and when they do, their promotion rates lag behind their male counterparts, who are promoted at similar rates regardless of whether they work in an office or remotely.
Senior-level women see a steeper path to the top
A lack of support for women’s advancement early on can have a compounding effect over time. Senior-level women who say they don’t want a promotion are more likely than men to say it’s because they’ve been passed over for a promotion in the past, and they don’t see a realistic path to the top.
These factors can make it feel like career advancement is out of reach, and so they’re less likely to go after it.
Other women may be opting out because the higher-level job doesn’t offer them the professional development they want or the flexibility they need.
Senior-level women are “significantly more likely to think employees who are more senior than them are burned out or unhappy,” Thomas says. These women “see a steeper and less attractive path to the top.”
Women’s personal obligations, including shouldering the burden of household and care-giving responsibilities, could play a role in their opting out of promotions. Almost 25% of entry- and senior-level women who don’t want a promotion say it’s because personal responsibilities make it hard to take on added work, compared to 15% of men at these levels.
But it doesn’t tell the full story: “Women who are mothers are just as ambitious as women who are not mothers,” Thomas says. “So although it’s a factor, I don’t think it’s the main driver. I think it’s much more about what’s happening in our culture right now, and I think it’s much more about a lack of support from companies.”
When women have career support, they want to advance at work
A majority of companies reported that they’re prioritizing inclusive cultures (88%) and diversity (67%) this year, according to the survey. But just about half, 54%, say they’re committed to programs that support women’s career advancement. That falls to just 48% of companies when considering women of color’s advancement at work.
“Companies are rolling back programs that we know are particularly beneficial to women,” Thomas says, including flexible and remote work, formal sponsorship programs, and career development programs with content tailored toward women.
While these programs are especially beneficial to women, they also create a more inclusive culture to those who make use of these programs or learn how to work better with others through them, Thomas adds.
Effective career support can be as straightforward as having a conversation with your manager about your career aspirations, as well as being put up for promotions or special projects that give you new skills and visibility to senior leaders in the company, McConnell says.
One troubling factor could be a continued flattening of middle management, which can have three big impacts. First, managers are now overseeing more reports, which could mean less time and energy in helping women’s career advancement. Meanwhile, women may see fewer opportunities to move into middle management, and if they exist, women may not see those leadership positions as attractive given the strain of managing more people with fewer resources.
“Women should always be able to choose the path that makes the most sense to them,” Thomas says. “But I don’t want it to be because companies are not doing what they should be to support women at all levels, and particularly entry-level women.”
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