Women in revenue-generating roles — such as sales, marketing, revenue operations and customer success — pointed to job security as their top challenge amid a tight economy, elevating it over compensation concerns, according to a May 2 report from Women in Revenue.
More than 70% said their budgets and staff were reduced in 2023, and many said they have to do “more with less” in 2024. More than 40% cited work/life balance as a top challenge.
“Work/life balance has been a persistent struggle for women, but that doesn’t have to be the case,” Debe Rapson, board co-chair for Women in Revenue, said in a statement.
“The past four years have proven that remote work and flexible work hours don’t have to impact productivity,” Rapson said. “Our community of women in revenue-generating roles is pragmatic. If they are seeing compensation and job security softening, they’re going to look to these benefits to compensate and achieve the quality of life they want.”
In a survey of more than 800 women in revenue careers, including half in director-level or higher positions, women reported recent negative impacts on compensation and career mobility, including fewer promotions and fewer salary increases. Those receiving a raise fell from 60% in 2023 to 40% in 2024, and those receiving bonuses fell from 30% in 2023 to 24% in 2024.
These shifts have increased retention concerns, the report found. More than 45% of surveyed women said they considered quitting their job in 2023, including more than one-third of those in leadership roles. In the end, 15% quit.
The report identified several top benefits to attract and retain workers, including work-from-home options, flexible work hours, transparent compensation information, training and professional development programs and top healthcare benefits.
Transparency can be particularly meaningful, especially when 67% of women said they believe they’re paid less than their male counterparts for equal work, according to a Checkr report. Only 16% said they strongly believe they’re paid fairly and that gender bias doesn’t affect their compensation.
Women also are more likely to experience toxic corporate culture, which becomes even more likely in the C-suite, according to a report in MIT Sloan Management Review. The culture gap grew wider in recent years, which women said has affected their employee experience and work-life balance.
Women and men also experience flexibility at work in different ways, and women’s needs aren’t being met, according to a report from Werklabs and The Mom Project. Without consistent organizational support, flexible policies aren’t applied evenly, which has a greater effect on women. Women also were far more likely to report that their ideal work schedule involves flexible hours in a scheduled day, while men were more likely to prefer pre-scheduled days and hours.