In 2019, the Society of Women Engineers conducted a study1 to understand how women engineers feel about their workplaces. What do women engineers seek in an employer? What factors do they look for when determining whether to stay or leave a company? As one respondent said:
“I just don’t want to feel like a cog in a machine. I want to work somewhere where I feel valued personally and am encouraged (and given opportunities) to grow beyond my current work assignment.”2
Companies are interested in retaining diverse engineers and technologists, and the results from this survey point to areas on which employers can focus to improve women engineers’ experiences in their organizations.
SALARY. Engineering is known for being a well-compensated profession, and the responses from our survey support this. Most of the women in our study indicated that they were satisfied with their salaries. “I really like working where I am at. I hope to grow personally and professionally within this company and hopefully my salary would grow as well,” one respondent noted.
LOYALTY. More than 70% of women respondents said that they planned to stay with their current employer for at least two more years. When asked what factors were influencing their decision to stay, almost half listed considerations related to career advancement.
Employees want their work to be valued and recognized through promotions, salary raises, and other professional recognitions. They seek employers who care about their growth and offer ways for them to reach their individual career goals while fulfilling the company’s mission. This sentiment was best captured in the following quote:
“I want a company that believes in me, and empowers me to achieve great things by
providing me the support, training and mentorship that I need.”
WHAT WOMEN VALUE AND SEEK. For a variety of reasons, women’s advancement into leadership positions has been slow. Many women are frustrated by the barriers they face on the career ladder, and this is especially the case for women in male-dominated STEM fields. A recent report from McKinsey & Company found that certain STEM industries, including oil and gas, engineering and construction, and energy sectors, are particularly underrepresented at every level of the corporate ladder.3 The study indicates that these sectors lose a disproportionate number of women early in the pipeline, finding that women are less likely to be promoted from entry level to managerial level than women in other industries.
While women engineers seek employers who believe in them and are willing to invest in their professional development, work/life balance benefits also ranked highly among those surveyed. Understandably, desired benefits change as women grow older, and this was reflected in the survey responses. One respondent noted:
“Work and life balance is important in order to be able to stay highly productive and healthy for long-term … Being able to learn and grow is also important to allow employees to pursue their passions within their career and feel supported in their development and continuous learning.”
Childcare was not a benefit that was listed as “most important” by many of the women engineers in the study, but a number of women commented on this issue in the open-ended question:
“Childcare was rated lower on my list because of my age. When I was in my 30s and 40s, it would have been on top.”
“With local day care facilities having wait lists 2+ years long, having child care on site would be a HUGE benefit and would have a huge impact on working women being able to continue working and have a family.”
“It’s not flexible hours or childcare or healthcare. It’s ‘and.’… Instead of asking [employees] to choose if they value their children or their health more, ask them what keeps them up at night or what makes it hard to finish a project at work. Start a conversation.”
It is clear to see that one size does not fit all when it comes to meeting the needs of women in the workforce. Women engineers seek balance, and employees in today’s workplace have options. If they are dissatisfied with their current employer, they can look for an organization that offers them the flexibility, professional growth, and other benefits they seek. So, what do women engineers seek when evaluating a career move? Consistent with other responses, one woman stated her priorities:
“I just switched jobs, leaving a place that better aligned with my values so I could have greater opportunities and growth, with the added benefit of a higher salary.”
Many companies have realized that they must do more than create policies that do little to change behaviors, or provide cool workspaces with the expectation that employees will make the office their second home. To change a culture, employers must show that they value their employees by listening to what they need to be their best at their current job, with an eye to supporting their growth. Career-advancement opportunities have a direct effect on our ability to retain a diverse STEM workforce. Companies that recognize the value of their employees will address the issues that are hindering the advancement of women and other diverse groups in their organizations.
To read the 2019 Women in Engineering Talent Pulse Report, visit https://research.swe.org/. To learn how your organization can support women engineers in the workforce, check out SWE’s diversity & inclusion products at https://swe.org/learning/diproducts/.
Endnotes
1. This study was conducted in collaboration with Dan Linstroth of People at Work.
2. The quotes throughout this article are from SWE’s 2019 Women in Engineering Talent Pulse Report, available for download at https://research.swe.org/.
3. Bellone, D., L. Kutob, J. Noël, and G. Siccardo (2019). Empowering Talent: Women in Energy, Resources, and Infrastructure. McKinsey & Company, Global Infrastructure Initiative.
“Women in Engineering Talent Pulse Report” was written by Roberta Rincon, Ph.D., Manager of Research, SWE. This article appears in the 2020 State of Women in Engineering issue of SWE Magazine.
