For many professionally active women, the pandemic meant a complete disruption of the work-life balance. 86 percent of Polish women working full-time or almost full-time in various industries assess that the changes caused by the coronavirus had a negative impact on their mental well-being, and 79 percent declare that it also affected their physical health.

The report by consulting firm Deloitte, "The impact of the pandemic on the career development prospects of women in business," also shows that more than half of the Polish women surveyed, burdened by the difficulties caused by the pandemic, have doubts about continuing their professional development with their current employer. Deloitte experts also present recommendations for employers regarding actions they can take to ensure women the opportunity to achieve further success and promotion at work now and in the longer term.

Deloitte examined the assessment of the life and professional situation of businesswomen in connection with the outbreak of the pandemic. To this end, it conducted a study on a group of women from around the world, employed in various industries, working full-time or almost full-time and holding positions from specialist to CEO. A similar study also covered a group of more than 300 women from Poland from small, medium and large companies, representing various sectors.

The survey results show that nearly 82 percent of women surveyed worldwide and slightly fewer, 76 percent, in Poland believe that the pandemic has had a negative impact on their lives. 74 percent of Polish women in the surveyed group (70 percent globally) fear for the further development of their professional careers.

We are at a turning point. It is high time to start analyzing the effects of the pandemic felt at the level of the individual, society, business and the economy, so that we can draw conclusions and reverse the unfavorable trends that have emerged over the past twelve turbulent months - or support positive trends. The processes that the pandemic has set in motion in the lives of working women have and will have an impact on the situation of women themselves, families, companies and society as a whole. Addressing this topic is necessary at a time when we are developing a new model of work. – says Iva Georgijew, partner at Deloitte, member of the Board of Directors of Deloitte Central Europe, founder and leader of the Deloitte SheXO Club.

The pandemic has left its mark on the lives of businesswomen

The pandemic has left its mark on the lives of businesswomen

According to the Deloitte study, as many as 78 percent of the Polish women surveyed work in the office less often than they used to. At the same time, 42 percent worked on-site before the pandemic for at least one day a week, and after its outbreak switched fully to working from home. Today, 43 percent of respondents work remotely full-time, when previously it was only 4 percent.

The study shows above all that the pandemic has only intensified the traditional burden on women of working two full-time jobs: professional and private. As many as 67 percent of respondents declared that they simultaneously intensively care for loved ones, performing at least 75 percent of the related duties.

The situation of Polish women does not differ greatly from the position of working women worldwide in terms of the declared increase in burdens after the outbreak of the pandemic – 63 percent and 65 percent of respondents complain about it, respectively. However, the results showing an increase in the number of stressful factors related to the professional situation of women in Poland are worrying. For example, an increased workload affects 73 percent of them, while for comparison, globally only one third of respondents feel it. 72 percent of respondents in Poland believe that they now have less time for themselves, 68 percent have more household duties, and more than half assess that they have more general responsibilities related to childcare (54 percent) and help with remote learning (53 percent).

The need to meet these tasks has completely changed the daily schedule of women, which as a result had a negative impact on their lives. Most often, respondents complain about the deterioration of their mental well-being – 86 percent of them answered so. Slightly fewer, 79 percent, speak of physical consequences, and 65 percent assess that they are unable to balance work with personal life.

Let's think about how much the whole year of the pandemic will change us. How much work will need to be put into both developing new leadership and organizational culture. Another sphere of enormous work and costs will be helping employees rebuild their mental comfort. The challenges related to psychological costs in many social groups will be outright colossal – says John Guziak, partner, human capital leader at Deloitte Poland.

Career in question

Career in question

What Polish women fear in career development after the pandemic

Alongside significant changes in the organization of private life forced by the pandemic, many women fear that it will also negatively affect their professional career development. Taking into account the current requirements for promotion, 51 percent of respondents have doubts about the sense of continuing their career at their current company. The main reasons are: lack of work-life balance (53 percent), lack of organizational culture (35 percent), lack of flexible employment systems (26 percent), lack of benefits (26 percent) or experiences related to various forms of exclusion (25 percent). The pessimism of the surveyed group of Polish women is also visible in the expected increase in the number of duties in the near future by 53 percent of them.

Deloitte experts also point to a worrying phenomenon, which is the feeling of the surveyed Polish women that at work they must now be available non-stop, as mentioned by 49 percent of respondents. This nature of functioning online, and from one's own home at that, causes the boundaries between what is private and what is professional to blur. As a result, 57 percent of respondents feel overwhelmed by their professional duties. Such worries and dilemmas are expressed more often by higher-level female managers. In the case of the surveyed women who feel that they must always be available, the main concern is the fear of exclusion from participation in meetings and projects (45 percent), the fear of a negative impact of the situation on their career development (43 percent), as well as the fear of burdening other team members with additional tasks, who may work after hours (26 percent).

Six steps to balance

Six steps to balance

Study participants indicated factors that, in their opinion, could support them in further professional development during the pandemic, when it is necessary to adapt to the ongoing changes, but also in the longer term. Interestingly, the answers of Polish women differ in places quite significantly from those given by women in the international study. Women worldwide listed promotion or a raise first – 59 percent. Only 28 percent of Polish women answered similarly, and this factor ranked only seventh. In second place, according to almost half of respondents worldwide, were more flexible forms of performing work. In Poland, one third of respondents answered so. However, the most important for Polish respondents (46 percent) is team staffing that provides the necessary support in achieving professional goals. Globally, it took third place.

Recently, the importance of the human factor and the social dimension of enterprises has increased incredibly in business. For the business success of companies that survived the crisis or even developed during the pandemic, the initiative of employees, their independence, courage, creativity and proactive approach to the challenges they encountered proved decisive. As well as functioning in well-coordinated, strongly motivated teams, resistant to turmoil – believes John Guziak.
To achieve this, Deloitte experts propose six steps.

  1. First of all, the concepts of flexible working time and availability in times of the so-called new normal need to be redefined. It is essential to build a culture that enables employees to benefit from new rules without fear for their professional future.
  2. Second, empathy and trust should be the basis of management. The empathy of leaders allows for building an open company culture and as a result leads to mutual trust and the independence of employees, their internal motivation, proactivity and efficient cooperation.
  3. Third, almost one third of those surveyed by Deloitte (including nearly 40 percent of female senior executives) indicated, among others, mentoring and networking as factors important from the point of view of their career development.
  4. Fourth, employers should provide flexible access to specialist knowledge and the necessary support in a given case. However, care should be taken to match this offer to the diverse technical and time possibilities of individual female employees.
  5. Fifth, more important than ever is the elimination of subconscious bias within the processes of granting rewards, raises and promotions, including an objective approach to women's caregiving duties.
  6. And finally, the elements of the organizational culture of every enterprise should be diversity, respect for others and prevention of exclusion. More than 25 percent of women who question the possibility of developing their professional careers cite exclusionary behaviors such as microaggression or being sidelined from meetings and projects as the reason. All cases of this type require a direct, decisive response, including clear communication and training.
It is worth using today's situation as an opportunity to reflect on building a new organizational culture in the company. How employers will act in the coming year, whether they will make efforts to facilitate women's adaptation to changed living and working conditions and the realization of their professional ambitions, is of key importance for the social and professional future of women. And also for cultivating what business has gained thanks to the commitment of employees of both sexes – says Iva Georgijew.

About the studies

In August and September 2020, on behalf of Deloitte Global, Forbes Insights conducted a study of 385 women from around the world, employed in various industries. The study covered Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, India, Japan, the United Kingdom and the USA. All respondents worked full-time and held a variety of positions.

In December 2020 and January 2021, Deloitte conducted a study of 335 women from across Poland, employed in small, medium and large companies in various industries. All worked full-time or almost full-time and held a variety of positions – from assistant to CEO.

Summary

The Deloitte report "The impact of the pandemic on the career development prospects of women in business" shows that 86 percent of Polish women felt the negative impact of the pandemic on their mental well-being, and 74 percent fear for their further career development. More than half of respondents have doubts about continuing work with their current employer, mainly due to the lack of work-life balance.

Experts recommend six steps, including building a culture of empathy and trust and eliminating bias in promotion processes. Importantly, for Polish women, more important than a raise is team staffing that ensures support in achieving professional goals — unlike for women worldwide.