Rachel Thomas, co-founder and CEO of LeanIn.org, is concerned about a study from her organization and McKinsey showing that one out of four women is in danger of either scaling back their professional ambitions or dropping out of the workforce altogether.
"We know that women are struggling to balance work with everything else going on during COVID-19," Thomas, who is sounding the alarm about the millions of women suffering burnout.
"And if they do we will roll back the progress we've seen in the representation of women," she said. "In a single year, we'll roll back years of progress."
Senior-level women, mothers, and Black women are most affected by the pressures of the pandemic, according to the Lean In CEO, and women in management positions are particularly struggling with feeling required to work harder than their peers and dealing with professional burnout.
"We know when there's more women in leadership, companies perform better, we know cultures are stronger. We also know that senior-level women are more likely to mentor, sponsor, and serve as allies for women of color," said Thomas. "Women who are earlier in the pipeline, earlier in their careers will not look up and see senior-level women, the women we've worked so hard to get there over the last decade."
Dropping some advice for the working moms, Thomas said to communicate openly with managers, make practical, specific asks for things that can help with the work-life balance, and recruit the work "posse" who might help raise visibility regarding accomplishments, especially as working from home tends to diminish one's ability to be noticed.
Thomas also addressed the bias against women with children, the "motherhood penalty," that colors the view of working mothers as somehow being less committed and less productive. She noted that businesses and organizations need to be empathetic in regards to the added difficulties moms face especially during the pandemic.
"It's not just the extra childcare. It's not just the extra housework. Mothers are afraid their performance is being judged negatively because of their caregiving responsibilities," she said. "They're twice as concerned about it as fathers."
While she highlighted some things to be optimistic about following the pandemic, such as remote work being made a permanent feature, a greater diversity of hires due to the proliferation of working from home, and more empathy as businesses improve worker well-being and employees have "more visibility" in each other's personal lives, Thomas did have a caveat for this sunny outlook. "If I had a panic button right now, I'd be hitting it when you think about the repercussions of losing so many women," she said.
With the ongoing concern that COVID is driving unprecedented levels of burnout, the Lean In CEO explained that companies need to adapt their expectations for issues such as goal-setting, performance reviews, and time management so that workers are not made to feel like they are on the clock at all times.
"It's not just women. Women are more impacted. It's all employees who are struggling to get through this," Thomas said.
The Rev. Al Sharpton is set to lead a protest march on Wall Street to urge corporate America to resist the Trump administration’s campaign to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The New York civil rights leader will join clergy, labor and community leaders Thursday in a demonstration through Manhattan’s Financial District that’s timed with the anniversary of the Civil Rights-era March on Washington in 1963. Sharpton called DEI the “civil rights fight of our generation." He and other Black leaders have called for boycotting American retailers that scaled backed policies and programs aimed at bolstering diversity and reducing discrimination in their ranks.
President Donald Trump's administration last month awarded a $1.2 billion contract to build and operate what's expected to become the nation’s largest immigration detention complex to a tiny Virginia firm with no experience running correction facilities.
Chipmaker Nvidia is poised to release a quarterly report that could provide a better sense of whether the stock market has been riding an overhyped artificial intelligence bubble or is being propelled by a technological boom that’s still gathering momentum.
Cracker Barrel said late Tuesday it’s returning to its old logo after critics — including President Donald Trump — protested the company’s plan to modernize.
Low-value imports are losing their duty-free status in the U.S. this week as part of President Donald Trump's agenda for making the nation less dependent on foreign goods. A widely used customs exemption for international shipments worth $800 or less is set to end starting on Friday. Trump already ended the “de minimis” rule for inexpensive items sent from China and Hong Kong, but having to pay import taxes on small parcels from everywhere else likely will be a big change for some small businesses and online shoppers. Purchases that previously entered the U.S. without needing to clear customs will be subject to the origin country’s tariff rate, which can range from 10% to 50%.
Southwest Airlines will soon require plus-size travelers to pay for an extra seat in advance if they can't fit within the armrests of one seat. This change is part of several updates the airline is making. The new rule starts on Jan. 27, the same day Southwest begins assigning seats. Currently, plus-size passengers can pay for an extra seat in advance and later get a refund, or request a free extra seat at the airport. Under the new policy, refunds are still possible but not guaranteed. Southwest said in a statement it is updating policies to prepare for assigned seating next year.
Cracker Barrel is sticking with its new logo. For now. But the chain is also apologizing to fans who were angered when the change was announced last week.
Elon Musk on Monday targeted Apple and OpenAI in an antitrust lawsuit alleging that the iPhone maker and the ChatGPT maker are teaming up to thwart competition in artificial intelligence.
