Reimagine Inclusion

MYTH 8Of Course We Support Women! We Just Extended Maternity Leave.

“Of course we support women! We just extended maternity leave,” the leader scoffed, throwing his hands in the air. “So how can we be losing women faster than we are hiring them?”

The leaders had seemed perplexed by the attrition data. The rumors in the organization had been swirling for weeks: women were resigning and moving on to other opportunities because they didn't feel supported. And this set of leaders had been the ones to sign off on the additional funding to extend maternity leave to 20 weeks.

“Oh, well, we know women are quitting to stay home and watch their kids,” said another leader, adamantly. “They are also leaving to follow their husbands' careers. In fact, I know two women on my team whose husbands got jobs on the West Coast. And, well, I couldn't have them work remotely, that just didn't make sense. So of course they had to resign.”

“From what I am seeing from the exit interview data is that women aren't resigning to stay home,” I said, jumping into the conversation. “The majority of the women who resigned say they didn't feel supported after they came back from leave, after they became mothers. They are leaving for promotions they aren't getting here, heading to smaller to mid‐sized companies where they can get more equity as part of their compensation …”

“Listen, if women are choosing to stay home so be it,” another leader interrupted me, ignoring my insights from the exit interview data. ...