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Chapter 4

The Costs of Time Out

After a two-year break, it took Carly, a recently on-ramped focus group participant, three years to get back into the workplace. Even then, she was not sure of how the organization viewed her career prospects. “When I on-ramped, I felt that managers and HR recruiters didn’t understand me or my résumé. That hurt my chances for success a lot. It was almost as if they felt that I deserved to be put at a lower business level because I had left to raise a child.” Carly eventually took a job at a lower level upon returning—although not as low as was originally proposed. She still feels cheated: “I paid a huge price for off-ramping, and I resent it.”

The vast majority of off-ramping women want to reenter the workforce eventually. According to our new data, 89% of the women who are currently off-ramped want to resume their careers—a slight decrease since 2004, when the number was 93%, but still a robust figure.

However, in large part because of the penalties and barriers to reentry, many women who want to on-ramp are unable to do so. In 2004 and 2009, nearly the same number (74% in 2004, 73% in 2009) of women succeed in returning to their careers, and only 40% of those who do return to full-time, mainstream jobs. Another 23% end up employed in part-time jobs, and 7% become self-employed.

The average duration of an off-ramp is 2.7 years, although nearly three-quarters of women are ready to resume their careers after less than two years (see Figure 4.1). But even these brief time-outs are extremely costly, both in terms of compensation and career progression.

Returning off-rampers earn significantly less than women who have continuous work experience, as Figure 4.2 shows. Our data shows that, on average, women lose 16% of their earning power when they take an off-ramp. In the business sector, women’s earning power dips 11%.

Our findings in this area of financial penalties attached to time out jibe with the scholarly research. Economist Jane Waldfogel has analyzed the pattern of female earnings over the life span.10 When women enter the workforce in their early and mid-twenties, they earn nearly as much as men. For a few years, they continue to almost keep pace with men in terms of wages. At ages twenty-five to twenty-nine, women earn 87% of the male wage. However, when women hit their prime child-raising years (ages thirty to forty), many off-ramp for a short period of time—with disastrous consequences on the financial front. Largely because of these career interruptions, by the time they reach the 40 to 44 age group, women earn a mere 71% of the male wage.

The penalties of off-ramping are not exclusively financial. Figure 4.3 illustrates the tremendous hits to career progression resulting from taking a time out. Over a quarter of women report a decrease in their management responsibilities after on-ramping. A full 24% found their overall job responsibilities were curtailed upon returning to the workforce, and 22% of on-rampers had to step down to a lower job title than the one with which they had left.

Across the board, these declines in career progression have actually become even more severe since we fielded our original survey. This disturbing pattern is likely the result of a pipeline increasingly clogged by senior-level Baby Boomers staying longer in their jobs in an attempt to restore recession-ravaged retirement accounts.11 There are fewer job openings at the upper levels that would-be on-rampers had inhabited before they left.

Longer Workweeks and Extreme Jobs

Long workweeks, high levels of stress, and onerous travel requirements have become standard characteristics of high-echelon jobs. Employees, particularly at senior levels, are expected to be available to clients, colleagues, and superiors 24/7. The recession has only ratcheted up the pressure, with workers expected to do more with less.

Nearly one-third of the women in our survey reported that they were working 50 hours a week or more. Meanwhile, 9% of the women traveled for work more than five nights per month, a number that can prove unmanageable for mothers of young children.

Driven by a fiercely competitive, gut-churning economy, women across sectors and occupations are working more hours now than they were five years ago. Our 2004 survey found that women on average were working a standard 40 hours per week. By 2009, that number had jumped to 49 hours per week. In other words, on average, women are working an extra day compared to five years ago.

The higher the salary, the greater the time demands. In 2009, a woman earning $150,000 or more annually is working a full 14 hours per week more than a woman earning $50,000 or less (see Figure 4.4). Furthermore, at all levels—but especially in the higher salary brackets—women work just as hard, if not harder, than their male counterparts.

Extreme jobs are defined in our research as those that involve 60-plus hour workweeks and a variety of other performance pressures.12 These career demands take a mental and physical toll on all workers, but the toll on women who already have what are, in many cases, extreme home lives can be particularly heavy. While women aren’t afraid of performance pressures, they are put off by the long hours many jobs require. Working 60 hours a week might be manageable for a man with a stay-at-home wife, or a woman with no family obligations. But a mother who wants to be home to read a bedtime story to her child, or a daughter who wants to spend time with a frail father, is forced to make brutal choices.

Many women off-ramp because the outsize time demands at work leave them with few options. In fact, several focus group participants reported that they had off-ramped only after trying and failing to persuade their managers to allow them to work part-time or on a reduced schedule. Even slimming down one’s schedule may not be a viable solution in an extreme work environment. Grace’s story of a 45-hour-a-week “part-time” schedule resonated for many women in our focus groups.

Additional On-Ramping Challenges

In this unforgiving economic environment, employers are even more likely to favor candidates with the most traditional and linear résumés and prejudge those whose career paths deviate from the norm. Women in our focus groups cited the negative attitudes of recruiters and potential employers as major stumbling blocks to their ability to reenter the workforce. Nearly a third believed that being overqualified for the positions available was a barrier. Rigid work hours and a lack of flexibility, the stigma associated with having a gap on one’s résumé, the bias against middle-aged women, and the perception that their skills were rusty were other serious concerns (see Figure 4.5).

Although these issues existed five years ago, they have been exacerbated by the recession. Factors that can be challenges during a job interview in an up market can quickly become nearly insurmountable barriers in a down economy.

Jayne, a former management consultant, said, “I often hear interviewers and recruiters tell me, ‘Oh, you are too senior.’ I told one senior person who said this to me that I was happy to come in as a junior person and ‘prove’ myself. His answer was that this would be disruptive to the ‘system.’ It’s easier for HR to hire someone when they can check all the boxes off, so to speak—when the person being interviewed doesn’t have any gaps on her résumé.”

With the deck stacked against them in so many ways, why are off-ramped women so determined to reenter the workforce? There are several reasons why women want to come back.

The single most common reason, not surpri-singly, is the need for money. Thirty-six percent of the women in our 2009 survey cited wanting to have a personal source of income as a major factor for their return to the workforce; 31% of women said that their household income was insufficient; and 20% said that their partner’s income was insufficient. In focus groups, women described how the recession had caused them and their families to become more concerned about money. Pam, who was working part-time for a nonprofit organization while searching for a full-time position, said, “This economy is scary. I’m afraid that my husband will lose his job, and there’s no backup if that happens.”

But just as it failed to keep them in the workforce in the first place, money alone isn’t enough to prompt women to return. Another central reason that women on-ramp is altruism. Fourteen percent of women say that they want to go back to work in order to give back to society. Feeling that they are doing good in the world is crucial to women’s career satisfaction—something that 38% of women cited as a major factor. “I miss making a positive contribution,” explained one focus group participant. “Working with interesting people and solving interesting problems that not only impacted the bottom line, but also our customers and society as a whole were big motivators for me.”

Switching focus from climbing the corporate ladder to feeling good about themselves and their careers is only one change that off-ramped women want to make when they go back to work. One finding was particularly dramatic: only 9% of highly qualified women attempting to on-ramp want to go back to the company they used to work for. Indeed, in the business sector, only 4% want to return to the company they used to work for. These findings are disturbing because they show that, in retrospect, the vast majority of women feel unattached to their previous employer.

On-ramping women take a number of steps when preparing to reenter the workforce. One-quarter have joined an online network such as LinkedIn (see Figure 4.7). Another quarter have taken steps to update their skills, such as enrolling in a computer class or a general business course. Sixteen percent have joined an online network exclusively for on-rampers, and 16% have leveraged their former employers’ alumni networks. A smaller number have taken one of the on-ramping seminars that, as a result of our 2004 survey, have been offered at prestigious business schools, such as Columbia University and the Wharton School of Business.

On-ramping networks and seminars can be extremely valuable in bringing ambitious off-ramped women together and showing them that they aren’t alone. Several of the women in our focus groups had participated in the Greater Returns program at Columbia and praised the training and networking opportunities it had provided. Linda, an on-ramped financier, said, “The networking was terrific. It was great to meet a group of women in the same boat. It also gave me a boost and encouraged me to move forward with my job search. I took a job within a month of the program.”

That women like Linda can and do resume their careers despite significant challenges is a positive sign. However, a key point to remember is that on-ramping women rarely return to their former employers. In most cases, when a woman leaves a company, she leaves for good.

Takeaways

Despite the changes evidenced in our study, women still face serious challenges and consequences when they attempt to on-ramp. Only 40% of off-ramped women are able to return to full-time, mainstream work. Those who do on-ramp

successfully take severe hits on salary, title, and management responsibilities.

 Due to the economic downturn, getting back into the workplace was even more challenging in 2009 than it was in 2004. There are fewer job openings at the senior level as Baby Boomers stay longer in an attempt to restore recession-ravaged retirement accounts.

 On-ramping women suffer tremendous hits to their career progression: 26% found their management responsibilities curtailed and 22% had to accept a lower job title.

 Earnings also suffer: on average, women lose 16% of their earning power when they take an off-ramp.

 Women are working longer hours, driven by a tight economy and a hyper-competitive workplace: 49 hours per week, compared to 40 hours per week, or more than an extra day compared to five years ago.