If you’ve been looking to hire or promote more women into senior roles, you may have noticed that there aren’t many qualified applicants. What’s putting women off applying for senior roles?
A Zurich Insurance study found women were 20% more likely to apply for senior roles if the role offered flexible working hours. The study found this was backed up by HR statistics: fewer women were applying for senior roles that had no flexible working options.
Meanwhile, LinkedIn has seen job searches using the “Remote” filter rise by 60% since March 2021, as well as 2.5x more Remote Job Applications.
Flexibility is quickly becoming the norm in the tax and finance industries as companies are forced to adapt or lose out on talent. And we’ve also found that when we approach potential candidates about a new role, the pay package is no longer the first question on their minds. They ask about flexible working first.
To attract as many applicants as possible, we suggest including your flexible working policy in the job specification. If you can’t offer flexibility, you’ll find it harder (although not impossible) to recruit.
The Great Resignation
A Microsoft survey found 46% of employees were considering a “major pivot” in their career, while a UK study revealed 38% of employees were planning to quit within the year. This post-pandemic “Great Resignation” demonstrates that people want more control over their lives. However, they still want to earn a living – so if you give them freedom of choice over how they work, you’ll be able to retain your top talent.
The same study found Black women were particularly keen on flexible working – citing microaggressions, discrimination and racism as their main reasons for not wanting to go back to the office.
The digital talent pool
Homeworking also means you can expand your talent pool nationally and internationally – as long as you have a good digital onboarding process in place and a lively digital community waiting to welcome them.
Think ahead about your hiring needs and ask yourself if you could offer more competitive flexible working options – because another wave of resignations and headhunting is coming.