By Soundari Mukherjea and Sara Wood Madera 

“If you worked, who would watch the kids?” said by HR head of an organization in Asia.
“Mothers don’t succeed here,”  told to a working mother by the HR head of another organization.
“What is the point of all this education if you are not going to be working?”  asked of a parent considering a career break.

These quotes reveal the deep-seated biases that have long pushed women out of the workforce. The pandemic didn’t create this problem, but it exploded it into plain view. When schools and support systems vanished, working mothers became teachers, nurses, and full-time house managers overnight. The burden was too much. Knowing they couldn’t quit their families, they quit their jobs instead, leading to the historic “she-cession.”

In the next two years the majority of the jobs were recovered, as companies remained work from home or hybrid, allowing women (and men) a flexible work week that allowed them a greater ability to manage their lives, families and work, while getting more rest. This shift allowed both women and men to build lives centered on family, not just work 

And now we find ourselves at a turning point again, with more companies requiring 4-5 days in the office. Along with this, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives are being reduced, if not cancelled altogether and many lay-offs are targeting female-led roles or industries like marketing, customer success and education. 

Women across the globe are redefining their place in the workforce, yet again. 

What do women (and men) want?

Women (and men) are looking for new ways to fulfil their ambitions at work and at home – and after a taste of how this is possible post pandemic, most aren’t willing to give it up, which is proving to be difficult in a tight job market. 

The workforce experienced a mass exodus, disproportionately affecting women and leading to the phenomenon dubbed the “she-cession.”

Following the she-cession, employers wanted to attract the best talent, and consultants such as McKinsey and Deloitte heard the call and did large scale reports on women in the workforce. 

Companies listened, provided more paid leave, flexible work options, childcare, and higher wages to bring women back, making work an option for this segment of the workforce. The number of women workers aged 25-54 reached 77.8% in June 2023, an all-time high. But the current push for a return-to-office and a shifting political landscape has turned this progress on its head, creating new uncertainty.

In the post pandemic years there were more conversations bringing women’s needs to the forefront. Recent reports indicate a shift in focus – for instance, a report from Deloitte, the accountancy giant, shows that 50% of women are struggling with their mental and physical health, alongside data showing that women in the US are leaving the workforce at incredible rates in 2025.

What can be done to engage and retain women in the workforce?

Through our work with women in DEI and career coaching initiatives, we explored what female employees are looking for in the workforce. What we heard again and again was for work to be one aspect of life, not a woman’s entire identity, success needs to be based on strengths, without the need to be ‘more’ than others, and to be heard, seen, safe and supported. 

In understanding the needs of female employees, companies that are concerned about ‘fairness’ as a reason for not providing family leave are missing the point.  Concerns about ‘fairness’ are a red herring. True fairness is not about treating everyone identically, but about giving everyone the specific support they need to succeed. A parental leave policy, like a bereavement policy, is a safety net available to all, to be used when their life circumstances require it.

Because the truth is, all employees need support at some point in their lives, whether with an addition to the family, a passing, retirement, divorce, or graduation. 

The ability to meet employees where they currently are and provide the support they need when it’s needed will engage and retain talent. And if your company is providing leave, parental or otherwise, share these stories and normalize the human experiences. 

Workplaces need to change

Flexibility has also been a cornerstone in the return-to-office debate, which can look many different ways beyond WFH or hybrid. It might look like nonsynchronous hours, increasing your coverage to all caregivers (not only mothers), and job sharing. Without creative options that meet the needs of the workforce, many talented working mothers are now entrepreneurs creating their own systems that do work. 

Back in the early 2000s, one day when the work hours and the joys of being a new mother had become overwhelming, one of us reached out to their reporting manager and asked, “Do you think we could look at job sharing for this role?” 

“Job sharing??” was the reply. 

A job share involves two part-time employees collectively fulfilling the responsibilities of a single full-time position, rather than each working a separate part-time role. Both individuals must commit to the entirety of the job, collaborating as a team.

This arrangement offers numerous benefits. Job sharers often report an improved work/life balance, which can assist in managing caregiving duties, health needs, and personal interests. It also provides a pathway for career advancement without the necessity of full-time employment.

One of the most significant advantages, according to many job sharers, is the enhanced decision-making process. By pooling two sets of ideas, expertise, and skills, partners can arrive at more considered and objective conclusions. This collaboration is most effective when partners can discuss ideas offline and present a unified perspective to colleagues and staff.

But now this could be a viable option to provide parents the work life balance they crave. 

There are many conferences, round tables and employee groups talking about these topics, focused on working caregivers, which as default has come to mean working mothers.

In the last year, a number of women in high level positions have stepped back, and despite the empowering “Power Pause” name given to ambitious women choosing to focus on their family for a given amount of time, there is still an undue focus on their gender. By highlighting these topics as ‘women’s issues’ we are limiting men’s access and the progress that can be made. 

Many companies, such as McKinsey and HP, offer parents returning from parental leave ‘reboarding’ programs to transition back to work at their own pace, allowing part time work for a period of time, one-on-one coaching and support, so the employee isn’t playing catch up.   

The Hong Kong Story

This need for creative policy is evident globally. For example, in Hong Kong, NGOs say attracting women back to Hong Kong’s workforce requires childcare support, flexible hours, and family-friendly corporate policies.

Oraz Maira, a former flight attendant, found it challenging to balance work and motherhood due to overnight shifts, even in a ground role, partly because her spouse had a hectic travel schedule. Her current job as an assistant station manager is manageable thanks to the Hong Kong Airport Authority’s subsidized childcare program, which offers after-school care and tuition for HK$10 per child daily at designated schools in Tung Chung.

Dr. Henry Ho Chun-yip, an assistant professor at the Education University, noted that small and medium enterprises (SMEs) face resource constraints in funding family-friendly policies. He suggested increasing annual leave or providing government subsidies for centralized work-family support services for SMEs. His team’s survey last year revealed a gap between employer and staff expectations, with over 70% of working mothers wanting special leave, a five-day work week, and flexible schedules, and over 60% desiring parent-specific policies like lactation rooms and sick child leave.

Flexible working arrangements, including adaptable hours, compressed workweeks, and remote work options, are crucial for attracting and retaining talent. An EOC survey last year indicated that individuals aged 18-34 prioritize these arrangements over a high salary. 

Despite this, Hong Kong has been slow to implement more flexible policies, contrasting with countries like Singapore, Japan, and the United Kingdom, which have actively encouraged or mandated such changes for companies.

What can companies do?

As the workplace continues to evolve, a critical question emerges: how can companies implement policies to prevent a recurrence of the systemic collapse witnessed during recent global events? Many organizations believed they had robust strategies in place, yet a single world event demonstrated their fragility. The challenge now lies in future-proofing our workforce and establishing resilient support systems to avert another mass exodus.

A few concrete steps for companies to navigate this space responsibly 

First, create a safe place where employees can be heard, fight unconscious bias (for example, mandate unconscious bias training for all people managers, with a specific module on the ‘motherhood’ penalty), and develop policies to better align to employees’ needs. 

Second, consider creating  a wellness wallet, where employees can choose the benefits that work best for them, including gym memberships, breastmilk shipping, caregiving support or any other.  

Third, create conversation spaces for employees to discuss issues and policies.

Be loud and transparent about analyzing and creating policies that make employees’ lives better. Employees will feel valued and heard, which in turn, will engage and retain them.  These seemingly small things make a difference, so make a big deal out of them. 

The solutions (flexibility, leave, wellness) benefit all caregivers and employees, which in turn disproportionately helps women who still bear a larger caregiving burden.  These are not “women’s issues” but a strategic imperative for building a resilient, future-proof workforce.

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