The Essential Playbook: Navigating New Realities for Today's Working Women

HR professionals can lead the way by going beyond expressions of sympathy and applying actionable strategies with a nuanced, tailored approach.

“It’s been taboo to talk about issues like menstruation, motherhood, and child care,” said Tina Beaty, chief brand and marketing officer at SHRM. “It’s become culturally acceptable for organizations to collectively turn inward, defining ‘women’s issues’ as those that are personal to the individual. It’s a reality that no one is talking about, but we are all living.”

Organizations can no longer afford to ignore issues affecting women or see them as secondary to other priorities. Soon, women are going to be the majority in the U.S. talent pipeline.

“They are coming in droves and droves,” Beaty continued, noting that the number of working women is projected to increase by 4.65 million by 2031, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. “And they are expected to control more wealth than ever before — to the tune of $34 trillion, by some estimates — gaining more power and influence.”

The What and the Why

Conversations are the first step toward systemic change. But what are those “women’s issues” that aren’t being discussed — at all, enough, or with sufficient clarity? Motherhood and its associated physiological fundamentals are at the top of Beaty’s list because “women are responsible for continuing the human race,” she said.

Even women who don’t have children are subject to many of the same workplace misperceptions and biases as those who do.

After all, mothers and nonmothers alike contend with the slings and arrows of the menstrual cycle before transitioning to a new set of physical challenges in menopause. For generations, the symptoms and treatments associated with these life stages were rarely discussed in polite company, but that’s beginning to change.

Menopause

Around 17% of employers provide menopause-specific support, such as counseling and education, according to the SHRM 2024 Employee Benefits Survey while 2% offer menopause or menstrual leave above what is already covered by regular sick time. However, there’s clearly a disconnect between offerings and what women want: 64% of working women are seeking menopause-specific benefits, according to a 2023 Bank of America report, Break Through the Stigma: Menopause in the Workplace.

The fear factor seems to drive this disconnect. More than half of women in the Bank of America study indicated they don’t feel comfortable discussing menopause in the workplace “because it feels too personal,” while others expressed concerns about being perceived as “old” and being judged or disrespected by peers. This reaffirms the need for HR to take the lead in creating safe, supportive environments that encourage women to share their needs.

The report’s other findings make a compelling case for greater support: Women who have access to menopause-specific benefits were significantly more likely to recommend their company as a great place to work, as well as freely promote their employer’s products and services. Perhaps more importantly, 40% of respondents with access to these benefits said this support enabled them to bring their best selves to work.

Policy Templates: Menopause Leave and Menstrual Leave

Caregiving

Policies that support women in their frequent role as chief family caregiver are also crucial in today’s workplace.

“Organizations don’t acknowledge that many women have a job outside of their career. Work in the office is a second job,” said Heather Cole, SHRM-CP, a talent acquisition and development leader in the Boston area. She noted that women with families rarely experience work/life integration the same way their male counterparts do: “Away from ‘work,’ we are always managing children, pets, the house.”

The SHRM 2024 Employee Benefits Survey found that employers are starting to recognize this: They cited flexible working options and family-friendly benefits as two of the top five most important benefits they offer. There’s still room for improvement, especially with maternity leave policies and laws, but those represent the tip of a massive iceberg.

When the rising costs of safe, quality child care mean that a mother can’t afford to return to the workforce without risking financial instability, organizations can also pay a price.

Consequences may include losses in knowledge base, continuity of performance standards, morale, future recruitment, and ongoing talent development. That’s why Ciera Parks, SHRM-CP, founder and CEO of CWC Human Resources in Towson, Md., includes child care costs as a top problem holding back women.

Parks acknowledged that most organizations have little or no control over child care costs — which are increasing along with most other goods and services — and the issue is not new.

Annual costs for full-day child care for one child ranged from $6,552 to $15,600 in 2022, according to data from the U.S.

Department of Labor (DOL). The DOL also reported in 2024 that maternal employment had returned to pre-pandemic levels for most groups, but it noted that the overall employment rate of mothers with children under 13 (71.7%) remains much lower than that of fathers with children under 13 (92%).

The DOL also noted that child care availability is more limited than before, with many providers closing permanently during the pandemic. Today’s child care crisis is one that organizations can’t afford to ignore and should address with creative solutions to avoid devastating losses in workforce participation.

In addition, many women in their 40s and 50s — a time when they may be at the peak of their professional careers — face “sandwich generation” challenges, providing care for aging parents while also raising school-age children.

Toolkit: Supporting Employees with Dependent and Elder Care Responsibilities 

According to a 2023 New York Life Wealth Watch survey, sandwich generation adults (women and men) spend 22 hours per week providing care for aging relatives and 28 hours per week providing care for children under 18. Add in a 40-hour paid workweek, and these caregivers are carrying a punishing mental and emotional load that often requires sacrifices in personal wellness and professional achievements. Costs for aging adult care, such as in-home nurses or assisted living facilities, may add to financial strain, and, if unaddressed, these challenges may make it difficult for organizations to retain valuable contributors in their workforce.

Parks lamented the return-to-work mandates that are removing much of the flexibility that helped working women juggle caregiving responsibilities.

“Women are chronically pulled in multiple directions, with no space to care for themselves,” Parks said. “This can lead to burnout, which, in turn, typically results in declines in performance, loss of focus, and an inability to show up wholly.”

Resume Gaps

Women can face professional consequences — including compensation penalties — when they return to the workforce after an extended period of caregiving. Too often, resume gaps of any kind are viewed with suspicion and result in scrutiny of an applicant’s personal choices that have nothing to do with their professional competencies and skills.

Even when a career gap is explained, those related to family concerns are most typically penalized during the recruitment process. A 2019 field experiment from ResumeGo found that job applicants with employment gaps were 45% less likely to receive an interview opportunity. The interview offers increased when candidates provided a reason for the break, but the callback rates were higher when the explanations were receiving training or education (8.5%) or attending to health issues (6.7%) rather than supporting family members (6.2%) or raising a family (5.8%).

Other Inequities and Biases 

Setting aside issues related to family, women also contend with other gender-based inequities and biases in the workplace, including:

• Double standards for performance, expectations, and behaviors.
• Disparities in opportunities for mentorship or promotion.
• Inequitable pay.

Additionally, women are often overqualified but underemployed, whether they’re working full-time or taking a career break to pursue degrees, certificates, and other educational options. “These are highly qualified women who are overlooked for promotion opportunities,” Parks explained. “They’ve checked all the boxes — are overtrained and over-webinared — but are still not climbing the ladder in a way that’s equitable with men.”

Women in Leadership: Unequal Access on the Journey to the Top, a 2022 report, found that female managers were less likely than their male counterparts (40% versus 48%) to have reached their current role by being promoted internally, and only 61% of women said their manager encourages them to grow in their career, compared to 71% of men. Also discouraging: The Women in the Workplace 2024 report from Lean In and McKinsey & Company revealed that companies have scaled way back on programs designed to advance women, with only 37% offering such programs in 2024, compared with 48% in 2022.

Women are also penalized for perceived weaknesses that could be — and should be — seen as strengths.

“I will always say ‘yes’ when asked,” said Cole. “My capacity to handle more is greater, [yet] the expectations to perform just get higher — and it’s not the same for men.”

That perception extends to stress reactions. “I was told by a CEO that I was too much of an emotional responder,” Cole recounted. “What he was saying was, ‘Don’t be such a girl.’ But I refused to apologize for showing my very real, raw reactions. My reaction didn’t make me less effective or less professional.”

This disheartening litany of challenges isn’t necessarily new, “but what is new is the lens that leaders are now applying in considering how to address them,” Beaty said. “We’re finally giving these issues their due recognition.”

The Playbook

The push for change has to start somewhere, and that place should be human resources.

“HR has so much power and influence here,” Beaty said. “HR can be the convener, creating bridges. I’m excited that we have an opportunity as a society to dismantle the rhetoric and plan for ways to support women.”

But it won’t be easy. “There is no silver bullet,” she added. “It is, however, the next level of looking at diverse thinking. It needs to be tackled one on one — everyone you interact with, whether it’s a mentee, a colleague, or a supervisor — with the commitment of saying, ‘I’m here, and we’re going to do this.’

It’s about being solutions-forward. That’s how we will create systemic change.”

HR professionals can address women’s issues in ways that will foster growth and retention, creating a culture where they can thrive. Here’s a starter guide:

Collect the Data

As always, data drives decisions. Each “why” and “how” needs to be examined through a business lens. How will these changes support the bottom line?

“Data helps to make the case for changed priorities,” Parks said. “Every leader speaks data. If you can show in data, and in dollars and cents, that this is something we need to do, most people will have interest in making it happen.”

To identify issues that affect talent development and retention, start with an employee engagement survey.

“Depending on budget, it can be as formal or as informal as you want,” Parks said. Measuring turnover metrics is critical, as well: Review who left and why over the past 18 months.

Find Clarity in Policies and Communications 

As an HR professional, you must embody your CEO’s organizational vision, Beaty said. “Take time to articulate your tonality and be mindful of how it manifests with the benefits package, employee communications, and external messages about your brand.”

It’s critical that a leader also make a documented commitment to supporting women in the workplace, such as in the form of a workplace policy, Parks said. She’s found policy development to be even more important than education and training.

“If it’s written well — and if it’s followed — your policy will be the North Star,” she said.

Tailor Your Benefits Package

A benefits package that provides overt support to women, especially for family caregiving and a woman’s life stages, can be a powerful recruiting tool. While some may hesitate at the costs above and beyond standard packages, Beaty dismissed such arguments, noting that such benefits can be equated with a signing bonus or company car.

Consider the findings of the Bank of America study on menopause: The benefits most wanted by respondents were an official policy for menopause (ranked No. 1), insurance covered hormone replacement therapy (No. 2), and access to menopause-specific health professionals (No. 3). A cost analysis is likely to show a higher value in recruitment and retention than the price tag for these three elements.

Put your insurance broker to the test. Request information on new benefits, as well as top benefits requested by peer organizations with a similar profile. HR teams should also avoid a one-size-fits-all mentality.

“If I have a client with 67% of employees composed of women in their childbearing years, that benefits package is going to be different than what I’d recommend for a mostly male workforce in a construction company,” Parks said.

Train for Change

Some organizations have looked to inclusion and diversity (I&D) initiatives to effectively address women’s issues. “But many of these efforts have lost their way, and they are not producing the results anyone wants,” Beaty said. “Let’s leave those behind and look at creating opportunities for all to drive business forward.”

To make a difference, an organization needs to go beyond “simply checking a box,” as Parks described it. However, programming that may fall under the umbrella of I&D training can effectively address some of the unique challenges faced by working women, Cole said. She noted examples including emotional intelligence, leadership, executive presence, and sensitivity training.

Leverage Differences

HR teams can champion women’s unique strengths and explore how to reframe job responsibilities in ways that take full advantage of these skill sets. For example, women often become multitasking experts by necessity.

Those with families often take on much of a household’s mental load: the invisible cognitive and emotional effort required for coordinating tasks, responsibilities, and relationships. An individual’s mental load goes beyond tasks— as those can be delegated to others — and might include keeping a running grocery list in their head, being aware of their mother-in-law’s birthday, or knowing their child needs a packed lunch for a field trip that week.

“How can organizations translate that?” Cole asked. “Maybe women can stretch in new directions and ways they never considered.”

It’s important, however, to avoid any expectation that women must do more, simply because they can. Capitalizing on a woman’s capacity for multitasking shouldn’t mean taking advantage of her time and bandwidth. But it might introduce a mutually agreeable compromise, such as allowing her to work from home during nontraditional work hours.

HR becomes the policy broker here, fostering solutions-oriented collaboration.

“The employee should feel empowered to say, ‘I am here to give 110%, but I need to integrate personal priorities at certain times,’ ” Beaty said. “The employer should have the awareness to say, ‘I do have a high need of your time and attention, but we can explore ways to give you that integration of work and life.’ The symbiotic relationship needs to be OK to talk about.”

The Work Begins

Workplace culture begins and ends at the top of the organizational chart. But it’s the job of the HR team to collaborate with leadership to create change.

“Know your CEO’s top three priorities,” Beaty advised. “They are probably a mix of financial and office culture.”

HR professionals can apply the lens of these priorities when devising plans to address women’s issues.

While Parks is committed to fostering change, she cautioned that “some things can’t live and die in the HR bucket. If HR is the ‘owner’ of creating systemic change, it will never pick up outside the HR walls. The bigger lift has to come from everyone else. The main role for HR in these types of initiatives is to act as a facilitator and a resource, introducing the ideas to senior leaders — and anyone else who might be interested.”