Women Face Bias at Work: Aon Study

Mumbai, Jul 31 (PTI) Around 42 per cent of women surveyed face bias at work, says a study which found 90 per cent of women working in corporate jobs highly motivated to 'go the extra mile' to grow in their careers.

The '2024 Voice of Women Study India' by global professional services firm Aon has revealed that 42 per cent of women working in corporate jobs stated they face bias or potential bias at work and 37 per cent revealed they have experienced insensitive behaviour.

However, over 90 per cent of women responded that they are prepared to put in extra time, volunteer for challenging projects and upskill themselves to grow in their careers.

Around 6 per cent of women surveyed said they had faced sexual harassment at least once, yet less than half officially reported the incident to their employer.

Aon's study is based on a survey gathering input from nearly 24,000 professional women from over 560 companies in India.

According to the study, working mothers had their own challenges, with 75 per cent responding that they faced a career setback of one-to-two years after maternity leave and close to 40 per cent said going on maternity leave had a negative impact on their pay and their role was changed to something they did not prefer.

Further, 34 per cent of the respondents in senior management and leadership roles indicated facing discrimination as compared to 17 per cent in entry-level roles indicating a rise in bias as women progress in their careers.

According to the study, around 21 per cent of women who faced bias indicate leaving an organisation in less than a year versus only six per cent who have not faced bias.

"Bias at work is impeding businesses' efforts to engage and retain skilled and committed women in the workforce... Building inclusive work culture has to be a CEO-led priority. Business decision makers must urgently take steps to address systemic bias through inclusive policies and practices for equitable pay, career progression and maternity guardrails," Nitin Sethi, chief executive officer of Talent Solutions in India for Aon, said.

The study further found that having women in leadership roles has a positive impact on an organisation.

About 53 per cent of women who have visible female leaders in the organisation reported feeling confident in their career growth, 52 per cent said it had a positive impact on their culture and 41 per cent saw women leaders as role models, it stated.

The presence of women leaders also reduced the perception of unfairness for three key people processes including performance review, promotion and compensation, added the study.

"Addressing gender issues is critical for businesses in India as they tackle talent shortage and navigate an uncertain business environment. The data clearly highlights that the higher the positive experiences women have at the workplace the greater the representation of women in the workforce," Shilpa Khanna, associate partner and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) practice leader of Talent Solutions in India for Aon and the study's leader, said.

Businesses must deepen their DEI efforts by actively listening to women in the workplace and utilising data-driven insights to ensure they make informed decisions to remove barriers to progress and reframing policies that support women employees at different life stages, she added.