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How employers can prevent the Great Break-up
With the Great Break-up phenomenon gaining momentum, Anna Lozynski offers employers actionable strategies to urgently support and retain female talent while fostering a more inclusive workplace.
Grace Robbie
Speaking on a recent episode of The Lawyers Weekly Show, Anna Lozynski, a freelance general counsel and legal innovation consultant, shared proactive strategies for employers to retain female talent in the wake of the Great Break-up movement. She emphasised that employers can effectively mitigate the impact of this movement by embracing flexibility in work arrangements, fostering open communication, and recognising the value of women in the workplace.
Lozynski emphasised that flexibility is a central theme in the workplace discussion, noting that employers must shift their perspective to view flexibility as an expectation rather than simply a benefit.
She also explained that employers should not only implement flexible arrangements but also actively engage in discussions with their employees regarding these policies.
“Flexibility is not going away, so it’s really important to constantly look at that. But more importantly, [ask] staff about how they feel if there’s any kind of big swing changes that are being made to flexibility when it comes to the workplace,” she said.
However, while flexible arrangements can significantly enhance job satisfaction, Lozynski highlighted that they may also inadvertently foster a culture of fear among employees, particularly women.
“This is anecdotal, not based on any outside research, but many women who do have a flexible arrangement. There is an element of fear that they hold, that if they talk about it too much, if people see it too much, it might get taken away from them,” she said.
Lozynski expressed her sadness over this dynamic, saying: “Now, that is a reality of the employer-employee relationship. But it makes me feel really sad that that’s where we’re at, that it’s almost like I’ve got this secret thing and let’s not draw too much attention to it in case it gets taken away from me.”
To mitigate this challenge, Lozynski emphasised that flexibility should be tailored to individual circumstances rather than applied as a one-size-fits-all solution. She suggested employers develop a structured framework for flexible arrangements while allowing exceptions to accommodate individual needs and circumstances.
“I think it’s also really important to, yes, have a frame around flexibility that works for the workplace, but it’s important to allow for exceptions because in the case of parenting, and again, I’m using that as the kind of a common thread here, everyone has a different circumstance and everyone has a different parenting philosophy, and I don’t think it’s right for a workplace to dictate to someone, to a parent, how that should play out,” she said.
Lozynski detailed her discussions with male senior leaders, noting a common theme that many of them are unaware of the unique challenges that working women encounter regarding flexibility.
“I’ve been having some conversations with senior C-suite men recently around this, and do you know what they’ve all said? Again, this is anecdotal: I didn’t even think of that because it’s not my reality. I’m not the primary caregiver. And so that’s just not part of my mental load and my line of sight,” she said.
“It’s often, as we know statistically, it’s men making these decisions as a majority. So it’s really important for women, whether you’re in the thick of it now or you’re not in the thick of it, … [to] ask and have open conversations with the affected people in your workplace that you’re looking to sit there and change a policy, and it’s going to directly affect them because women are leaving.”
The potential consequences of ignoring these issues are severe, with Lozynski humorously suggesting: “I say this jokingly, but if all the women in a workforce left, I’d love to see how the workplace survives. If I just decided, OK, this is the week … everyone just steps out and let’s all show our solidarity in relation to this issue … the cost and the stress on the workplace of this, let alone the reputational impact, is huge.”
