Companies are from Mars, People are from Venus
My Prediction: Venus Wins.
Itโs nearly 2024, the world is on fire, and the divide between people and companies has never been more significant.
Like the classic relationship book Men Are from Mars and Women Are from Venus, companies and people appear to be living on different planets where each is accustomed to its language, society, and customs but not to those of the other.ย
How will this divide get closed?ย
Mars & Venus: A (Long) True Story
On Mars, where companies live, many prefer to operate as in the past:
They expect people to be in the office daily, especially junior staff.
Performance is focused on productivity rather than outcomes.
Top-down management is acceptable.
Issues of mental health and well-being arenโt spoken about.
Work culture is the sum of everyone who is on staff.
And itโs normal to pay and promote women less than men.
Although we all work on Mars (since thatโs where the companies are), here on Venus, where people live, things are more modern, like 2024.
Technologies successfully enable most areas of our lives, so we expect flexible working arrangements - remote and hybrid - and flexible hours.
Weโre experiencing a mental health crisis that we can no longer ignore.
Our well-being is paramount, and as such, we require collaborative leadership and healthy work cultures, which we help to co-create.
And weโre tired of outdated views on gender: Can companies create and maintain a level playing field and adopt transparency and equity around pay and promotion already?ย ย
Yes, weโre now going to talk about gender issues in the workplace. Ready?
Perhaps Meryl Streep summed it up best in this video posted this week by The Female Quotient.
I'm exaggerating to make a point, but not by much. Just this month:
Amazon Web Service (AWS) employees have been managing their response to the return to office order. I noticed this on LinkedIn as there have been many posts - like this one or this one - highlighting people who are (supposedly) happy to be back in the office everyday, and others where people - primarily women - like this one - have walked away from AWS because a long daily commute to the office offers little work-life-family balance. (If you want to see more examples, type "AWS Return to Office" in your LinkedIn search bar.)
The 2023 McKinsey Women & the Workplace Report was published, and although it remains an excellent report, it is discouraging to see trends persist and worsen in some cases.ย
For the ninth year in a row, women, especially women of color, continue to be paid and promoted less than men; the 'broken rung' challenge is the greatest challenge women face progressing from entry-level roles and leadership.ย
What's the broken rung? The broken rung is the metaphor used to explain the systemic bias and challenges women face in progressing from entry-level roles into first-time manager roles. Men are 25% more likely to make that jump than women, a gap which then widens as women continue to progress in their careers.
Lean-In, a co-producer of the McKinsey report, released their key findings, translating them into a list of four workplace myths debunked by the data.
Myth 1: Women are becoming less ambitious.ย
Reality: Women are more ambitious than before the pandemicโand flexibility is fueling that ambition.
Myth 2: The most significant barrier to women's advancement is the "glass ceiling"
Reality: The "broken rung" is the greatest obstacle women face on the path to senior leadership.
Myth 3: Microaggressions have a "micro" impactReality: Microaggressions have a significant and lasting impact on women
Myth 4: It's mostly women who wantโand benefit fromโflexible work
Reality: Men and women see flexibility as a "top 3" employee benefit and critical to their company's success
And, if you don't follow Lean-In yet on LinkedIn, they released some great New Yorker-style cartoons to further share the findings of the McKinsey report and debunk myths.
But this newsletter isn't just about women because men live on Venus, too! And men care about many of the same workplace issues that women care about.
Like women, men see "tangible upsides with remote work. 29% of women and 25% of men who work remotely say one of the biggest benefits is having fewer unpleasant interactions with coworkers.
Even moreโ53% of women and 36% of menโpoint to reduced pressure around managing their personal style or appearance."
"Half of women and a third of men point to "offering significant flexibility in when and where employees work" as a top-three factor in their company's future success."
Oh, and, men do not want women to be paid less or promoted less often.ย
Meanwhile, the Great Resignation continues, with men and women leaving roles and looking for new opportunities.
However, the Great Breakup trend of senior women leaving the workplace persists and shows no signs of slowing down.ย ย
Why do women leave? A new study conducted in the UK by Encompass Equality offers a complex response, but the โbig fiveโ factors include:
Prospects for career progression
Organizational culture
Support from their line manager
Amount of work
The day-to-day work itself
Last I checked, these are five good reasons for anyone wanting to leave their job, not just women.
Elsewhere, Gen Z is arriving to Mars ready to work and with much energy to defeat the status quo.
All five reasons women leave are among the top five most essential criteria Gen Z workers have for selecting an employer in the first place.
An additional one includes opportunities for learning and career development.
So, the divide between people and companies is vast. That makes sense because the distance between Venus and Mars is approximately 119,740,000 kilometers.
But what about the future of work?
Companies are well aware - as are most working professionals at this point - that to overcome the challenges associated with trends affecting the future of work, companies need people to be increasingly flexible and adaptable, more willing to learn new skills and acquire hard knowledge, more experimental about their approaches to work, more tech-savvyโฆand the list goes on.
I've yet to see a study that indicates that most people will resist what's required of them. Since most people rate access to ongoing learning and development opportunities as a top factor for selecting or remaining with an employer, I'd say most people now understand what employers expect of them in this new age.
Rewind to five years ago, before the pandemic, when every major company - including the one I worked with - was releasing their Future of Work research; we were all so busy wondering whether robots would take our jobs, we neglected to notice that most of those studies offered a one-sided view - from MARS!ย ย
Such reports focused on how different macro trends would impact people and their ability to be employable, what skills or knowledge would be most, or less, in demand, and the impact on companies.ย
Today, people are writing the new future of work research in real time.
Here on Venus - where we share memories of the pandemic and where most of us need to adopt news-sobriety practices to limit our exposure to the trauma induced by world events - people are now deciding what the future of work MUST also include (PS. It turns out that these are the same things which are important to women):ย
flexible working,ย
fair and equal pay and promotion,ย
support for mental health,ย
healthy work cultures,ย
self-actualized managers and leaders,
ongoing learning and development, and
opportunity for work-life integration, to name a few requirements.
People are willing to travel to Mars for work, but Companies must adopt Venus' ways.
A ray of light? A few governments (sometimes) live on Venus, and they can stand up for people (more than they are).
Cue the UK's new Flexible Work bill, a.k.a. The Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act 2023.
Although UK employees always could ask for flexible working arrangements, the new law puts people first and enables them to do so from the start of their contracts.
It covers flexible working hours and negotiating work locations (e.g., remote/hybrid/onsite). The UK government is implementing this new law now.
Alas, despite that ray of light, it sometimes feels like people and companies are years and years away from living on the same planet together.
I say this because just as I think we're all heading in the same direction, hand in hand, I meet yet another new client who is suffering from working for a Mars dinosaur corporation and read yet another statistic.
What can you do?
Perhaps because I spent a big part of my career fighting the US education system, yet another entity thatโs slow to change, my best answer is that you, me - every person - must continue to demand more of employers: vote with your feet and refuse to work for any companies operating with Marsโ valuesโฆso that they all eventually adopt Venusโ values. (And Venus wins!)
We need more Great Resignations and Great BreakUps, less Quiet Quitting.
Many of you reading this newsletter will continue to build careers inside of companies. For Venus to win, youโll need to continue to be a strong advocate for people-centric policies and behaviors. And, rather than putting your long-term career satisfaction in your employerโs hands, you must drive your career. Along the way remember that life comes first; careers wrap around your life.
Or, perhaps youโre one of many who will choose to step out on your own - as a solopreneur, entrepreneur, or small business owner - congratulations! Doing so means you will need to learn and adopt a whole new set of skill sets and mindsets that youโve not likely honed in your jobs on Mars.
To succeed will require investing in yourself in new ways, taking more and better care of yourself, and gearing up to navigate the future of work on your own (unless you want companyโฆsee my note below). Because in this context, youโre responsible for creating the conditions you desire from your work:
flexible working,ย
fair and equal pay and promotion,ย
support for mental health,ย
healthy work cultures,ย
self-actualized managers and leaders,
ongoing learning and development, and
opportunity for work-life integration, to name just a few!
Whichever fantastic journey you choose, one thing is guaranteed: you will build all kinds of new muscles if you want to remain true to Venus and lead a life of your choosing.
Stay Connected
Whether youโre on a business-building journey of your own, or just trying to ensure that your career adds up to more than a list of jobs or experiences, there are three ways we can stay in touch:
Hit subscribe for ongoing support as you reimagine your life and work.
Explore how we might work together, with me as your catalyst and coach.
Or if, like many, youโd prefer to travel this journey with good company, you may be interested in hearing about two new group learning experiences Iโm currently enrolling for 2024. Email me here to learn more.ย
Safe travels on your journey, and, as always, thanks for being here.
