Opinion Piece by Mine The Gap & Bank of America: San Diego Union Tribune

Companies should adopt new practices that support workers at work and home. 

BY PAMELA GABRIEL, JESSICA N. GROUNDS

AUG. 26, 2021 3:48 PM PT

Gabriel is a senior vice president and San Diego market executive for Bank of America. She lives in Ocean Beach. Grounds is the lead advisor for the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce’s “All Our Talent” initiative, and co-founder of Mine The Gap. She lives in University City.

Every workplace is tackling how to handle this new era of work spawned by the COVID-19 pandemic. As we determine how to safely return to work, larger questions have arisen for decision-makers. How do we want our workplaces to look? What do our employees need to be productive and engaged?

A study conducted in 2018 by FTI Consulting and Mine The Gap found that both women and men prioritize work-life balance over financial compensation when considering what matters most in their jobs. COVID-19’s impact has accelerated conversations around flexibility in our work schedules and the ability to balance work and family. Specifically for women, COVID-19 has severely damaged the retention of women in the workplace. Roughly 2.5 million American women have left their jobs since the pandemic started, leading to women’s lowest labor force participation rate since 1988. Yet, as of 2019, women are the majority of the college-educated workforce, and earn about 57 percent of bachelor’s degrees. Even before the pandemic, many women were leaving their posts because of the inflexibility of the traditional workplace.

One of the primary drivers behind women’s exodus has been the demands from home. Women continue to provide the majority of child and elder care in our country and research this year shows that one-third of working women are out of work because of child-care demands.

Considering what creates a supportive and effective work environment, it’s time for all San Diego companies to acknowledge this caregiving crisis, with new policies that better support their workers.

A September study by CNBC and Catalyst found that senior-level women in companies are significantly more concerned about juggling work and family responsibilities. They fear this continued struggle will reduce their hours and ability to work, and might force them to quit.

These are the exact women who are on track to be our business leaders at the highest levels — board-ready women qualified and prepared to lead in the boardroom and c-suite (as chief executive officers, chief financial officers, chief technology officers, etc.).

This summer we participated in a statewide symposium led by the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s “All Our Talent: Women on Boards and Commissions” initiative. Business and government leaders discussed strategies to elevate women, particularly women of color, into board director positions for companies and nonprofits and in government commission roles. A key practice that came out of this discussion was the need for businesses to support child and elder care.

One local example is Bank of America, which is nationally recognized for its innovative workplace benefits and resources supporting employees and their families. During the pandemic, the bank is helping teammates with children who have been impacted by the health crisis by empowering them to hire a caregiver from their personal network (including friends and family) and be reimbursed up to $100 per day. This is in addition to the ongoing benefits and resources available year-round to help employees secure and manage child and elder care. The offering has resonated tremendously, as 4.5 million days to date of back-up care for children and adults have been used by Bank of America employees.

Last year, the San Diego Regional Chamber released research about how San Diego companies can step into supporting child care. They provide key examples of what to do, including recommendations that have little or no cost to the company. And as Bank of America has shown, innovative policies and flexible, comprehensive benefits are not only popular, they also help attract and retain exceptional and diverse talent by meeting individual and family needs.

To harness the power of our diverse and capable local talent, especially the talented women who are not in leadership, companies should adopt new practices that support workers at work and home. Child and elder care remains a critical issue impacting our local leadership. Let’s lead by example to retain and support all our talent.