Women executives who leave the corporate world when they hit a glass ceiling, want to raise a family fulltime or decide to focus on other interests, encounter frustrating roadblocks in their attempts to re-enter the workforce, according to new Wharton research.
To overcome the obstacles, women should confront the difficulties they face and prepare for their return to the labor force the moment they leave, says Monica McGrath, adjunct professor of management at Wharton, executive coach and co-author of the study entitled, "Back in the Game. Returning to Business after a Hiatus: Experiences and Recommendations for Women, Employers, and Universities." "I was seeing many women who, when they reached 50 and their kids were heading off to college, said, 'Now let me get back to work,' and they couldn't," says McGrath. "These are talented professional women. Why was it so impossible?"
The study found that while 36% of the women who left their jobs said they were conflicted about their decision, 70% remained positive overall about the decision. When they were asked to describe their hunt for a job after deciding to return to work, 50% said they were frustrated and 18% said the experience was depressing. The women were "angry about having to justify the time they took off and start over as if they had never gotten an MBA," says McGrath, who is also the former director of leadership development for the Wharton MBA program.
McGrath conducted the research with two Wharton alumnae, Marla Driscoll, a former partner at Accenture, who has been an independent consultant for two years, and Mary Gross, head of learning and development with Merrill Lynch Investment Managers. The Wharton Center for Leadership and Change Management and the Forté Foundation, a non-profit organization that develops women business leaders, supported the study.
In late 2004 and early 2005, the researchers surveyed 130 executives who had stepped out of the workforce for at least two years and had already returned, or were trying to do so.
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