A recent study conducted by LinkedIn revealed that women tend to change jobs more frequently than their male peers. (Photo : www.hongkongfp.com)
A report by social media website LinkedIn found that women tend to shift jobs more frequently than their male peers, adding that women stay on a job for an average of 28 months, while the average time for men is 33 months.
The report said that the difference or gap could be a result of more family, childbearing and workplace promotion difficulties that women face more than men.
In the article published by womenofchina.cn, it said that the LinkedIn report was aimed at promoting gender balance in different industries, especially in IT, consumer products manufacturing, finance and banking and services industries, by comparing women's career development with men's based on human resources data, and evaluated women's advantages and challenges in the workplace.
The report showed that women, at low and medium level positions, have roughly equal development with men in the four industries, but they encounter more challenges when they are raised to more senior roles.
According to the data, the number of women in senior executive levels dropped significantly. Women only account for about 1 percent of the workforce, especially at decision-making levels, while for men, the rate is 4.5 times that number.
The report also found that after getting into senior executive levels, women have improved development opportunities as time narrows for next promotion.
Based on industry breakdown, the report finds that males hold 80 percent of low and medium positions in major IT companies and the rate goes up as the level progresses.
The report said that female engineers have a hard time looking to have promotion opportunities, taking about 5.5 years, while it takes male engineers on average 2.4 years to become senior executives.
In the consumer goods and luxuries manufacturing industries, about 50 percent of the employees are women and they outperform male peers in the career ladder.
In the financial and banking industry, women with managerial and higher positions are more likely to quit their jobs than their male peers. In the lower career position, women spend the same time as men when being promoted from vice president to top positions.
Women only take up 20 percent of the top positions like executive managers, the lowest in all the four industries, the report showed.
In the services industries such as accounting, consulting, PR and law, women have easier career paths than those in the other three industries. While seeking positions below senior executives, women also enjoy similar waiting time and share of numbers with men.
But despite the gender gaps the women face, LinkedIn statistics showed that women have the potential and advantages to make breakthroughs, with women having 1.5 times more connections than their male counterparts. The average "likes" they garnered for their skills are 1.3 times that of males.
The report further showed that women with complete profiles, especially with confident career photos, are likely to have more followers than males.
In terms of skills in business development, sales, negotiation and human resources, the report showed that women employees earned more recognition than their male peers.
The report was conducted to encourage companies to promote gender diversities by reviewing promotions with gender sensitiveness, to establish women role models, and provide women in different development phases with customized strategies, such as flexible hours and services to balance family and work.
