Post-COVID, companies need to prioritize retaining and promoting women leaders

The pandemic has set back efforts to increase gender equality and women’s progression in the workplace. Taking meaningful action to prioritize work/life balance and increasing efforts to remove unconscious biases around women’s leadership will help companies get back on track, says Sara Gay, Head of Group Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Unicredit.

The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed tens of millions of women out of the workforce and impacted their career ambitions and leadership progression. This is not only damaging for gender equality in the workplace, but can negatively impact the performance of companies.

Almost 60% of women working in hybrid models (arrangements that include any combination of remote and in-office work) report they have already felt excluded, according to Deloitte Global’s Women@Work 2022 report. The research showed that the pandemic was having a detrimental impact on women’s lives and careers, in particular their work/life balance and…