Girls in Tech Study on Workplaces in the Pandemic: Male Bosses are the Leading Cause of Burnout for Women

SAN FRANCISCO, March 22, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Girls in Tech, a global nonprofit working to erase the gender gap in tech, is publishing results today from its 2021 study "The Tech Workplace for Women in the Pandemic." The study demonstrates the devastating effect of COVID-19 on women in the tech workforce, including the alarmingly high rate of burnout among working women with male bosses. Girls in Tech also announces new signatories to its open letter to tech leaders demanding adherence to the "Half the Board: 50/50 by 2025" pledge that calls upon corporate boardrooms to be composed of at least 50% women by Dec. 31, 2024.

"The results from our study were abundantly clear: women in technology are burned out from COVID and organizations must recognize this is at crisis-level," said Adriana Gascoigne, Founder and CEO, Girls in Tech. "We were particularly stunned to learn the impact a supervisor's gender has on women's burnout rate. For this Women's History Month, we call upon organizations to acknowledge this disparity, dig deeper to better understand the issue, and take real, meaningful action towards positive change."

Key Findings from Girls in Tech's "The Tech Workplace for Women in the Pandemic" Study:
"The Tech Workplace for Women in the Pandemic" asked how Girls in Tech members nationwide are coping during the COVID-19 pandemic. In short, the survey found that male bosses are burning women out at a far greater clip than female bosses. Among the study's top findings was that 63% of respondents with male supervisors reported feeling burned out, as compared to 44% of those with female supervisors. Furthermore, when the top most executive at the company (e.g., CEO) is male, even higher burn out rates were reported: specifically, 85% of those respondents working at organizations where the topmost executive is male report being burned out compared to just 15% when the top executive is female. 

Overall, nearly 76% of respondents reported being burned out since the COVID pandemic hit in March 2020. While burn out rates are extremely high, an overwhelming percent (93%), of full-time employees say they are lucky to have a job.

Below are highlights of the first-ever national Girls in Tech study: 

• Working Moms are Burning Out at Higher Rates: 78% of those who have kids in the house agreed it's difficult to juggle work and home responsibilities; and, the majority, 79%, of those who have children in the household report feeling burned out. 
• Worklife Post-Pandemic: 87% of full-time employees expect the workforce to look very different after the pandemic with more than 82% expecting employers will adjust to meet the different needs of their employees after the pandemic and 88% expecting different benefits from their employers post pandemic.
• Work From Home vs. Work From Office: 76% of full-time employees prefer working from home over working in the office. Many do not anticipate returning to the office in-person once COVID restrictions are lifted.
• Racial Inequality in Tech: Nearly 41% say there is racial inequity at their workplace. 
• Sexual Harassment in Tech: More than one in four women (27%) report being sexually harassed in the workplace.

As part of efforts for Women's History Month, International Women's Day, and Equal Pay Day, Girls in Tech board members penned an open letter to tech leaders demanding that corporate boards be composed of at least 50% women by 2025. Joining Girls in Tech board members Adriana Gascoigne (Chief Executive Officer and Founder), Sandy Carter (Chairman of the Board)*, Jonathan Abrams*, Donna Boyer*, Sastry Durvasula*, Julie Mathis*, Sanjay Mehta*, Raquel Tamez* and Alyson Welch* are new signatories Laura Drabik* (Member of the Board, Girls in Tech),  Sandra Lopez* (named "Top 100 Women in Technology" by Technology Magazine, 2021), and, Brad Chase* (Half the Board Committee, Girls in Tech and Chase Global Media Group).

To read the open letter to tech leaders and make the Half the Board pledge to help end systemic gender discrimination in tech boardrooms, visit www.HalftheBoard.com. 

Follow Half the Board on Twitter (@HalfTheBoard) and LinkedIn.

*Individuals have signed the "Half the Board" pledge in a personal capacity and their participation does not necessarily reflect the views or participation of the organizations for which they work.

Survey Methodology
Survey results are based on 552 interviews completed online between September 15, 2020 and October 22, 2020 with members of Girls in Tech. Girls in Tech distributed email invitations to complete the survey to a sample list of 40,000  individuals in the Girls in Tech database. Cypress Research and Martin Research Consulting developed research methods, designed the survey questionnaire, managed survey implementation, and analyzed results. Because this is a census survey distributed to all members of the Girls in Tech sample list, no margin of error due to random sampling is calculated.

About Cypress Research
Using high-level analytics, Cypress focuses on optimizing the performance of products and services in the market. Cypress identifies optimal design features, pricing approaches and strategy using a wide variety of data tools. 

About Martin Research Consulting
Over 20 years of experience in consumer insights and market research. Excel in developing both primary and secondary research strategies that result in actionable insights. Highly skilled in survey questionnaire design and online survey methodologies. Possess extensive qualitative research and focus group moderation experience. 

About Girls in Tech
Girls in Tech is a global non-profit that works to erase the gender gap in tech. Today, every industry is a tech industry, with a need for people of all skills and backgrounds. We offer education and experiences to help people discover their unique superpower and hone it. We aim to see every person accepted, confident, and valued in tech—just as they are. 

The Girls in Tech board of directors is chaired by Sandy Carter, VP, AWS WWPS Partners and Programs, and composed of Jonathan Abrams, Co-founder and General Partner of 8-Bit Capital; Donna Boyer, SVP Product at Teladoc Health; Janice Bryant Howroyd, ActOne Founder & CEO; Candi Castleberry Singleton, Twitter Vice President of Diversity Partnership Strategy & Engagement; Kim DeCarlis, CMO of PerimeterX; Laura Drabik, Guidewire Software Chief Evangelist; Sastry Durvasula, Global Chief Technology and Digital Officer, McKinsey & Company; Adriana Gascoigne, Founder and CEO, Girls in Tech; Mayumi Hiramatsu, VP at Amazon Web Services; Sanjay Mehta, Chief Cloud Officer, Tackle.io; Julie Mathis, Communications Lead, Girls in Tech; Darrell Mockus, CTO of The Myers-Briggs Company's Innovation Labs; Stephen Snyder, CFO at Addepar; Raquel Tamez, CEO of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers; Susie Wee, CTO at Cisco's DevNet; and Alyson Welch, VP of Sales at Twilio.

For more information, visit www.GirlsInTech.org or follow on Instagram and LinkedIn.

Media Contacts:
Julie Mathis
[email protected]

Brad Chase
[email protected]

SOURCE Girls in Tech

Related Links

www.girlsintech.org