UK bosses are still giving female employees a tougher time at work, according to new research released by Crunch Accounting. Top issues for women include receiving less praise, less frequent pay rises, and their boss favouring other colleagues, compared with their male colleagues.
The research also reveals that this situation is detrimentally affecting levels of confidence and career plans in the workplace for many women.
A quarter (25 per cent) of women questioned say that never getting praise from their boss was one of the most frustrating examples of bad management they experienced, compared with 18 per cent of men. A fifth (20 per cent) of women also say their boss favoured other colleagues, in contrast to just 11 per cent of men surveyed.
The research also reveals that a further fifth of female respondents (20 per cent) state their boss never gave them a pay rise, while 14 per cent male respondents had the same complaint. What’s more, 16 per cent also say they had not been protected or sheltered from criticism by their boss, compared with just 9 per cent of males.
The study also shows that these boss-related bugbears are having a telling effect on the career plans and progression potential for many of the women questioned. For a start, more women – almost half (48 per cent) – were thinking of leaving because of their bad bosses, compared with 44 per cent of men. And 40 per cent of women cite poor career progression potential, compared with 32 per cent of men.
Almost a third (30 per cent) of females surveyed consider quitting their jobs many times, in contrast to 22 per cent of men, and 27 per cent of women felt more likely to be held back from leaving by a lack of confidence in their ability to find another job, compared with 21 per cent of men who felt the same way.
Helen Monk, people manager at Crunch, who commissioned the research, says, ‘Although some of these statistics taken individually may only seem to show slight differentials in the experiences of men and women, when looking at the findings of the research overall, you can see clear disparities in how females are treated compared to their male counterparts in UK workplaces.
‘Other research we conducted in the middle of last year found that 41 per cent of British women have experienced patronising behaviour in the workplace. Our research indicates the existence of discrimination in our workplaces that needs to be addressed, and it’s no surprise there’s a growing number of women choosing to start their own businesses due to experiencing difficult situations at work.’
Further reading on women in work
