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超过一半的女性表示,职位越高越感到孤独

超过一半的女性表示,职位越高越感到孤独

L'OREAL THOMPSON PAYTON 2023-04-17
三分之二的女性高管表示,工作加上家庭重担让她们感到精疲力竭、压力过大、不堪重负。

一项新研究揭示了女性在职场面临的挑战。图片来源:盖蒂图片社

人们常说,身居高位是孤独的,现在有新的研究证明了这一点。最近一项针对美国600多名男性和女性的调查发现,53%的女性在职场中感到孤独,而且职位越高,情况越严重。

这项由TheLi.st、Berlin Cameron & Benenson Group于2023年2月进行的研究证实了职场女性长期以来都熟知的情况:要想出人头地并非易事,而且一旦身居高位,要完成工作,也并非轻而易举的事。

TheLi.st的首席执行官安•肖基特(Ann Shoket)说:“这项研究指出了女性面临的职场危机、心理健康危机和渠道危机。”TheLi.st是一个由在媒体、科技和创业领域具有高影响力的女性组成的私人社区。“我们进行这项研究不是为了指出职场女性有多孤独,而是为了指出孤独对她们生活和事业的影响。并不是说很多职场女性感到孤独,而是她们因工作而感到孤独。”

接受调查的近30%的女性高管表示,她们觉得好像找不到可以和她们讨论工作的人,而缺乏支持正在造成负面影响。三分之二的女性高管表示,工作加上家庭重担让她们感到精疲力竭、压力过大、不堪重负。人们只需看看近期广受关注的担任领导职务的女性的辞职,如新西兰前总理杰辛达·阿德恩(Jacinda Ardern)和油管(YouTube)首席执行官苏珊·沃西基(Susan Wojcicki),就会发现如今的趋势。

总部位于芝加哥的高管再就业公司Challenger, Gray & Christmas最近的一项研究发现,在2023年2月,有167人从首席执行官职位上卸任,比2022年2月离职的高管人数增加了11%。对于女性来说,她们离职的原因各不相同。麦肯锡公司(McKinsey & Company)和Lean In的一份报告显示,女性离开领导岗位是因为她们可能比男性遭遇更大的逆风;她们劳累过度,却得不到认可;以及她们渴望拥有更灵活、更多样化的职场文化。

肖基特说:“我们认为孤独和成功是密切相关的,即孤狼型领导者独自承担所有决策带来的后果。这不利于女性取得成功。女性觉得自己在工作中被忽视、得不到支持,无法做真实的自己。”

谈到孤独,真正利害攸关的是什么?

除了对工作的影响外,孤独还与许多身心健康问题有关,包括患抑郁症、焦虑症、心血管疾病、睡眠障碍和痴呆症等的风险更高。事实上,美国国家老龄化研究所的一项研究发现,长期孤独和每天吸15支烟的危害一样大。

孤独如此普遍,以至于去年秋天在耶鲁大学的一次演讲中,美国卫生部长维韦克·H·默西(Vivek H. Murthy)说:“孤独是普遍的,也带来严重后果,这也是我提出警告的原因之一,这是一大公共卫生问题。”

为了应对压力,在TheLi.st的研究中,近92%报告孤独的女性高管表示她们转向了消极的应对行为,如酗酒、吸毒、过度锻炼和过度消费。

孤独也造成了女性领导者的渠道问题

在TheLi.st的研究中,研究人员发现,近60%的女性表示,她们的孤独感会随着职位晋升而增加,近53%的女性因为个人生活受到负面影响而拒绝了工作机会或晋升机会,辞职或不再工作。

“有一代女性,她们看到了前辈的情况,不得不做出牺牲,不得不把工作和生活分开,她们会说,‘不,谢谢。我选择退出。’”肖基特说。

职业女性数字平台Watch Her Work的首席执行官兼创始人丹尼斯·汉密尔顿(Denise Hamilton)不建议女性完全退出领导岗位,而是鼓励年轻员工重新想象他们眼中的成功是什么样子的。

汉密尔顿说:“人们不再像过去那样渴望担任领导角色,尤其是在封城期间人们的价值观发生了重大改变。我们经历了‘大辞职’,但我称之为‘大谈判’,因为一切都摆在桌面上。一切都要进行重新定位和重新建构。”

要做到这一点,汉密尔顿建议考虑需要做什么才能取得成功,以及特定的职位或公司如何帮助实现这些目标。

她问道:“我们如何在这些环境中明确表达我们想要什么,而不是只是离开谈判桌?成为重塑现代劳动力的一部分真的很重要。”

对有色人种女性来说,孤独感甚至更严重

高管不仅孤独,而且其岗位多元化程度也较低。Lean In的报告发现,高管中只有四分之一是女性,二十分之一是有色人种女性。与此同时,TheLi.st研究发现,黑人女性和有色人种女性的孤独感尤其严重,缺乏尊重加剧了她们的孤独感。只有五分之一的有色人种女性非常认同她们在工作中受到尊重,而白人女性的这一比例为超过三分之一。

按需治疗服务公司The Difference的创始人、治疗师比衣•亚瑟(Bea Arthur)表示:“女性争得工作权利只有一两代人的时间,更不用说她们进入高管层的时间了。我可以告诉你,从我自己作为一名企业家以及与高绩效人士共事的经验来看,如果你看到一名女性或有色人种人士担任高管,你就知道他们经历了艰难困苦才取得成功并坚持下来。”

即使你自己当老板,这也不一定更容易,亚瑟可以证明这一点。她回忆说,早在2015年,她是创业加速器公司Y Combinator的第一位也是唯一一位黑人女性,也是八位女性创始人之一。正如执行制片人珊达·莱姆斯(Shonda Rhimes)曾经描述的那样,亚瑟经常带着“第一位、唯一和不同的”标签,她依靠教练帮她应对这种复杂情况。

她说:“我的教练提醒我,尊重来自拉丁语respicere,意思是‘回顾,或关注’。这就是问题所在。不管我做了多少事,他们永远不会认为我有价值。‘不被看见’那部分......这就是孤独感——感觉孤独,感觉无人支持。这正是人们所说的,作为一个棕色皮肤的人,你事倍才能功半。”

如何克服职场的孤独感

除了接受教练指导外,亚瑟还非常依赖联合办公空间和社区团体,比如TheLi.st,来帮助减少孤独感。

亚瑟说:“人们可以在联合办公空间里编程、进行内容运营和举办活动,作为一个运作良好的联合办公空间的一员,我可以见到来这里做演讲的创始人,认识其他企业家,这改变了游戏规则。虽然居家办公有很大的灵活性,但偶尔和其他人在一起工作也大有裨益。”

汉密尔顿建议支配好时间,主动联系朋友和职业网络联系人,安排共进午餐或喝咖啡,无论是面对面的还是线上的。毕竟,友谊已被证明可以改善我们的身心健康。但归根结底,还是要靠公司和政策为女性提供更好的工作条件,尤其是那些在领导岗位上代表人数不足的女性。

汉密尔顿说:“我们给女性提供的所有关于如何更好地平衡工作和生活的指导,都必须取消。这是一个系统性的社会问题。我的建议是,善待自己,并了解你面前的挑战。你得到晋升并不只是因为你工作努力。你得到提升,是因为有权放大你的付出的领导认为你工作努力。”(财富中文网)

译者:中慧言-王芳

人们常说,身居高位是孤独的,现在有新的研究证明了这一点。最近一项针对美国600多名男性和女性的调查发现,53%的女性在职场中感到孤独,而且职位越高,情况越严重。

这项由TheLi.st、Berlin Cameron & Benenson Group于2023年2月进行的研究证实了职场女性长期以来都熟知的情况:要想出人头地并非易事,而且一旦身居高位,要完成工作,也并非轻而易举的事。

TheLi.st的首席执行官安•肖基特(Ann Shoket)说:“这项研究指出了女性面临的职场危机、心理健康危机和渠道危机。”TheLi.st是一个由在媒体、科技和创业领域具有高影响力的女性组成的私人社区。“我们进行这项研究不是为了指出职场女性有多孤独,而是为了指出孤独对她们生活和事业的影响。并不是说很多职场女性感到孤独,而是她们因工作而感到孤独。”

接受调查的近30%的女性高管表示,她们觉得好像找不到可以和她们讨论工作的人,而缺乏支持正在造成负面影响。三分之二的女性高管表示,工作加上家庭重担让她们感到精疲力竭、压力过大、不堪重负。人们只需看看近期广受关注的担任领导职务的女性的辞职,如新西兰前总理杰辛达·阿德恩(Jacinda Ardern)和油管(YouTube)首席执行官苏珊·沃西基(Susan Wojcicki),就会发现如今的趋势。

总部位于芝加哥的高管再就业公司Challenger, Gray & Christmas最近的一项研究发现,在2023年2月,有167人从首席执行官职位上卸任,比2022年2月离职的高管人数增加了11%。对于女性来说,她们离职的原因各不相同。麦肯锡公司(McKinsey & Company)和Lean In的一份报告显示,女性离开领导岗位是因为她们可能比男性遭遇更大的逆风;她们劳累过度,却得不到认可;以及她们渴望拥有更灵活、更多样化的职场文化。

肖基特说:“我们认为孤独和成功是密切相关的,即孤狼型领导者独自承担所有决策带来的后果。这不利于女性取得成功。女性觉得自己在工作中被忽视、得不到支持,无法做真实的自己。”

谈到孤独,真正利害攸关的是什么?

除了对工作的影响外,孤独还与许多身心健康问题有关,包括患抑郁症、焦虑症、心血管疾病、睡眠障碍和痴呆症等的风险更高。事实上,美国国家老龄化研究所的一项研究发现,长期孤独和每天吸15支烟的危害一样大。

孤独如此普遍,以至于去年秋天在耶鲁大学的一次演讲中,美国卫生部长维韦克·H·默西(Vivek H. Murthy)说:“孤独是普遍的,也带来严重后果,这也是我提出警告的原因之一,这是一大公共卫生问题。”

为了应对压力,在TheLi.st的研究中,近92%报告孤独的女性高管表示她们转向了消极的应对行为,如酗酒、吸毒、过度锻炼和过度消费。

孤独也造成了女性领导者的渠道问题

在TheLi.st的研究中,研究人员发现,近60%的女性表示,她们的孤独感会随着职位晋升而增加,近53%的女性因为个人生活受到负面影响而拒绝了工作机会或晋升机会,辞职或不再工作。

“有一代女性,她们看到了前辈的情况,不得不做出牺牲,不得不把工作和生活分开,她们会说,‘不,谢谢。我选择退出。’”肖基特说。

职业女性数字平台Watch Her Work的首席执行官兼创始人丹尼斯·汉密尔顿(Denise Hamilton)不建议女性完全退出领导岗位,而是鼓励年轻员工重新想象他们眼中的成功是什么样子的。

汉密尔顿说:“人们不再像过去那样渴望担任领导角色,尤其是在封城期间人们的价值观发生了重大改变。我们经历了‘大辞职’,但我称之为‘大谈判’,因为一切都摆在桌面上。一切都要进行重新定位和重新建构。”

要做到这一点,汉密尔顿建议考虑需要做什么才能取得成功,以及特定的职位或公司如何帮助实现这些目标。

她问道:“我们如何在这些环境中明确表达我们想要什么,而不是只是离开谈判桌?成为重塑现代劳动力的一部分真的很重要。”

对有色人种女性来说,孤独感甚至更严重

高管不仅孤独,而且其岗位多元化程度也较低。Lean In的报告发现,高管中只有四分之一是女性,二十分之一是有色人种女性。与此同时,TheLi.st研究发现,黑人女性和有色人种女性的孤独感尤其严重,缺乏尊重加剧了她们的孤独感。只有五分之一的有色人种女性非常认同她们在工作中受到尊重,而白人女性的这一比例为超过三分之一。

按需治疗服务公司The Difference的创始人、治疗师比衣•亚瑟(Bea Arthur)表示:“女性争得工作权利只有一两代人的时间,更不用说她们进入高管层的时间了。我可以告诉你,从我自己作为一名企业家以及与高绩效人士共事的经验来看,如果你看到一名女性或有色人种人士担任高管,你就知道他们经历了艰难困苦才取得成功并坚持下来。”

即使你自己当老板,这也不一定更容易,亚瑟可以证明这一点。她回忆说,早在2015年,她是创业加速器公司Y Combinator的第一位也是唯一一位黑人女性,也是八位女性创始人之一。正如执行制片人珊达·莱姆斯(Shonda Rhimes)曾经描述的那样,亚瑟经常带着“第一位、唯一和不同的”标签,她依靠教练帮她应对这种复杂情况。

她说:“我的教练提醒我,尊重来自拉丁语respicere,意思是‘回顾,或关注’。这就是问题所在。不管我做了多少事,他们永远不会认为我有价值。‘不被看见’那部分......这就是孤独感——感觉孤独,感觉无人支持。这正是人们所说的,作为一个棕色皮肤的人,你事倍才能功半。”

如何克服职场的孤独感

除了接受教练指导外,亚瑟还非常依赖联合办公空间和社区团体,比如TheLi.st,来帮助减少孤独感。

亚瑟说:“人们可以在联合办公空间里编程、进行内容运营和举办活动,作为一个运作良好的联合办公空间的一员,我可以见到来这里做演讲的创始人,认识其他企业家,这改变了游戏规则。虽然居家办公有很大的灵活性,但偶尔和其他人在一起工作也大有裨益。”

汉密尔顿建议支配好时间,主动联系朋友和职业网络联系人,安排共进午餐或喝咖啡,无论是面对面的还是线上的。毕竟,友谊已被证明可以改善我们的身心健康。但归根结底,还是要靠公司和政策为女性提供更好的工作条件,尤其是那些在领导岗位上代表人数不足的女性。

汉密尔顿说:“我们给女性提供的所有关于如何更好地平衡工作和生活的指导,都必须取消。这是一个系统性的社会问题。我的建议是,善待自己,并了解你面前的挑战。你得到晋升并不只是因为你工作努力。你得到提升,是因为有权放大你的付出的领导认为你工作努力。”(财富中文网)

译者:中慧言-王芳

It’s often been said that it’s lonely at the top and now there’s new research to prove it. A recent survey of more than 600 men and women across the U.S. found that 53% of women in the workplace experience loneliness—and it only gets worse the higher they climb the corporate ladder.

The study, which was conducted in February 2023 by TheLi.st, Berlin Cameron & Benenson Group, confirms what women in the workplace have long known—getting ahead is no easy feat and it’s not exactly a walk in the park once you get there.

“This research points to a workplace crisis, a mental health crisis and a pipeline crisis for women,” says Ann Shoket, CEO of TheLi.st, a private community of high-impact women in media, technology and entrepreneurship. “We did this research not to point out how lonely it is, but to point out the impact of that loneliness on their lives and their careers. It’s not that so many women are feeling lonely at their job, but they feel lonely because of their job.”

Almost 30% of senior-level women in the survey said they feel as if they don’t have anyone to talk to about work and that lack of support is taking a toll. Two-thirds of senior-level women say that work, combined with responsibilities at home, have left them feeling burned out, stressed and overwhelmed. One needs to look no further than the recent resignations of high-profile women in leadership positions, such as Jacinda Ardern, the former prime minister of New Zealand and YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, to see a trend.

A recent study by Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a Chicago-based executive outplacement firm, found that 167 people stepped down from CEO roles in February 2023, an 11% increase over the number of leaders who left in February 2022. For women, the reasons are varied, according to a report from McKinsey & Company and Lean In that saw women leaving leadership positions because they are likely to experience stronger headwinds than men; they’re overworked and underrecognized; and they desire a more flexible and diverse workplace culture.

“We think that loneliness and success go hand in hand—the idea of the lone wolf leader bearing all of the weight of the decisions on their own,” says Shoket. “And that is not conducive to success for women. Women feel unseen, unsupported and like they can’t be their authentic selves at work.”

What’s really at stake when it comes to loneliness

Beyond implications at work, loneliness is also linked to a number of physical and mental health issues, including higher risks of depression, anxiety, cardiovascular disease, trouble sleeping and dementia among others. In fact, a study from the National Institute on Aging found that prolonged isolation is the same as smoking 15 cigarettes per day.

The loneliness epidemic is so prevalent that at a lecture at Yale last fall, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy said, “It is both common and consequential, and that is one of the reasons why I wanted to raise the alarm that this is a public health issue.”

To help cope with the stress, nearly 92% of the senior-level women who reported being lonely in TheLi.st study said they turned to a negative coping behavior, such as alcohol, drugs, overexercising and overspending.

Loneliness is contributing to a pipeline problem for women leaders

In TheLi.st’s study, researchers found that nearly 60% of women say their feelings of loneliness or isolation have increased as their careers progressed and nearly 53% of women have declined a job, a promotion, quit or stopped working altogether because of the negative impact on their personal life.

“There’s a generation of women who are looking up the ladder at the women ahead of them and seeing what they’ve had to sacrifice, seeing how they’ve had to compartmentalize and they’re like, ‘no, thank you. I’m opting out of that,’” says Shoket.

Instead of opting out of leadership positions altogether, Denise Hamilton, CEO and founder of Watch Her Work, a digital platform for professional women, is encouraging a younger workforce to reimagine what success could look like on their terms.

“People aren’t aspiring to leadership roles the same way they used to, especially after a kind of value correction that happened during lockdown,” says Hamilton. “We had this Great Resignation, but I call it the Great Negotiation because literally everything is on the table. It’s all up for a repositioning and restructuring.”

To do that, Hamilton recommends taking into consideration what you need to succeed, and how a particular role or company may be able to support those goals.

“How are we articulating what we want in these environments instead of just stepping away from the table?” she asks. “It’s really important to be a part of the reimagining of the modern workforce.”

Loneliness is even worse for women of color

Not only is it lonely at the top, but it’s less diverse, too. The Lean In report found that only one in four people in the C-suite is a woman and only one in 20 is a woman of color. Meanwhile, TheLi.st study saw that feeling of loneliness is especially exacerbated for Black women and women of color, whose isolation is compounded by a lack of respect. Only one in five women of color strongly agree that they feel respected at work, compared to over a third of white women.

“We’re still only about one to two generations in where women have been allowed to work, let alone where they’re getting to the C-suite,” says Bea Arthur, therapist and founder of The Difference, an on-demand therapy service. “I can tell you from my own experience as an entrepreneur and working with high performers in general that if you see a woman or a person of color at the top, you know they’ve been through some shit to get there and to stay there.”

And it’s not necessarily any easier even when you’re your own boss, as Arthur can attest, recalling a time when she was the first and only Black woman and one of eight female founders at Y Combinator, a startup accelerator company, back in 2015. To help navigate her experience of often being the “first, only and different” as showrunner Shonda Rhimes once described it, Arthur leaned on the help of a coach.

“My coach reminded me that respect comes from the Latin word respicere, which means to ‘look back at, or regard,’” she says. “And that’s the thing. It doesn’t matter how much I’ve done, they’ll never see me as valuable. The “not being seen” piece…that’s what loneliness is—feeling alone, feeling unsupported. It’s exactly what they say, being a brown person you have to work twice as hard to get half as far.”

How to combat loneliness in the workplace

In addition to coaching, Arthur has relied heavily on coworking spaces and community groups, such as TheLi.st, to help feel less alone.

“Being a member of a good coworking space that does programming, content and events where I could see other founders come and speak and meet other entrepreneurs has been such a game changer,” says Arthur. “Working from home has great flexibility, but every now and then it helps to be around other people.”

Hamilton suggests budgeting time and proactively reaching out to your friends and professional network to schedule lunch dates and coffee dates, whether they’re in-person or virtual. After all, friendships have been proven to improve our physical and mental health. But at the end of the day, it’s on companies and policies to provide better working conditions for women, especially those who are underrepresented in leadership positions.

“All the coaching we give women about how they can have better work-life balance, we have to cut that out. This is a systemic societal problem,” says Hamilton. “My advice is to be gentle with yourself and understand the challenge that’s in front of you. You don’t get the promotion because you work hard. You get the promotion, because somebody above you, who has the authority to amplify you, thinks you work hard.”

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