The Price of a Non-Linear Career
For those contemplating a little time off, perhaps to care for a newborn or toddler, an elderly parent or even to take a sabbatical between jobs, may to well to consider the findings of Sylvia Ann Hewlett, President of the Center for Work-Life Policy and one of the authors of a recent study about the effects of leaving the workforce and then attempting to re-enter it.
With less than two years out of the workplace and Dr. Hewlett found earnings take a 15% hit. Stay out three to four years, get into the swing of volunteering and feeling you are doing good work and expect to see your financial penalties zoom up to as much as 40% of previous earnings. And that’s not counting opportunity costs of missed promotions or what Dr. Hewlett calls stretch assignments.
If you’re female and think this can’t happen to you, think again. Her data shows that fully two-thirds of women have non-linear career paths. Many of the paths were designed by the women themselves because until recently, corporations were letting women quit rather than making accommodations to a career that doesn’t go in a lock step.
Now that’s changing. Dr. Hewlett reeled off several initiatives from Cisco, Ernest and Young and others that pay more than lip service to modified work arrangements. Still, in many other companies the going is uphill.
There is good news when corporations are left out of the picture and employees rely on their own initiative. According to Dr. Hewlett when Lehman Brothers collapsed the women themselves came together, some 600, to network with one another and provide support, encouragement and job leads. That’s an upside to the financial meltdown. “Ten years ago you wouldn’t have seen that cooperation at that level,” she said.
Women who make it back into the workplace after children, face prospects of facing a second off ramp if elder care responsibilities fall to them.
It’s probably not a coincidence that there is still a high rate of childlessness among female executives. Turns out you can have it all if you are willing to see your earnings tank, or rely for a time on a spouse, which may turn out to be a bad bet in this uncertain economy.
Tags: career choice, female executives, time off
