Working moms are more burned out than ever. How can companies help?

Designing the workplaces parents deserve ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ 

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Treat your mother right In the news • Making it work at home. Chores, childcare, and long hours on the job: working parents have more than ever to juggle. And alongside paid work, working moms often carry a heavier burden when it comes to managing household duties and juggling family schedules at home. How can that change? Several new apps can help with delegating tasks, but the key to a more equitable household is better communication between partners. Having regular check-ins can make it easier to ask for help and get on the same page about expectations. [WSJ] • Burning out. More than two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, moms are still fried. A recent survey of more than 17,000 mothers found that 58% of working moms have considered quitting their jobs because of the stress of finding childcare, while 48% say they’re unhappy with the lack of flexibility and paid time off from their employers. Retaining moms in the workforce can come only with systemic change, says one senior leader at an early-childhood not for profit: “Policy makers need to put in place policies that help babies and families.” [Fortune] “We have to stop trying to fix the woman and instead fix the structure. If we don’t fix the structure—through paid leave, affordable childcare, flexibility—we’re never going to get to equality.” On McKinsey.com • How moms show up. Women can’t participate in the workforce in a full, healthy way without affordable childcare, says Reshma Saujani, founder of Girls Who Code. Many families pay more for childcare than they pay for their mortgages, she adds. A lack of childcare unevenly affects how women and men engage in the workplace. According to a survey of more than 1,000 working parents in the US, 57% of women with kids under the age of five feel that they’re being held back professionally because of childcare duties. Only 38% of men feel the same. • The ‘motherhood penalty.’ The pay gap isn’t actually about gender; it’s a motherhood penalty, says Saujani. Since most women don’t have paid leave, they take time away from paid work to have kids and often never recover from the loss of income. In a McKinsey Future of America podcast interview, Saujani suggests how the private sector can help families secure childcare and create policies to shift the gender imbalance of work at home. That, in turn, can help companies retain more working parents, who are often midtenure employees in key roles. — Edited by Christine Y. Chen    Sustain working moms Was this forwarded to you? Sign up here. Or send us feedback — we’d love to hear from you. Follow our thinking This email contains information about McKinsey’s research, insights, services, or events. By opening our emails or clicking on links, you agree to our use of cookies and web tracking technology. For more information on how we use and protect your information, please review our privacy policy. You received this email because you subscribed to the On Point newsletter. Manage subscriptions | Unsubscribe Copyright © 2022 | McKinsey & Company, 3 World Trade Center, 175 Greenwich Street, New York, NY 10007