Reduce Burnout, Increase Productivity: Parlake — Making the Workspace Seamless for Women in LevFin.
The COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on many aspects of life, but perhaps none more so than work-life balance. According to McKinsey’s “Women in the Workplace” (2021) study, 42% of women reported being burned out “often” or “almost always” compared to 32% in the prior year’s study. For men, these numbers were 35% in 2021 and 28% in 2020. As we begin to enter a post-pandemic world these conditions have not improved, 43% of women leaders reported they were burned out in McKinsey’s 2022 “Women in the Workplace” report compared to 31% of men at their level. The report also found that when Managers “help manage workload”, among other key actions, 38% of respondents rarely felt burned out compared to only 19% of those surveyed whose managers did not help manage their workload. Additionally, 75% of those whose managers engaged in workload management said they were unlikely to leave their company in the next year, whereas only 37% answered likewise among those whose Managers did not. In the era of “Quiet Quitting,” it is imperative that employers invest in streamlining processes and technology which promote efficiencies that actually meet their employees’ needs.
Clearly, women have been more adversely impacted by the pandemic than men. Many women fulfill multiple roles in their families, communities, and households in addition to working full-time jobs. With schools and daycares closed due to COVID-19, women have shouldered even more responsibility at home while simultaneously maintaining their careers. Even before the pandemic, the United Nations (UN) has focused on coming up with solutions to the myriad of ongoing issues impeding the equality of women by setting their Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
To address the unique challenges women face, the UN has recommended the implementation of flexible working arrangements. Flexible work policies have proven to be effective in promoting work-life balance, helping to reduce burnout, and increasing job satisfaction.
The UN has Sustainable Development Goals in regard to gender, which includes Gender Equality and Reduced Inequalities. While some might view government and nonprofits as the best vehicle to address these issues, the CEO of one of the world’s largest banks disagrees. In fact, Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan believes that only the private sector is equipped to take on these challenges. In his letter for the bank’s 2021 Annual Report, Moynihan said “Only the private sector has the money, talent, innovation, and long-term thinking needed to deliver the things that society wants: progress on the SDGs”. The UN notes that “up to 30 percent of income inequality is due to inequality within households, including between women and men. Women are also more likely than men to live below 50 percent of the median income”. The UN also noted that “the closure of schools to control COVID-19 transmission has a differential effect on women economically, given their role in providing most of the informal care within families, with consequences that limit their work and economic opportunities. In general, the outbreak experience means that women’s domestic burden becomes exacerbated as well, making their share of household responsibilities even heavier, and for many, while they also work full time.”
“The value of unpaid care work done by women is at least $10 trillion, or 13% of global GDP. Unpaid work contributes to higher overall workloads for women who participate in paid work as well. Data from 65 countries suggest that women spend 45 minutes more on average than men on paid and unpaid work every day, for almost six additional weeks of total work annually and 5.5 extra years over five decades.”
Moynihan also stated: “…Estimates suggest the SDGs will require between $5 trillion to $7 trillion per year of investment capital.” These statistics, combined with the simultaneous labor shortage and economic downturn, means that the success of any business is dependent on employers meeting the needs of their employees and fostering a seamless work environment to prevent burnout. Even companies with mass layoffs are providing employees with a softer landing pad than we have seen in mass layoffs of recessions past. Among the most notable of these is Salesforce, which after laying off 8,000 employees amounting to 10% of its workforce, offered those affected roughly five months of severance pay in addition to healthcare and career resources among other benefits.
For a woman in LevFin, the impact of the pandemic has been particularly burdensome, as most of her work falls into the traditional office-based environment. With dematerialized documents that can easily be lost, especially in the chaos of the family home/work environment, she has had to search for hours for the right information and circle back with the same few people for months to close a trade. Meanwhile, the family dog has a sour stomach and her three-year-old is experimenting with his new art form: “trebuchet spaghetti.”
To navigate the current landscape, she should ensure her employer offers flexible working arrangements that suit her needs, be keenly aware of the resources her workplace provides to help promote work-life balance and overall wellbeing, and must take the necessary steps to protect her mental and physical health to thrive in a career in LevFin.
The good news is that technology can help.
We at Forest Park have been upgrading our front-end tools to deliver a workspace more accessible to all. Parlake takes out the manual inputs of yesteryear and replaces them with automated process for loan teams up against the clock. Our objectives are to speed up the loan settlement process while reducing stress-induced errors and omissions. With Portfolio Manager signing tools, better search and filters, closing notes, and support for even more transaction types, Parlake not only saves time, but also relieves the immense pressure associated with each new trade.
It’s time that employers recognize how technology can reduce the burden of unpaid care work that many women take on. Freeing up time to focus on other tasks is the currency of the day, and the ability to balance multiple unpaid roles such as parenting, household chores and working from home is at a special premium. The ramifications of wasting that currency can be just as stressful to teammates and managers as it is to friends and family. By investing in digitalization, employers can help to create a more seamless work environment that meets the needs of all their employees and helps to reduce burnout in these trying times.
