Research published by Gallup Dec. 4 offers sobering insights for employers aiming to improve women's well-being.
The study, conducted from February 2023 to October 2024 among some 82,000 employed U.S. adults, revealed that 51% of working women in the U.S. reported feeling stressed "a lot of the day yesterday," compared to 39% of men.
Moreover, 42% of working women said their job had a "somewhat" or "extremely" negative impact on their mental health in the past six months, compared with 37% of men.
Researchers noted potential consequences of poor well-being for women, such as lower engagement, higher burnout and increased participation in job-seeking activity.
For example, Gallup found that women who reported feeling stressed "a lot of the day yesterday" were 46% more likely to be actively looking for new job opportunities.
And women who reported addressing personal or family responsibilities while at work, addressing job-related responsibilities outside of their regular working hours, and thinking about work during their personal time daily to several times a day were 81% more likely to feel burned out.
"Women make up nearly half the U.S. workforce and more than half of the college-educated labor force," researchers wrote. "To attract, recruit and retain top talent, organizations must find ways to support women, including working mothers, in balancing the competing demands of work and life."
In 2024, hospital and health system executives shared insights with Becker's on their approaches to — and challenges with — using paid time off. View a sampling of these interviews here.