Professional women are leaving the traditional workplace in droves to start their own businesses.

And companies will ignore the trend at their peril, says Dr. Susan Hutton, co-author of a national study on the subject.

“The phenomena is here to stay, and Alberta women are leading the trend,” says Hutton, who will deliver the message Thursday at the First Canadian Open Business Forum: Building Corporate Social and Environmental Responsibility.

The non-profit forum and exhibition at the Hyatt Regency is bringing Calgary CEOs, environmental groups, students and energy industry representatives together to discuss corporate social and environmental responsibility.

Chris Wood, Business Edge
Dr. Susan Hutton says management can create workplaces that will retain talented staff.

“Companies on the leading edge know this trend is important,” says Hutton.

“But the majority aren’t going to hear the message. They’ll say: ‘Oh, we’ve got lots of women in middle management, we’re fine.’ ”

But they’re not.

An associate professor in the continuing education faculty at the University of Calgary, Hutton will present some of the findings emerging from a study she conducted with Dr. Tara Fenwick, an associate professor of educational policy studies at the University of Alberta.

She’ll discuss why women are fleeing and how management can create people-friendly organizations to help retain and attract talented staff.

The research focused on 112 women entrepreneurs across Canada who left the corporate world to start their own businesses.

Statistics show that, in 1996, self-employed women made up 15 per cent of the Alberta workforce, almost double the eight per cent recorded in 1986.

Between 1991 and 1996, Canadian women entrepreneurs created 43 per cent of new businesses.

Alberta showed the highest number of women working on their own as a percentage of the total workforce.

“Fifty-two per cent of the population is women,” says Hutton. “If you are a business, wouldn’t you want to know why so much talent is leaving?”

The trend isn’t new, nor is it restricted to women, she says. (However, North American studies show women are leaving at a rate of two to seven times that of men.)

“Why is it important?” asks Hutton. “Because those organizations who want to survive and thrive have to look out there . . . to see what women value.”

The reality is that women who quit their jobs are not sitting at home. They are willing to sacrifice money so they can do a job they want to do, the way they want to do it, says Hutton.

“Women are like the talent of IT. They are developing a portfolio mentality, saying: ‘It’s my talent, my skills, who I am and what I can learn.’

“If you don’t have an organization where people want to come and learn, and can get advanced, then you won’t have these people.”

The multi-year study focused on women who have started and maintained their own business for at least four years. A number of themes have emerged.

The women said their previous jobs lacked flexibility, and the workplace hierarchy was oppressive to the point they felt their voices weren’t being heard.

They described former jobs in such unflattering terms as: “Suffocating,” “Buried alive,” and “Giving my life blood.”

“You’d be surprised how many times the expression ‘Not Fun’ came up,” says Hutton.

She believes that people are looking for jobs that have meaning, that allow them to grow as individuals and to build relationships. Companies, she says, must prove to their staff that they are ethically and morally responsible and contributing to a better world.

“I think this trend is for all people,” adds Hutton. “And I think we’re seeing women leading it.”

Women, because of their socialization, have an advantage. In general terms, their sense of worth and ego isn’t tied up in their job title. They can say “No” to moving up the corporate ladder. Men, socialized to be the breadwinners, can’t always do the same.

Hutton also believes that the masculine, linear thinking, dominant workplace must change, primarily because it makes good businesses sense. She can list dozens of organizations that have become people-friendly workplaces — and shown a strong return on investment.

“People are more productive, absenteeism drops, and retention rates rise,” explains Hutton. “If you spend 90 per cent of your day in a place that’s a match for you, where your talents, strengths and passion are aligned, it’s a powerful thing.”

Hutton also knows she’s pushing a large boulder up a steep hill.

“Companies haven’t felt enough (financial) pain,” she says. “They’re still going to do things the old way.”

But people who study trends believe the old way is wrong, that businesses that don’t change will, over time, crumble.

“People said the sun wouldn’t set on the British Empire, but it did,” says Hutton. “They said the Berlin Wall wouldn’t fall. It did.”

She believes the work world needs to move from its masculine structure to adopt more feminine values, often a tough sell in North America, she says.

Generally, says Hutton, women are more inclusive, more participatory versus directive and more relational versus individualistic. It’s an atmosphere they’re building in their own businesses.

Companies who want to keep these people must do a number of things, she says.

First, and most importantly, organizations must tie the raises or other benefits of top managers to the legitimate promotion of women. Second, they must conduct serious exit interviews.

When women are working in a company with a bad environment they don’t tell the real story until they leave.

“Only then do they tell how it takes double duty extra energy to be a smart, bright, energetic, passionate, determined woman working in one of those environments.”

It is a message, says Hutton, that companies should start hearing.

Web Watch:
www.ualberta.ca/~tfenwick/ext/index.htm
www.workfamily.com