Planning women's wellbeing at the workplace

One of the world's largest studies on women's health, the Gallup-Hologic survey 2021, found that stress, anxiety, worry, sadness and anger among women is at a 10-year high. Even before the pandemic, a Lancet study found that women in India are more prone to anxiety and depressive disorders than men.

These views are corroborated by Manah's own analysis of the Indian workforce, which indicates that women do worse than men on most wellbeing parameters, especially severe stress prevalence, depression risk and anxiety risk.

The pandemic delivered a setback to women's health and wellbeing. As unpaid care work, the bulk of which falls to women, took up more of their time, many women in India dropped out of the workforce. The post-Covid phase popularised remote work in some industries, yet the lack of flexibility is still a concern for many women professionals.

A 2022 LinkedIn survey found that 70% of the working women polled had already quit, or considered quitting their jobs, because they weren't offered the right flexible policies. Asking for more flexibility was also associated with guilt and stigma for a large number of respondents.

• Written for CXOs and CHROs, HR managers and team leaders.
• For organisations focused on mental health and wellbeing at work.