Cutting attrition among women

Faced with a severe talent crunch, American companies are seriously coming up with attractive plans to minimize attrition among women employees. Johnson & Johnson's Crossing the Finish Line and Intel’s Technical Leadership Pipelines Program for Women provide critical career development opportunities just before the break point. Cisco’s Executive Talent Insertion Program is designed to bring in a significant number of new women as senior-level lateral hires.

A new research identifies a fight-or-flight moment (ages 35–40) when female attrition spikes dramatically. Around 35-40, women across science, engineering and technology experience a perfect storm. Career problems escalate and family pressures deepen at the same time. The losses are massive – fully 52% of women fall away. This is hugely painful, both for women who abandon hard-won credentials and for employers struggling with worsening labor shortages.

A new study—which Sylvia Ann Hewlett co-authored—published in the Harvard Business Review titled “The Athena Factor: Reversing the Brain Drain in Science, Engineering, and Technology”) demonstrates that over 40% of highly qualified scientists, engineers and technologists on the lower rungs of corporate career ladders are now female. In pharmaceuticals, high tech, petro-chemicals, and aerospace, young women are making impressive strides – and garnering rave performance reviews.

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