Remote work, flexibility influence whether women apply for a job more than men
Executive Take
Blanket return-to-office mandates will disproportionately shrink the applicant pool of women, and pairing that with McKinsey's finding that remote women get less sponsorship means employers need flexible policies plus deliberate sponsorship programs, not one or the other.
Executive Summary
A FlexJobs survey of 1,700 U.S. workers found 78% of women (vs. 70% of men) say remote work options influence whether they apply for a job, and 64% of women value flexible schedules vs. 49% of men. Women rank remote work as their top job priority (37%); men rank compensation first (31%). Salary matters similarly to both (66-68%).
Why It Matters
HR leaders setting RTO or hybrid policy should treat this as evidence that rigid in-office rules carry a gendered recruiting and retention cost, not just a general morale one.
Bizquad Perspective
The real risk for employers isn't losing women who want remote work, it's keeping them remote without building sponsorship pipelines, which just trades a recruiting problem for a promotion-gap problem.