Medical insurance is the No. 1 priority for more than 68% of women in the tech industry over holidays, payrises and pension plansA new workplace report from Indeed.com found that over 68 per cent of women with tech jobs want healthcare benefits more than they want time off, bonuses, regular raises and retirement planning.
The job search site conducted a study of 1,000 women in the US tech industry, a field that has struggled with diversity and inclusion issues, which found that only 76% of women in tech receive health insurance through their employers. What’s more, just 32.5% report their companies offer parental leave, and of that number, 69% say their companies provide paid leave, 14% work for companies that don’t, and 17% of women don’t know whether their leave is paid or not.
However, not everyone feels comfortable using it with a huge 83 per cent of those surveyed saying they felt some level of pressure to return to work during their maternity leave. Thirty-eight percent said they were scared of losing credibility or value at the company; an alarming 34% said the pressure was coming directly from colleagues or managers to return to work; and 32% fear they’ll lose their jobs.
Paid parental leave for new parents is a hot topic which many leading tech companies are starting to address. In 2015, Facebook announced it would offer four months of paid parental leave to every full-time employee of the company. Other tech firms like Netflix, Amazon, Microsoft and Adobe have also made improvements to their leave policies in recent years.
Aside from health care, the study also broke down other priorities for women in tech. More than half (52%) of women chose holidays; 46% of respondents want bonuses and regular raises; 37% selected regular time off; and just 26% cited retirement planning. These priorities changed slightly when the results were broken down by generation. For example, vacation time was most significant to Baby Boomers and Gen X’ers, with more than 55%.
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