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Women advance to leadership, but men still dominate the corporate ladder: McKinsey

Fewer <keyword id="21932926" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="flexible-work-options" source="keywords">flexible work options</keyword>, <keyword id="19901232" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="work-life-balance" source="keywords">work-life balance</keyword> and <keyword id="20237287" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="family-responsibilities" source="keywords">family responsibilities</keyword> pose substantial challenges for <keyword id="19900675" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="women" source="keywords">women</keyword> trying to re-enter the workforce and are the main reasons for quitting their jobs, according to a report. A survey by <keyword id="20120149" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="naukri-com" source="keywords">Naukri.com</keyword> has revealed that work-life balance poses a significant concern, as 39 % of the women respondents cited it as a key reason for leaving their jobs. "These issues pose substantial challenges for women trying to re-enter the workforce, with 41 % identifying a lack of flexible work options and 35 % highlighting family responsibilities as significant barriers to continuing with their jobs," the report said. The report is based on a survey conducted by online recruitment company Naukri.com among job seekers registered on its platform. The report found that 73% of women interviewed said <keyword id="20028277" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="equal-opportunities" source="keywords">equal opportunities</keyword> exist for both men and women in employment and leadership positions, and 79% of men agreed that both genders get equal chances at workplaces. Despite a majority of respondents viewing that workplaces offer equal opportunities to both genders, the report revealed that 24 % of women felt men have better growth prospects compared to only 8 % of men holding the same view. On the other hand, 13% of men interviewed said women have better opportunities at the workplace, however, only 3% of women shared this opinion. "Our report highlights an encouraging trend towards <keyword id="20250318" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="gender-equality" source="keywords">gender equality</keyword> in the workplace, with 73 % of women recognising that equal opportunities do exist today. "It also reveals lingering challenges in areas of work-life balance and career advancement, underscoring the need for strategic interventions by industry to ensure continued progress," Naukri.com Chief Business Officer Pawan Goyal told PTI. Even the <keyword id="19898698" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="gender-pay-gap" source="keywords">gender pay gap</keyword> remains an area of concern, with 31 % of women perceiving unequal compensation relative to 16 % of men. It also found that 53 % of respondents said that salary compensation is entirely equal for both genders in the same role.

Work-life balance, fewer flexible work options pose challenge for women at job front, says new report

Earlier this month, <keyword id="19904608" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="Amazon" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Amazon" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="Amazon">Amazon</keyword> made headlines for enforcing a strict <keyword id="20408795" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="return-to-office" source="keywords">return to office</keyword> mandate on employees starting next year. Until now, Amazon employees were required to come to office for three days a week but from next year, the employees will have to work from offices for all five days. The move had sparked backlash from various employees who took to social media to express that they work better in a hybrid or remote setup. Now, at a recent event, <keyword id="19974102" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Amazon-Web-Services" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Amazon Web Services" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="Amazon Web Services">Amazon Web Services</keyword> CEO <keyword id="21187658" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Matt-Garman" source="keywords">Matt Garman</keyword> talked about the company's <keyword id="23712741" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="RTO-mandate" source="keywords">RTO mandate</keyword> and said that if it doesn't work for some employees, they can always "find another company." <h2>"Find another company" </h2> Speaking at The Wall Street Journal’s Tech Live event, Garman said that according to him, in-office work plays a critical role in driving innovation and operational efficiency. Citing interactions like impromptu chats in hallways, quick brainstorms on whiteboards, and casual discussions over coffee, he said that in-person collaboration brings advantages that remote settings can’t replicate. However, Garman also acknowledged that the mandate might not sit well with everyone, and that is okay. He said, “If it’s not for you, then that’s okay – you can go and find another company if you want.” This statement, as per a CNBC report, comes amid internal debate, with many employees voicing concerns about losing the flexibility they’ve become accustomed to, which some say enables them to balance their work and personal lives better. The report adds that around 37,000 employees have joined an internal Slack channel that advocates for <keyword id="20665553" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="remote-work" source="keywords">remote work</keyword>. On a related note, Garman had talked about Amazon's new policy over a week back as well. While speaking at an all-hands meeting as per a Reuters report, he had addressed potential concerns from those who might find the mandate challenging. Garman said that while most employees he spoke with supported the change, he recognised it might not suit everyone. "If there are people who just don't work well in that environment and don't want to, that's okay, there are other companies around," he had said and added, "By the way, I don't mean that in a bad way. We want to be in an environment where we're working together." <h2>When Amazon defended its RTO mandate </h2> Garman isn't the only Amazon employee who has advocated <keyword id="20294959" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="work-from-office" source="keywords">work from office</keyword>. A couple of days back, a report in The Information revealed that Beth Galetti, Senior Vice President of People Experience and Tech at Amazon, defended the RTO mandate. Galetti said that younger employees are eager to benefit from in-person mentorship and have been asking to work from office. Speaking at The Information’s Women in Tech, Media, and Finance conference, Galetti explained that many junior staff members expressed a desire for face-to-face interaction with colleagues. She also said that the new policy reflects a return to Amazon’s previous work culture, where there was flexibility for personal matters but office attendance remained the norm.

'Find another company if it doesn’t work for you’: Amazon Web Services CEO on work from office mandate

Two weeks after he and his wife closed on a summer house, Kevin Berman was <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hiring-picks-up-in-fall-low-openings-hurting-job-seekers-2024-9">laid off</a>.That was in September last year. Berman, who's 61, has since applied to more than 650 IT jobs.He has decades of experience in the field. He doesn't think his age has been an issue the handful of times he's landed an interview.But when Berman, who lives outside Detroit, hears nothing after applying to a role he sees as a perfect fit for his experience, he sometimes wonders whether his years are working against him. One role had a unique job title — something Berman had done earlier in his career. He didn't get so much as a screening call."Those were the ones that I'm like, OK, there's something going on," <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinberman/">Berman</a> told Business Insider.Berman is hardly alone in questioning why, with his experience, he <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/job-seeker-applied-more-than-2000-roles-2024-9">didn't get a shot at a job</a>. For those who've been working for a while — and those just starting out — it's not unreasonable to wonder whether <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hiring-managers-biased-against-gen-z-older-workers-survey-says-2024-4">age bias</a> is undercutting their career trajectory or prospects, labor-market experts told BI.That's a problem partly because the workforce in the US and many other developed countries is getting older.The Pew Research Center estimated that about one in five people 65 and older in the US <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2023/12/14/older-workers-are-growing-in-number-and-earning-higher-wages">were working last year</a>. That was nearly double the portion of people that age who had a job 35 years ago.Having people of various ages on the job together can be good for business. In 2020, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development reported that promoting multigenerational workforces and giving older people more chances to work could <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/promoting-an-age-inclusive-workforce_59752153-en.html">boost per capita gross domestic product</a> by 19% over the next three decades.Marjorie Powell, chief HR officer and senior vice president at AARP, argued that people were working longer often out of necessity, to cover things like healthcare or housing costs."They are also continuing to work because they want to contribute," Powell said.Berman's search for a new role in IT reflects a mix of necessity and desire.Less than three months after Berman was laid off, his wife also lost her job to corporate cutbacks. That left the couple with two mortgages and little income beyond their severance payments and unemployment, which ran out about six months ago, Berman said. Though they're renting out one of the homes, they're eating into their savings and investments, he added.Berman has been trying to do some IT consulting work. To stand out from other job applicants, he has obtained certifications in artificial intelligence management and cybersecurity. Both he and his wife are considering pursuing an MBA.Powell said <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-wont-take-as-many-jobs-as-feared-altman-2024-9">rapid technological advances</a> could exacerbate bias against older workers because being conversant in the latest thing is often seen as the preserve of the young."People have a tendency to think that the only people who are technology adapters are those that are in younger demographics, which is not true," she said.Powell said other impediments to older workers could lurk in job descriptions with phrases like "digital native" and "high energy."Employers often also ask job seekers when they were born and when they graduated, Powell said. She argued that with something like a degree, applicants should have to say only whether they completed it.What Powell sees as pernicious language and requests for extraneous dates can be "red flags that there may be some age bias involved," she said.In other cases, older workers might be told they're overqualified. What employers might not understand, Powell said, is that those with loads of experience aren't always looking to keep climbing or nab ever higher pay. Instead, she said, they may be drawn to the nature of the work or the mission of an organization."The bottom line is either you have the qualifications to do the work or you don't," Powell said.Being seen as overqualified is one of several concerns animating Don Trautman's job search.At 67, he's old enough to retire, but he's been looking for part-time work on and off since April after taking a buyout from a longtime employer.<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/dont75/">Trautman</a> is a certified public accountant and holds an MBA. He spent the past 18 years managing buying and warehouse operations, though he'd like to return to the accounting work he did earlier in his career.Trautman, who lives with his wife outside Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, has removed most dates from his résumé, as some recruiters advise. Nevertheless, when he applies for jobs, he fills in the start and end dates for his roles."Once I start putting in that I started my last job in '99 and I had multiple jobs before that, they're going, 'Oh, wait a minute,'" Trautman told BI. It would be impossible not to deduce that he's an older worker, he said.What's more, Trautman said, many employers advertise that they can offer room to advance, but that's not what he's seeking."I'm not looking to become a CFO," he said.This year, Katerina Stroponiati founded Brilliant Minds, a venture-capital fund for founders over 50.When Stroponiati traveled to the US from her native Greece more than a decade ago with dreams of starting a company, some of her family members asked whether she was too old to do something like that."I was 26," she told BI.Stroponiati, who's now 41, said she saw the stealthy reach of ageism at a prior venture fund she ran in the US. The few founders over 50 she encountered tended to intimate that they were out of place, she said."They were always shy, and they were not as confident as those in their 20s," Stroponiati said.In April, she started her fund for older founders so that she could focus on an overlooked market and the ways people evolve throughout their lives. "All the headlines are around Gen Z trying to disrupt the 9-to-5," Stroponiati said. "But nobody talks about the other generations. Actually, boomers and Gen X are trying to do the same thing — they're disrupting retirement."The fund has received more than 600 applications. So far, she's invested in two startups. Both are run by women over 55. One is focused on using a large language model in e-commerce, and the other involves AI infrastructure.Stroponiati's goal is to invest in 15 companies by 2027."I'm offering an alternative to retirement, to the old model," she said.Stroponiati argued that Greece didn't do enough to deal with an aging population and now faces economic and social consequences. The US, she said, has a chance to respond."We have to think what it means to have productive older citizens," Stroponiati said.Michael North, an associate professor of management and organizations at New York University's Stern School of Business, focuses on the challenges of having five — or, by some estimates, six — generations working side by side.North told BI that one difficulty for older workers is the long-held assumption in the US that people will retire around age 65.Government safety nets like Social Security and Medicare "assume that you're not really supposed to be working after that certain age," he said. But apart from recent deviations owing to factors like the pandemic, people in industrialized economies are generally living longer — and staying healthier as they do it.North said many older workers are vibrant, skilled, and educated. "There's a discordance there between what our policies and expectations have in place versus what older adults objectively have to offer," he said.For their part, North said, some younger workers and those hoping to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/entry-level-jobs-tech-roles-require-years-of-experience-2024-10">break into the job market</a> can become frustrated that the oldest employees won't retire and create openings.Essentially, younger workers sometimes see older workers as "blocking their own opportunities," he said."Whether that's fair or not, it's actually a pretty important debate to have," North said.Part of the frustration for many young people, he said, is that challenges in paying for college, affording a home, and starting a family are tougher than they used to be. North added that resentments over those conditions could tee up "alarming" generational conflict."It doesn't seem like a recipe for a society that is increasingly multigenerational to have these sorts of frictions and frustrations on both sides of the age spectrum," he said.For Trautman, who hopes to get back into accounting, returning to a fixed schedule on some days would be ideal. Now he completes his morning routine and sits down at his desk, but sometimes he doesn't have enough to do."In all honesty, retirement has been a struggle," Trautman said.He doesn't want to go work at Lowe's or Home Depot, as some friends have suggested.But "if it came down to it, I could do that," Trautman said. "The local grocery store is good about hiring people my age."

Ageism at work

<ul><li><keyword id="19904608" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="Amazon" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Amazon" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="Amazon">Amazon</keyword> announced an <keyword id="20007258" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="RTO" source="keywords">RTO</keyword> mandate last month</li><li><keyword id="19916568" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="employees" source="keywords">Employees</keyword> have to come to office five days a week</li><li>Amazon has defended the move</li></ul> When <keyword id="20231207" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="work-from-home" source="keywords">work from home</keyword> became the norm during the Covid-19 pandemic, most people thought that this would be the new normal. Employees began realising that they could save up a lot of time as well as money by working from home and discussions about the importance of work-life balance surfaced. However, as soon as things started getting better, companies called employees back to offices. Amazon also made headlines last month for calling its employees back to offices five days a week. After the news went viral, many people began reacting to it. The tech giant also received a baclash for its decisions as people started saying on social media that this is not the solution. Now, according to a report in The Information, <keyword id="23472756" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Beth-Galetti" source="keywords">Beth Galetti</keyword>, Senior Vice President of People Experience and Tech at Amazon, has defended the mandate. Galetti said that younger employees are eager to benefit from in-person mentorship and have been asking to work from office. Speaking at The Information’s Women in Tech, Media, and Finance conference, Galetti explained that many junior staff members expressed a desire for face-to-face interaction with colleagues. She also said that the new policy reflects a return to Amazon’s previous work culture, where there was flexibility for personal matters but office attendance remained the norm. <div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="113855017" title="Amazon's RTO mandate is a 'backdoor layoff' strategy, future of work expert says" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div> Amazon CEO <keyword id="19910506" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Andy-Jassy" source="keywords">Andy Jassy</keyword> also supports the decision, highlighting the importance of collaboration and innovation that come from being physically present in the office. In a memo to staff, Jassy acknowledged that pre-pandemic, the company allowed remote work when necessary, and this flexibility would remain. However, he stressed that regular in-office work is key to building stronger teams and a cohesive company culture. In response to the changing work environment, Amazon is also developing a generative AI-powered “culture coach” to help provide employees with real-time feedback, further supporting staff in their roles as the company adapts to new ways of working. On the other hand, Nicholas Bloom, a Stanford economist, suggests that this could be a way for Amazon to reduce its workforce without resorting to formal layoffs. He refers to this tactic as a “backdoor layoff” strategy, where some employees might quit due to the new policy, helping the company cut costs without the need to offer severance packages. Speaking to Business Insider, Bloom said that this approach may work to control costs but could harm departments like AI, where top talent is hard to attract and retain. Other tech companies like <keyword id="19902762" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Google" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Google" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="Google">Google</keyword>, Microsoft, and OpenAI are continuing with hybrid work policies, which may give them a chance to hire skilled workers leaving Amazon due to its stricter office requirements.

Young employees need mentorship: Amazon on calling employees back to office five days a week

For Saumya Bhatnagar, being the only woman in a room is far from a novel experience. An engineer by training and currently the co-founder and chief product officer at AI sales rep startup Jeeva, she remembers being the sole girl in her high school's 170-person <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/5-tips-women-career-coding-twilio-2020-8">coding class</a> — and that none of her male peers would sit next to her."I had to make space for myself, and there were plenty of micro and macro aggressions in the grand scheme of things that I had to talk my way through," she told Business Insider. "At the end of the day, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/women-left-out-of-the-ai-investment-boom-risks-bias-2023-10">it's a man's world</a> in the VC, startups, and AI space."Bhatnagar isn't alone in her journey. Although the number of women-founded startups has increased, less than 3% of venture capital funding went to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/venture-capital-decline-hurts-female-founders-gender-gap-startup-funding-2023-12">female-only founding teams</a> in 2022, according to PitchBook.A handful of women who are well-known as leaders in the AI space — including "Godmother of AI" <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/vcs-like-khosla-and-a16z-backing-robotics-that-use-ai-2024-7">Fei Fei Li</a>, Anthropic president and co-founder Daniela Amodei, and OpenAI's former chief technology officer Mira Murati. But others building startups report facing various gender-related obstacles to success, including bias in the fundraising process, limited mentorship opportunities, and difficulty building meaningful business relationships with men.In the AI sector specifically, which has surged in popularity since the release of ChatGPT two years ago, the challenges for female founders are even more pronounced. <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/meet-18-women-who-made-partner-vc-firms-in-2023-2023-11">AI continues to attract significant VC interest</a>, but women in the space face additional barriers compared to their male counterparts, starting at the education level.While a degree in engineering or computer science isn't a requirement for launching an AI company, it's often a prerequisite for techies building foundational models to tackle complex machine-learning problems. Women accounted for just 22% of AI and computer science PhD programs in the US in 2019, according to a Deloitte study.Women in 2020 made up an estimated 26% of data and AI positions in the workforce, per a World Economic Forum report. And <a target="_blank" href="https://www.uktech.news/diversity/ai-funding-women-founders-20240319">recent data from the UK </a>shows that only about 4% of AI startups in the country have women founders.Although Bhatnagar is among the small group of women in the space with advanced technical chops, she says she still notices the gender imbalance in the AI world — and that it, at times, has led to her feeling impostor syndrome and burnout.Developing relationships with other women working in the AI space has become a vital lifeline, she said. An active member of online and in-person groups, including <a target="_blank" href="https://www.womenandai.com/">Women and AI</a> and <a target="_blank" href="https://thewomenweadmire.com/">Women We Admire</a>, Bhatnagar said that she's made connections that support her in navigating difficult business dynamics, connecting with female investors, and finding solace in shared experiences."Women are not comfortable asking for help, and there's this idea that perfectionism needs to be showcased at all times," she said. "Finding a community of women has helped me take risks and realize that I'm actually doing okay," she said.Vivien Ho, a partner at early-stage fund Pear VC, has watched the meteoric rise of buzzy AI startups during the last two years and noticed that many are run by men, she said. But as a longtime community builder in the Bay Area tech scene, this didn't jive with what she was seeing on the ground. There were plenty of women interested in building AI companies, she said. Many just didn't know how to start.This observation was the catalyst for the Female Founder Circles, a community for women engineers interested in building AI startups. Each FFC cycle welcomes a cohort of around 50 women for two months of programming that includes fireside chats with existing female AI founders, company-building workshops with Pear investment partners, and other in-person events designed to help women build meaningful relationships with one another, such as pitch competitions, spa days, and public speaking practice.Demand for FFC has exploded, Ho said, with more than 500 women applying for the most recent cohort that kicked off last month. And the program has already been a success: more than 70% of participants end up incorporating their startups, and at least five women have matched with another female co-founder in their cohort, she said."Three of our FFC founders have already raised Series Bs, which is pretty incredible," Ho told BI. "We first meet them, and they're really shy, and then three years later, they're running a 100-person company and making eight figures. It's incredible to see how we can build a community that makes a difference."As women in AI create opportunities that could help them succeed, their work parallels women in another once-white-hot subsector of the startup world: at the height of the crypto craze, female-led blockchain startups earned about 6.4% of venture dollars in the third quarter of 2022, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.bitget.com/blog/articles/bitget-report-the-gender-gap-in-blockchain-startup-funding-press-release">according to data from Bitget</a>.Funding in the space has dropped off dramatically during the last two years, and women continue to struggle when it comes to connecting with investors and closing rounds, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/digital-assets/2024/08/29/what-web3-data-reveals-about-gender-inequality-in-the-crypto-industry/">Forbes recently reported</a>.For Shreya Rajpal, Pear VC's FFC was one of the first times she felt genuine, positive support from the people around her. As a software engineer who cut her teeth in startups and on Apple's machine learning initiatives, she was accustomed to being the only woman whose work was judged with more scrutiny than that of her male coworkers."There are a lot of men who aren't very supportive, and being the only woman on a team means that they're often an undue level of attention on your work, so you stand out, for better or for worse," Rejpal told BI. "Pretty early on, it was obvious that I kind of needed to justify my space in the room a lot more compared to other folks."Fast forward to today, and Rajpal is the CEO and co-founder of Guardrails AI, which builds risk and reliability systems for generative AI programs. As she's progressed in her career, she's made an effort to build community with other women in tech. It's work that takes significant time, but it's been "life changing" in terms of succeeding as a founder and well worth the effort, she said.Guardrails earlier this year raised a $7.5 million seed funding round led by Zetta Venture Partners with participation from Pear, Bloomberg Beta, and GitHub Fund.In addition to participating in bigger groups like FFC, Rajpal has sought out mentorship opportunities with other women in engineering, machine learning, and project management."I became friends with a woman who is five to six years older than me and in the industry for that much longer, doing the things that I wanted to do," she said. "Hearing from her and what worked for her, in terms of changing jobs and talking to her about how she made those decisions, was the stuff that ended up being really impactful for me."Stephanie Guo, a partner at Sapphire Ventures based in San Francisco, is constantly iterating on community events for women interested in AI that strike the right balance between informational – think fireside chats and panel discussions – and informal ways for women to form connections that turn into mentor relationships.These events aren't just for would-be founders: Guo says that while the number of female-funded AI startups can sometimes seem "abysmally small," she's encouraged by the number of women who hold leadership positions at AI startups, funds, and bigger companies."We're creating both the space to have dialogue, but also a networking opportunity," Guo told BI. "These relationships stick, and there are business opportunities that actually form from them."

For women building AI startups, finding community has been the key to success

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A work-life balance is a priority for many.</li><li>It's generally thought of as the balance between time at work and personal time.</li></ul>The pursuit of a work-life balance is at the heart of so many workplace conversations.It's <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gen-z-workers-want-flexibility-fair-pay-survey-2024-5">what many Gen Zers want</a> from their jobs, and what workers cling to as their employers ask them to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/companies-requiring-return-to-office-rto-mandate">return to the office</a>.It has generally become known as the balance between time at work and time off. But we should rethink that, according to some workplace specialists.People all work differently, and suggesting the best way to achieve equilibrium is to log off at 5 p.m. could be shortsighted and outdated."I don't think work-life balance exists," Dilan Gomih, the founder and CEO of the workplace performance and wellness consultancy Dilagence, told Business Insider. "It should be, How do you find time to strategically recharge?"<h2 id="29b08831-b634-46ae-825a-8d558c7ddf4f">The work-life unicorn</h2>Jeff Bezos talked about his dislike for the phrase "work-life balance" in 2021, calling it "debilitating" and telling employees that they should <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jeff-bezos-work-life-balance-debilitating-phrase-career-circle-2021-7">think of work and life as a circle</a>. <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ceos-who-hate-phrase-work-life-balance-prefer-alternative-views-2023-11">Other CEOs have opinions, too</a>, often favoring a different approach.In an interview at Vox's Code Conference in 2016, Bezos <a target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTYFEgXaRbU">said</a>: "I find that when I am happy at work, I come home more energized. I'm a better husband, a better dad, and when I'm happy at home, I come in a better boss, a better colleague."Some might say it's easy for billionaire bosses to say hours don't matter and that it's how energized you feel by work that counts.However, provided work doesn't overtake all of your personal time, there may be some wisdom in rethinking the definition of work-life balance.Veronica West, a psychologist with a master's in public health and the founder of My Thriving Mind, told BI that work-life balance is "the elusive unicorn we're all trying to catch.""It used to mean dividing work time and personal time into neat, equal slices," she said. "But let's be honest, life rarely plays nice like that."A better way to think of it might be a "work-life rhythm," she said, which is not based on counting hours but a "feeling that both work and life energize rather than drain you."Logging off at 5 p.m. every day isn't achievable for everyone, so it's beneficial to find a flow where work doesn't exhaust you so that you have time for hobbies, exercise, downtime, socializing, and family time."The trick is learning how to balance energy, not just time, so you're surviving and enjoying each part of your day," West said. "Because, honestly, if we're dragging through one area to show up in another, where's the fun in that?"<h2 id="cd2d4065-5715-4f2c-a851-79caf4560308">Finding your 'golden hour'</h2>Gomih said there's a general perception that well-being means disengagement, and this is "a really binary view" that should be reconsidered.Rather, people should think about when their "golden hour" is, she said, describing it as when "your brain is totally on or when you are doing your most creative thinking.""My golden hour is probably between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. I also know somebody's golden hour to be 7 p.m. to midnight," Gomih said.Women can feel particularly conflicted about balancing their careers and time off, especially when working outside normal hours is met with judgment."Senior women leaders who happen to be caregivers of some manner, shape, or form, they have a lot on their plates," added Gomih. For them, working irregular hours may suit them better."It's knowing your own settings, when to turn off and when to turn on," Gomih said. "Spending time with my family fills my cup in some way, and being good at my job fills my cup in some way, and these things are very much reinforcing of each other."Breese Annable, a licensed clinical psychologist and career coach, told BI achieving a balance means aligning your personal life and career with your values and strengths."It's not just a split of hours; it's a way of living where all parts of life, including work, mirror who you are and what matters most," she said."Of course, this is an ideal — it won't ever be perfect," Annable said. "But it's a consistent vision to guide the decisions you make in both life and work."West said some days are going to need more work, and others will need more life. The key is to aim for harmony, she said, not perfection

It's time to rethink what work-life balance really means

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The Soula app has an AI chatbot, Dua, that aids mothers with postpartum depression support.</li><li>AI chatbots like Dua aim to reduce healthcare burdens and improve mental health access.</li></ul>Caring for a month-old newborn and two-year-old son felt overwhelming for LeRonika Francis.During her first postpartum period, Francis said she experienced a heavy wave of depression while dealing with a baby with <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/parenting/why-is-my-newborn-crying">colic</a>. She ultimately sought the help of a counselor. It was not until her most recent pregnancy that she also started to use an AI chatbot on the fem-tech app Soula, which she said helped with reducing depressive symptoms and reassuring her about her mental health."It tells me: 'Welcome back, LeRonika. Your reactions are natural,'" said Francis, who is based in New Iberia, Louisiana.The AI chatbot called "Dua" also sent her some videos that she could watch about self-hugging, a practice that could reduce stress levels."I feel like Dua is there more than anything. It really showed me: OK, this is what you could do. Make sure you make time for yourself, too, because that's important as well," said Francis.Soula was co-founded by Natallia Miranchuk and Andrei Kulik, who conceptualized a 24/7 AI doula that could close the gap in mental health support for mothers during pregnancy and postpartum periods. Rather than replacing medical providers, apps such as Soula aim to increase broader access to maternal healthcare. Healthcare providers said that these apps could also help reduce the burden on the healthcare system, where wait times can be long and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/new-york-nurses-strike-labor-union-staffing-shortage-covid-2023-1">workers face burnout</a>.Business Insider spoke with OB/GYN doctors and doulas, who largely welcomed the rise in AI chatbots because they can make information more accessible to patients.According to data obtained from Sensor Tower, Soula now has more than 35,000 downloads. The startup has fundraised over $750,000 and is backed by investors such as Andrey Mikhaylyuk, the former vice president of product at <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/unicorn-pitch-deck-flo-health-raises-200-million-series-c-2024-7">Flo Health</a>, a period tracking app.Miranchuk told BI that her experiences as a single mother of two and her work as a former maternity photographer inspired her to develop a supportive app for women. Initially conceptualized as a hub to connect doulas worldwide to those in need, the generative AI boom shifted the startup's focus to integrating a chatbot that could serve more populations."Women are shy to ask questions, even in the community, because they have the feeling that maybe 'as a mom, I should have known that, but I don't.' And she doesn't know where to go," Miranchuk said.The ease of customizing ChatGPT has spurred a wave of new AI-based chatbots like Soula. According to Sensor Tower, the companion apps <a target="_blank" href="http://Character.ai">Character.ai</a>, Talkie, and Paradot have more than 73 million collective downloads, soaring more than 130% between 2023 and 2024. AI therapy apps such as <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wysa-mental-health-startup-raises-fresh-vc-funding-expand-coverage-2021-5">Wysa</a> and Woebot received over 1 million downloads, the data said.Corenia Smith, director of the Birth Justice Collaborative in Minnesota, said that while popularizing tools like chatbots can help broaden healthcare access, it is important to avoid a "one size fits all" and ensure that AI can reflect the communities it serves."There are cultural practices that exist and have existed for thousands of years that people still use," Smith said. "A human could talk about all their experience and what they've seen and give referrals. When you reach that limitation with an AI, it has to have the ability to hand over care or make a referral in a way where people don't feel dropped."<h2 id="245c9b56-b4a4-4a1a-abbc-5f6bbf950f49">The role of a doula</h2>The AI chatbot Dua aims to function like a doula, providing mothers with information about the pregnancy experience during a time of transition.Doulas are trained professionals who can provide non-medical, continuous physical, emotional, and information support for women before, during, and after childbirth, helping to <a target="_blank" href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10292163/">reduce</a> mental health-related morbidity for the mother and reduce infant mortality rates.Access to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/health/reproductive-health/what-is-a-doula">doulas</a> can be costly. While there's Medicaid coverage for doulas in several states, not all private health insurance plans cover these expenses. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0266613821003120">Long wait times and socioeconomic inequality</a> also contribute to increased levels of stress and lack of healthcare usage among mothers and pregnant people."Traditionally, it's been something that's been available only to folks with a lot of money and a lot of resources. The people that benefit the most from doula care are those that might not trust the healthcare system," said Dr. Devon Rupley, an attending physician and OB/GYN specialist at NYC Health. "That tends to be people of color who've had previously negative experiences with racism and bias that can really harm their experience in the healthcare system generally."Rupley added that using an AI healthcare app to address basic questions can allow patients to spend higher-quality time with doctors by asking high-level questions and discussing their healthcare issues.<div type="image" title="Dua, an AI chatbot, talks to the user with texts." height="3000" width="4000" msid="114502558" hostid="261" sizebytes="72158"></div><h2 id="7b015d0f-002f-4d99-8f8d-2ae73851d6bc">How to design an empathetic AI chatbot</h2>Soula enlisted real-life doulas to help train its chatbot and strike the right tone."We can't create it to be as personable as talking to a real-life person, but we can try to create that as much as possible," said Lexi Pacheco, a doula from Arizona who worked to help refine the dialogue in Soula's chatbot Dua. For $22 per hour, she helped improve the chatbot by using it "hand-in-hand" during her pregnancies, adding in her expertise.While asking questions on Google could yield more informational responses, Pacheco said mothers would want something that provided "more of that reassurance that Google wouldn't."For Armani Grant, a Soula user who became pregnant at 18, Google felt overwhelming. The chatbot allowed her to ask questions that she wouldn't feel comfortable asking her mother. Pacheco said many women she's worked with reported similar experiences."They might even feel incompetent to ask the question, which no woman should ever feel, but with my history of working with people, they definitely tend to revert to: I'm sorry, I'm asking this question for some reason, and that might just be because of the societal pressure that more medicalized doctors have put on people that they don't give the time and day to us," Pacheco said.The app isn't meant to completely replace a doula. Moreover, retention rates of AI healthcare chatbots can be low, said Johannes Eichstaedt, a computational social scientist and assistant professor of psychology at Stanford University. The high dropout rates for healthcare apps are "an elephant in the room," he said.At the same time, Pacheco said AI bots can help "calm nerves" and fill the gaps when patients feel they are "bothering" their healthcare providers."AI isn't like a healthcare provider to give you guidance, but it's supposed to be there to give you a little bit more comfort," Pacheco said.

The AI app Soula seeks to improve healthcare access for pregnant women

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<ul class="summary-list"><li>Critics of guaranteed basic income often suggest that cash payments discourage work.</li><li>Experts say basic income can help participants afford job training and land higher-paying roles.</li></ul>Taniquewa Brewster is training to be a doula. The mom of five knows both how joyful and overwhelming a baby can be, and she wants to improve birth outcomes for pregnant Texans.While earning her <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/i-am-a-doula-this-is-what-i-do-2022-1">doula</a> certificate, Brewster is working full-time as an assistant property manager at an income-based housing unit. The 39-year-old said she earned the position after being promoted from her role as a leasing agent, a change she said was only possible because of <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/universal-basic-income-pros-and-cons">guaranteed basic income.</a>She had previously been patching together <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-make-money-gig-worker-uber-lyft-doordash-delivery-driver-2023-12">low-paying part-time work</a> to get by."I was working as hard as I could, working overtime," Brewster said. "That's keeping me away from my family. That's keeping me away from things that I can be doing — even going back to school — because I have to work so hard to just cover rent."From September 2022 to August 2023, she received $1,000 monthly through <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/austin-basic-income-gbi-ubi-housing-homeless-parenting-rent-texas-2024-2">Austin's UpTogether pilot</a>. The cash payments gave her breathing room: she said the money helped her afford household bills, along with the real estate and doula training she needed to land higher paying jobs.Guaranteed basic income programs are gaining momentum across the US as an approach to poverty reduction. The model offers participants recurring <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/universal-basic-income-ubi">cash payments</a> for a set period of time, with no strings attached. Like in Austin's pilot, many programs are directed at households that live near the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/poverty-line-leaves-behind-low-income-americans-snap-medicare-wic-2024-6#:~:text=The%20current%20federal%20poverty%20line,up%2C%20it%20is%20too%20low.">federal poverty line</a>.Despite GBI's growing popularity with some policymakers and economic security experts, it continues to face opposition. Business Insider has covered basic income bans, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/basic-income-program-lawsuit-houston-texas-ubi-gbi-ken-paxton-2024-9">lawsuits over GBI funding</a>, and criticism that giving people cash <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/universal-basic-income-ubi-dave-ramsey-show-karl-marx-playbook-2024-7">discourages participants from working</a> — one of the most common critiques.Some experts, however, have a different view: Financial support frequently offers participants a leg-up in their careers. This is in line with results from most of <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/which-states-cities-have-guaranteed-basic-income-programs-low-income-2024-4">America's GBI pilots.</a>Since the Austin program ended and Brewster started her new role, she estimates her monthly income has increased by over $3,000. She said her <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/immigrants-new-mexico-basic-income-for-housing-healthcare-ubi-gbi2024-5">job stability</a> helped her afford essentials like groceries and healthcare, and allowed her to spend more time with her children."I know it's great to have that talent and to know how to do things," she said. "But when you have that certification behind it, it just helps you to move up in the company or in whatever you do."<h2 id="0c19f308-5bbe-47f6-a561-6c5d8e61a435">Basic income critics say cash discourages work</h2><a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/universal-basic-income-ubi-ray-dalio-cash-payments-harm-poverty-2024-7">Billionaires</a>, politicians, and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/universal-basic-income-ubi-dave-ramsey-show-karl-marx-playbook-2024-7">financial leaders</a> have criticized basic income programs, saying that cash payments could encourage laziness among participants. Others add that having an extra monthly income could <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-05-17/south-dakota-texas-block-local-universal-basic-income-laws">dissuade people from having a job</a>."Do we just get born and get money from the government?" Arizona State Rep. John Gillette previously told BI. "I think the Founding Fathers would say that is very contrary to our capitalist system and encouraging people to work."Sometimes results do show that participants work fewer hours or drop multiple jobs during their GBI program. For example, in <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sam-altman-basic-income-study-results-2024-7">Illinois and Texas' OpenResearch study</a> — which examined the effects of two GBI programs that were funded by Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI — employment rates fell in the second and third years among the participants compared with the control group. The pilot gave 3,000 low-income families $1,000 a month for three years, beginning in 2019.When conducting guaranteed basic income pilots, researchers typically gather data on participant spending, housing outcomes, food access, mental health, job security, and weekly working hours. This data is gathered throughout a program's run and after its conclusion via participant surveys and is often compared to a control group of people not receiving cash payments.Sukhi Samra — the executive director of Mayors for a Guaranteed Income, a national advocacy network — told BI that measuring employment trends can be challenging because it doesn't capture the individualized benefits of GBI.It may look like participants are working fewer hours or fewer jobs, but often, Samra said those roles are more stable and higher-paying. Although job numbers declined in the OpenResearch case, the average participant income increased, researchers found. The study speculated the income boost could be due to participants having more flexibility over their employment choices."Sometimes being able to work less does have profound impacts for families," Samra said. "Especially when you're talking about parents being able to spend more time with their children, being able to obtain a professional license or degree, or take care of an elderly parent."More than a dozen guaranteed income pilots overseen by Mayors for a Guaranteed Income, like in <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/stockton-basic-income-experiment-success-employment-wellbeing-2021-3#:~:text=In%20Stockton%2C%20California%2C%20125%20residents,launch%20more%20basic%2Dincome%20pilots.">Stockton</a> and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/baltimore-basic-income-parents-afford-housing-get-jobs-ubi-gbi-2024-7#:~:text=Baltimore%20gave%20low%2Dincome%20parents,some%20lawmakers%20are%20fighting%20them.">Baltimore</a>, showed an overall increase in employment among participants. Other pilots, like one in <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/denver-basic-income-project-ubi-extended-homelessness-poverty-2024-1">Denver</a>, showed no statistically significant impact on employment rates. Few programs show negative job outcomes.BI has heard anecdotally from participants that cash payments helped them <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/post/preview?svapi&amp;post_id=66ab7d4d6550c8ac4ef862cd">pay for the childcare</a> they needed to be focused at work, leading to promotions. Others said $500 or $1,000 a month was the boost they needed to drop several lower-paying gigs in favor of one <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/alabama-basic-income-single-mothers-afford-childcare-bills-birmingham-2024-8">higher-paying full-time job</a>, or reduce their working hours so they could pursue higher education or job training. Some leave their jobs to start <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sam-altman-basic-income-study-results-starting-a-business-2024-7#:~:text=OpenResearch's%20study%20gave%20monthly%20stipends,essentials%20and%20considered%20starting%20businesses.">their own small businesses</a>."The benefits of that sort of compound over time, and aren't really captured in the nuances of the data," Samra said.Still, guaranteed basic income programs reflect short-term results. There is limited research on participant job outcomes in the months and years after their payments end. Participant employment — or unemployment — might also be impacted by outside factors, like the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hiring-picks-up-in-fall-low-openings-hurting-job-seekers-2024-9">changing labor market</a>, a person's family situation, or shifts to the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/inflation-cost-of-living-what-is-middle-class-housing-market-2024-4">local cost of living</a>. Most GBI participants need to continue working to make ends meet.<h2 id="7292fcde-172d-457c-9073-cb15b2dc5747">Participants say basic income helped them afford job training, land higher-paying roles</h2>Cepia Harper, 41, just began her second year as a middle school English teacher. Her favorite lesson to teach is essay writing, helping students learn how to craft the perfect thesis statement.Harper began teaching shortly after enrolling in a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/georgia-basic-income-afford-rent-daycare-single-mom-ubi-gbi-2024-6">Georgia-based guaranteed basic income program</a>, In Her Hands. The program offered 650 participants — who were all low-income Black women — $20,400 over two years, ending in spring 2024.Along with helping cover <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/new-orleans-guaranteed-basic-income-supports-opportunity-youth-school-work-2024-9">household bills and unexpected expenses</a>, Harper said the money allowed her to get her education credentials. She had previously been cobbling together a couple of retail jobs to make ends meet."I've never had it where I could just go home to my own kids, pick them up from practice," she said. "They all play sports, and I could never leave work to go to a game."More predictable hours means Harper can spend more time with her family. Her annual income has risen by about $13,000 since she began teaching, she said, so she no longer has to work multiple jobs.And, as participants use their cash payments to build careers, Asya Howlette said they are more likely to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/new-orleans-guaranteed-basic-income-supports-opportunity-youth-school-work-2024-9">boost local economies</a>. As the director of the New Orleans Mayor's Office of Youth and Families, Howlette has noticed the trend in her own city, where she helped oversee a recent GBI program focused on teenagers and young adults disconnected from work and school."It's improving our economy because all of the money that these young people were using is going right back into our economy," she previously told BI. "It's not like they're sitting on a lot of cash, they're spending it right back in our grocery stores, they're putting it right back in our small businesses."While GBI isn't meant to serve as a paycheck replacement, Samra said can be a financial safety net: "We are allowing folks to stabilize and to then plan for the future," she added.Being able to afford training for more lucrative jobs in real estate and maternal care gave Brewster — the mother of five — financial confidence."It really motivated me," she said of her GBI program. "Because I knew that, once the money stopped, what would I do afterward?"Have you participated in a guaranteed basic income program? Are you open to sharing your experience? If so, reach out to this reporter at <a target="_blank" class="" href="mailto:allisonkelly@businessinsider.com">allisonkelly@businessinsider.com</a>.

The basic income myth: cash discourages work

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Brian Gross is a 49-year-old publicist in Los Angeles who has never had children.</li><li>He finds it easier to date older women now but is also content to be alone.</li></ul>This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Brian Gross. It has been edited for length and clarity.Throughout my adult life, I've had several long-term <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/open-relationships-now-im-monogamous-marriage-2023-7">monogamous relationships</a>. I was even engaged once.Each of the relationships ended without children. It wasn't necessarily a conscious decision, but several influences probably contributed to my <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/never-had-the-urge-have-children-im-childless-and-happy-2023-4">never having children</a> with the women I dated.My <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/you-do-not-need-to-understand-your-parents-divorce-2023-10">parents divorced</a> when I was a young adult, which was painful to watch. And since then, many friends who married and had kids, later divorced. It was tough to watch them go through it. I wasn't keen on doing the same.<h2 id="04246b6f-8a34-466a-ac44-9217373ebbde">I take care of my mom and brother</h2>I am a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sandwich-generation-caregiving-minimum-wage-2024-5">caretaker for my mother</a> and brother, so I'm not in a position to even consider taking care of children. But I'm also very career-driven. Running a PR firm for the last 24 years has taken up so much time and energy.Between taking care of my family members and working long hours, how would I even begin to fit children into the equation?When I dated women seriously, we would have general discussions about whether she wanted children. A few women, like me, were very focussed on their work, and the discussion about kids didn't come up at all.I can recall a couple of times <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/child-free-life-only-child-guilt-2023-6">I felt pressured</a> by women I dated to have children, but it never panned out.The "How do you feel about children?" conversation is always intense, especially when one or both parties don't have definitive opinions. The thought of the impending conversation about it always made me a little stressed.<h2 id="d7fa9a28-b695-4cc2-90a4-06e48f3f1b7d">I'm open about not wanting kids</h2>But my last relationship, which lasted nearly four years and ended in January 2024, was with a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/older-women-dating-apps-experiences-tinder-bumble-2019-2">woman who was older than me</a>. We lived a lifestyle I appreciated, which included a lot of travel, and I never had to worry about the pressure to discuss kids. Because she couldn't have children at her age, that conversation didn't even exist. It was a huge stress relief.Whereas before dating her, I wouldn't have said kids were off the cards — after dating her, I would.This decision has led to dating being a bit more challenging.I meet women through dating apps and in day-to-day life. I've had to ask myself if I really want to be dating younger women who might want to start a family. While I would never rule out dating someone younger, I make sure that I am open and communicative about my preference not to have children if and when the relationship progresses. I wouldn't want to lead someone on only to dash their hopes by telling them I don't want to have kids.I find it much easier to date women who are my age and older because I don't even have to think about the potential for the conversation to happen.It's not just the idea of having kids I've let go as I have gotten older — I also no longer feel forced to have a serious relationship.When I was younger and on the fence about having kids, I unconsciously needed a relationship if children were going to be in my future. But now that I'm decidedly not having children and my age has eased, the pressure to be in a relationship has eased.Although I enjoy dating, it's not prioritized like it was in the past. I know what I want moving forward, and I am excited about the future. I like my life, work, hobbies, and aspirations. If someone comes along and we fit, fantastic. But it's not a need like it used to be.I'm more content than I've ever been in my life.

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