A new report by LEAD Network and Shape Talent has identified three structural barriers that affect career progression in Europe’s retail and consumer goods sectors, adding that said barriers tend to affect women more than men.
The Built for All: Rethinking Career Advancement in Retail & CPG report, which drew on responses from over 500 industry professionals, posits three systemic barriers – the ‘Silence Tax’, the ‘Negotiation Penalty’ and the ‘Caregiving Trade-Off’.
“Across our industry, with the best of intentions, organisations have focused their efforts on the individual – investing heavily in programmes such as negotiation training and confidence-building for women,” commented Sarah McGowan, strategic research and learning advisor, LEAD Network. “But we know that is not what creates change.
“We are making a clarion call: stop fixing the individual. Start fixing the system.”
The Silence Tax
The Silence Tax relates to the organisational cost of employees holding back ideas, feedback and challenge, with LEAD Network noting that half of women report holding back in meetings due to concerns over how they are perceived, double that of men.
This isn’t solely a women’s issue, however, with frontline workers (50%) and team leaders (47%) reporting identical levels of self-censorship.
“At first glance, this appears to be about confidence, but it isn’t. It’s about workplace environments where speaking up carries real risk,” said Allyson Zimmermann, CEO at LEAD Network. “When half the room holds back, organisations lose out on innovation, better decision-making and performance.
“These are the voices we’re not hearing, the ideas being left unsaid, and there’s a very real personal cost to the individuals being silenced. This is withheld potential with genuine commercial consequences.”
The Negotiating Penalty
The Negotiating Penalty relates to attitudes toward pay discussions, with 44% of women admitting to feeling greedy about asking for a pay rise, compared with 24% of men.
In addition, 39% of women worry about the consequences of asking for a pay increase, compared with 21% of men.
“The problem isn’t that women don’t negotiate,” added Sharon Peake, Founder and CEO of Shape Talent. “It’s that negotiating costs them more. The evidence is clear: women face greater penalties simply for asking.”
The Caregiving Trade-Off
The Caregiving Trade-Off relates to perceptions around caregiving facilities as a factor influencing career decisions. More than a third (35%) of women feel that pursuing career progression makes them a lesser parent or carer – nearly double the rate for men (18%), the data showed. Among primary carers across all genders, this rises to 43%.
At the same time, caregiving pressures are not exclusive to women – the report also finds that caregiving responsibilities are widespread among men, with 73% reporting some level of care responsibility.
Elsewhere, the research identifies perceived lack of career progression as a key factor in employee retention, with women more than 2.5 times more likely than men to report a lack of clarity from managers on progression pathways.
“Ambition is not a fixed trait,” McGowan added. “It is shaped by opportunity. When pathways are unclear or uneven, people disengage – and that is a rational response to structural and cultural barriers.” Read more here.
