Understanding well-being at work

Important information: This information is for scheme sponsors’, trustees’, their advisers’, and consultants’ use only, and should not be relied upon by individual investors.

By better understanding job satisfaction for women, risks to employee retention, and the type of support women want in the workplace, employers may have an opportunity to better tailor their benefits experiences to match women’s expectations.

Our latest research explores how the crossover between work and life provides employers with the opportunity to help women create this balance between their life inside and outside of work.

We explore why employee well-being at work matters for employers. 

There are a number of factors emerging as evident causing stress for women across the globe. While certain macro stressors are out of anyone’s individual control, there are several work-related factors that impact life by causing stress. Stress over work factors, along with macro stressors, impact employees’ ability to concentrate at work. This impact on concentration might impact an employee’s productivity.

While over half of women (59%) described their work as good, nearly half of women said their current work/life balance causes them stress

Question: To what extent have the following caused you stress over the last six months?
Source: The Fidelity Global Sentiment Survey 2023

For those women who say that these work factors cause them stress, over 50% shared that this stress impacts their ability to concentrate at work

Question: You identified the following as causing you stress. How much do you agree or disagree that each of these have impacted your ability to concentrate at work?
Source: The Fidelity Global Sentiment Survey 2023

With responses from women across 23 markets, our research found that less than half (45%) of women globally said they were very or extremely satisfied with their jobs overall.

The highest percentage of women who said they were very or extremely satisfied with their job overall were in India and Brazil, while the lowest percentage of women who said they were very or extremely satisfied with their job overall were in South Korea and Japan

Question: How satisfied are you with your job overall?
Source: The Fidelity Global Sentiment Survey 2023

The highest percentage of women working in Information Technology said they were very or extremely satisfied with the job overall compared to those working in other industries. 

Question: How satisfied are you with your job overall?
Source: The Fidelity Global Sentiment Survey 2023; chart excludes industries with n<300

Our research shows that one in five women surveyed said they are likely to leave their company in the next six months.

While we saw higher job satisfaction in women of certain groups higher satisfaction does not necessarily mean higher retention. We also saw higher intentions to leave their company in the next six months from these groups. From an industry outlook, women working in information technology were more likely to say they were intending to leave their company in the next six months than most other industries.

This presents employers with the important opportunity to engage with their female employees about what makes them satisfied and how these employees can be persuaded to stay with the company.

Question: How likely are you to leave your organisation in the next six months?
Source: The Fidelity Global Sentiment Survey 2023

Women cite several reasons for leaving a company, including a few areas where employers can have significant impact 

Question: What are the reason(s) you are likely to leave your current job? Please select all that apply.
Source: The Fidelity Global Sentiment Survey 2023

Understanding workplace stressors, and where support and guidance is needed, may help employers to identify those areas where action is most needed. Our recent research shows that employers who take greater responsibility for employee wellness, report higher employee satisfaction compared with their peers.

Providing support with financial wellness tools and guidance on retirement savings may help alleviate some stress around inflation, retirement, inadequate compensation, and job security concerns.

Creating programs as ways to encourage career development and growth can help address a feeling of belonging and job security.

Taking targeted action may help to reduce workplace stressors, help with employees' ability to concentrate at work, and potentially have a positive impact on productivity.