Three priorities for women as they look for jobs in 2022

According to the HiBob-commissioned study "Australian Women Professionals in the Modern Workplace" women look at three things before switching jobs:

• Increased pay (48%)
• Flexible work (43%)
• Strong and healthy culture (40%)

Beyond compensation, women working for large companies (43%) were more enticed by a strong and healthy culture than those working for smaller companies (36%).

"Against the backdrop of the great realignment and the war for talent, our research this year has shown us that professional Australian women have a clear 'top three' criteria for evaluating job opportunities: pay, flexibility, and culture," said Nirit Peled Muntz, Chief People Officer, HiBob.

These three factors will be crucial for employers to extend to employees in an effort to keep themselves from falling prey to the ‘Great Resignation', and instead focus on what people are calling the "Great Realignment."

"This gives Australian employers multiple great opportunities to hire and retain the many talented professional women in the Australian market," Muntz added.

The "Great Alignment" saw 39% of women leaving their jobs in 2021, found the study. The predictions for this year estimate 27% more of HR professionals, 19% of all respondents and senior managers, and 13% of women in tech to leave their employers.

Another interesting finding in the study was about how 32% of professional women in Australia believe that they are paid equally to men, whereas 33% believe that men are better paid.

In fact, 25% of women tech professionals believe that they are paid equally with their male colleagues, while 40% believe that men are paid more. Particular to women HR professionals, only 22% of them believe that they are getting equal pay with their male counterparts, while 37% of them believe that men are paid higher.

These findings follow the release of the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) research which revealed a weekly average difference of $255 when it comes to the pay of men and women, and it favours the former.

This is still a 13.8% gender pay gap, according to WGEA, however, it still is progress given the slight decline from the previous 14.2%.

"Any time we see the pay gap decline, it is a welcome sign that the labour market is moving in the right direction," said WGEA Director Mary Wooldridge.

On the positive side, the HiBob survey found that in 2021, over half (55%) of the women surveyed said they received a promotion in salary, position, or benefits, with more than a third (37%) saying that both men and women are promoted equally.

Less than half (35%) of the employees surveyed also said their company has made efforts to develop more women leaders. While a few over a quarter (28%) of the respondents said their company already has a balanced female-male relationship, a higher majority (37%) stated their company is not balanced yet.