A new CareerBuilder survey finds that only 34% of American workers said they aspire to leadership positions in their companies and just 7% strive for C-level management roles. The main reasons are summarized in this chart:
The Harvard Business Review looks at the results and concludes that companies “should pay close attention to how many people back away from leadership due to fears of forfeited work-life balance. An inadequate work-life culture not only affects your competitiveness, performance, and employee retention and engagement, it can also shrink your talent pipeline.”
“This ‘long hours’ problem is one key reason why the percentage of women in senior positions remains stalled… And, perhaps surprisingly, the survey showed a dead even share of women and men selecting this roadblock. There’s a real sense that women, and now men, can’t advance their careers and also have families.”
A recent Wharton Work/Life Integration Project study that compared Wharton’s Classes of 1992 and 2012 found that the rate of Wharton graduates who plan to have children has dropped by about half over the past 20 years.