Women in Leadership: Retention strategies for HR Leaders

For HR and Benefits Leaders, a primary challenge isn’t just diversity recruitment, but the expensive, disruptive loss of top senior female talent who are critical to company performance.

In this article, we’ll explain why women are so integral to senior leadership roles for the effective operation of organisations, both internally and externally. 

More critically, we’ll lay out effective approaches companies must adopt to address the invisible barriers, particularly related to reproductive health, that jeopardise senior female retention and development, thereby protecting your investment in leadership.

Quick retention facts:

• Companies with at least 30% female directors achieved cumulative returns 18.9% higher than those without MSCI, 2024.
• Positives span overall revenue performance, employee satisfaction, engagement and reduced risk taking.
• Closing the global gender gap in employment and entrepreneurship could increase global GDP by an estimated $160 trillion World Bank, 2024.
• Effective gender parity strategies need to include a multi-factor approach, often with emphasis on retention as well as upward mobility for women.
• Over 1 million women per year leave their jobs due to menopause-related struggles and workplace inaccessibility. (Gender Health Gap Report, 2024) Whilst menopause-related productivity losses and workforce departures cost the UK economy £10 billion annually.

Current workplace gender imbalance

The benefits of gender equity within the workplace, particularly for top-down initiatives, are well known, well documented and certainly well reported.

But even in the face of such benefits, gender imbalance, especially across senior leadership and boards, overwhelmingly persists. 

Globally, women currently hold just 32% of senior leadership positions in mid-market companies Grant Thornton, 2024/2025. 

In the highest tiers of corporate leadership (C-suite), this representation drops further, with women occupying only 29% of roles McKinsey & Company / LeanIn.Org, 2024.

At the current rate of progress, global gender parity in senior management won’t be reached until 2053 Grant Thornton, 2024.

Any progressive employer should not only be striving for gender balance within the workplace but actively ensuring they have an effective gender parity strategy in place to plug current organisational gaps.

Not only should strategies focus on upward mobility for women but also on retention for female leaders. Effective strategies often require nuanced approaches that span employee benefits, competency-based hiring and pay and the need for a cultural shift in often deep-rooted, systemic biases.

The impact of women in leadership

Here are some of the top line and most well documented positive impacts that gender equity and increased numbers of women within senior leadership teams can offer organisations.

Improved organisational performance 

Countless studies have shown a clear and definite correlation between women in senior leadership and improved company performance. This not only applies to improved financial performance but extends granularly into individual employee performance.

Studies have also shown that an increased number of women on board teams can de-risk company performance, reducing the incidence of lawsuits, corporate crimes and tarnished organisational reputations.

Increased innovation

In addition to performance, organisations with a higher percentage of women in senior leadership have been found to both invest more in innovation and be more innovative overall.

This has been attributed to increased diversity, viewpoints and creative approaches to decision making apparent within gender-equitable senior leadership teams.

Enhanced employee engagement 

Studies have also found that an increased number of women in senior leadership improves overall employee engagement and retention—regardless of gender or identity.

Employees from companies with higher proportions of women are more likely to report overall levels of job satisfaction and positive organisational culture.

Women are more likely to embody empathy and prioritise communication within their leadership style, often driving a more positive and meaningful workplace culture.

Strategies for retention

Effective retention strategies are multi-faceted, but for senior female talent, they must address the unique physical and systemic barriers that disproportionately lead to exits during these critical career stages.

The Menopause

This is one of the single most costly and overlooked drivers of senior female attrition. 

Most women reach their career peak and hold senior roles in their late 40s and early 50s, the exact age when perimenopause and menopause symptoms manifest.

• Leaving the Workforce: 1 million women per year leave their jobs due to menopause-related struggles and workplace inaccessibility. (Gender Health Gap 2024) 
• 17% (1 in 6) have seriously considered leaving CIPD, 2024.
• 53% of women have taken time off due to menopause symptoms (Gender Health Gap 2024)

Address gender pay gaps

Despite women in SLT contributing to improved company performance, the pay gap persists. 

Ensuring transparency across pay structures is essential for acquiring top talent and retaining the best female employees.

Fair compensation reflective of competency, irrespective of gender, combined with regular reviews and a clear commitment to closing any outstanding pay gaps is critical.

Offer fertility and reproductive health benefits

Companies must recognise that women’s hormones impact them for nearly their entire lifespan, from period health and fertility through to menopause, and the workplace must cater for these life changes. 

Introducing things like: 

• At-Home Hormone and Fertility Testing, for early stage diagnosis and proactive hormone health support
• Clinical Services like menopause consultations, HRT prescription, counselling, nutritionists, and more 
• Education sessions for colleagues to raise awareness of the impact of menopause and other life stages
• Workplace adjustments, like flexible work from home options etc
• Specific workplace policies that cover all life stage health – menstruation through menopause

Educate employees on second-generation gender bias

Harvard Business Review recently reported that an integral part of upward organisational mobilisation for women is the removal of second-generation bias. This is often deeply rooted in organisational practices, creating ‘invisible’ barriers for women.

Bias can lead not only to a reduced number of women in SLT but also implicitly hostile working environments for them when they get there. Making employees aware of bias can radically alter attitudes and foster possibilities for meaningful change.

The future of your senior teams 

The need for women within leadership is, evidently, more crucial than ever. The World Bank and the World Economic Forum (WEF) estimate that closing the global gender gap in employment and entrepreneurship could increase global GDP by an estimated $160 trillion World Bank, 2024. This is not a social initiative; it is an economic imperative.

Any successful 21st-century business must adopt a rigorous gender parity strategy focusing not only on upward mobilisation but also on retention by removing career-halting barriers like inadequate reproductive health support.

For support on the importance of introducing reproductive health support into your organisation, contact us at benefits@hertilityhealth.com, or book a call with us: hertilityhealth.com/workplace/contact-us