Julie Barker-Merz, vice-president and chief operating officer of BMO Insurance, never thought that being a woman helped or hindered her early in her career. But that changed once she hit the senior management level, when her career began to stall—and she watched some of her male peers move up the corporate ladder around her.
“It was the first time in my career where I felt that potential wasn’t associated with my career,” she said at the Women & Money Breakfast Roundtable hosted by BMO Wealth Management this week.
A BMO Financial Group survey of more than 1,000 Canadians reveals some troubling gaps relating to gender perceptions and roles in the workplace.
Two-thirds of Canadians believe that men have more career opportunities than their female counterparts. And more than half (55%) of Canadians—62% of women—feel there is still a “glass ceiling” when it comes to women and career advancement.
Barker-Merz was fortunate to have sponsorship and support to get her through that difficult time in her career. “So I did break through,” she added. “And ever since I broke through, I feel again like I did in my 20s, where the world is my oyster.”
The myth of work/life balance
One ongoing issue for women in the workforce—and for men as well—is the challenge of combining career and family. Can we really have it all?
“If you had asked me that question two years ago, before my son was born, my answer would have been very different,” said Caroline Dabu, vice-president and head of enterprise wealth planning with BMO Financial Group, who returned to work five months after her son’s birth. She talked about the difficulties of taking maternity leave when you’re in a senior management role. “No one told me, ‘You must come back before a year,’” she noted. “But you do put that pressure on yourself.”
Having to balance the demands of parenthood with a high-stakes career, Dabu now believes there is no such thing as work/life balance; there are always going to be trade-offs. “’Having it all’ is such an individual notion,” she added. “We really have to push the boundaries in terms of what ‘having it all’ means.”
A little help, please
So what can employers do to better support women at work?
Dabu believes we need to be upfront with women and men about the impact of taking parental leave on their earnings and career trajectory. “As senior leaders, we have to be honest with young women in terms of those trade-offs,” she explained, adding that “your career may not be a linear path.”
She also sees the lines blurring between personal time and work time—which can be a good thing, because it allows employees to manage their own time according to their priorities.
Technology is an enabler of this flexibility, noted Charyl Galpin, co-head, executive vice-president and managing director with BMO Nesbitt Burns, who calls it “both a blessing and a curse”. While the use of mobile technology may mean that employees have to be available outside of regular work hours, “the beauty of it is, it provides you with flexibility,” she said. “And I would say the one thing that’s changed the most in 35 years is that we have so many jobs now that allow you to manage the 24 hours in a day that work for you.”
To ensure that this flexibility is available to all employees, employers need to have formal policies and procedures for working off-site and flexible hours, added Myra Cridland, head of BMO Harris Private Banking.
But the biggest change needed is a cultural shift: companies need to recognize that workers are people, too, and have personal lives outside of work. “It’s most beneficial to be transparent,” said Viki Lazaris, chief administrative officer, wealth management, with BMO Financial Group. “You’re a real person first…and I think it helps for your team to see you like that and, hopefully, create an environment where people can feel confident that they get the support to support their families in a lot of different ways.”
Gone are the days of leaving your jacket on the chair and your door open to hide the fact that you’re leaving work due to family obligations, Barker-Merz added. “We have a responsibility to role model, and that’s important. And we have to drop the guilt.”
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