Survey highlights career impact of taking a break

Nearly half of women [45%] who have taken a career break say that it has damaged their career, with 42% saying they are earning less, often a lot less, as a result, according to a new survey.

The Confidence Gap Report, commissioned by TechPixies, which teaches social media and digital marketing skills to women wanting to return to work, asked 1,000 working women what impact time out of the workplace had on their career. The survey showed confidence was a big issue for returners.

• Nearly half (45%) of respondents said they’d feel less anxious at work if only they could lose their self-doubt about their ability
• One in three women (33%) feel anxious that colleagues are more up to speed with digital skills than they are
• A quarter (24%) of women feel that a lack of confidence is their greatest stumbling block when returning to work

Taking a career break has a negative impact on a woman’s take-home pay too with 42% of women claiming they earn less now compared to when they went on a career break. Some 22% earned up to £10,000 less a year, 16% earned between £10,000 to £20,000 less a year after their career break and 4% earned over £20,000 less a year. Overall, this has left women returners feeling financially insecure and worried for their future with 37% of women saying they feel less confident about their long-term earning potential.

Other issues faced by returners include:

• Almost a third (29%) of women feeling side-lined or undervalued
• One in ten (10%) are doing work that they would describe as ‘beneath their ability’
• Nearly half (47%) of women describe their current work as simply ‘a means to an end’, laying waste to so much unharnessed female talent.

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