About 72% working women in India reject  job roles that don't allow them to work flexibly, revealed LinkedIn report. 

The research finds that poor employer sentiment towards flexible working and career breaks is holding women back from asking for greater flexibility and re-entering the workforce. In fact, India's working women are quitting or considering quitting their jobs in 2022 as pay cuts, bias, and exclusion become their penalties for working flexibly.

A 72% of working women are rejecting job roles that don't allow them to work flexibly, while 70% have already quit or considered quitting their jobs because they weren't offered the right flexible policies. When asked about the benefits of flexible working, around 2 in 5 women said it improves their work-life balance (43%) and helps them progress their careers (43%), while 1 in 3 said it improves their mental health (34%) and increases their likelihood of staying in their current jobs (33%).

But due to strong employer bias, India's working women are paying heavy penalties to work flexibly. 9 in 10 (88%) working women had to take a pay cut to work flexibly, 2 in 5 (37%) had their flexible working request denied, and 1 in 4 (27%) struggled to convince their bosses to accept their request. This has made women reluctant towards asking for greater flexibility because they fear exclusion, being held back from promotions, working overtime, taking pay cuts, and being treated unfavourably by their superiors.

Given the impending guilt and stigma around flexible policies, 1 in every 3 working women in India shies away from telling their clients (34%), colleagues (35%), and friends (33%) that they work flexibly.

As working women continue to juggle between personal commitments and career progress within rigid schedules, 4 in every 5 (78%) working women in India are taking career breaks to improve their well-being, plan career changes, and boost their confidence at work. With 9 in 10 working women using their time off to learn new hard and soft skills, career breaks are helping women to upskill and boost their employability in today's tight job market.

But despite these benefits of sabbaticals, about 4 in every 5 (77%) working women in India who took a break say that it had actually set them back in their careers. This is due to the prevalent stigma associated with career breaks among recruiters and employers, which has made it difficult for every second (50%) working woman in India to explain their career break to recruiters. As a result, many choose to exclude career breaks from their CVs (42%) or lie about their breaks to potential recruiters when being interviewed (35%).

Forced to tiptoe about their career breaks, 80% of India's working women wish for ways that would help them represent their career breaks more positively to hiring managers.

"Flexible working is the No. 1 priority today for all professionals, especially for working women. In fact, our research finds that India is at the brink of a 'flexidus' with 7 out of 10 working women quitting or considering quitting their jobs due to lack of flexibility. This is a warning sign for companies and recruiters to remove the stigma surrounding the need for flexibility and career breaks, and introduce stronger flexibility policies if they don't want to lose top talent.