It took a global pandemic, but reality is finally catching up with all workers that mothers and caregivers have always known: it is nearly impossible to work within the current confines AND be present and able to take care of your family.
Working in an environment with specific, inflexible hours and at a location away from your home makes it difficult to break away for appointments and impromptu meetings at school.
Kathy Caprino makes the case in an article for Forbes “How Professionals and Organizations Need to Prepare For the ‘Great Resignation’” that more and more of us of ALL walks of life are going to start calling the shots in our own way.
The aviation data shows a sharp decline in female commercial pilots after the age of 29, in fact there is a 50% decrease in commercial pilot licenses held by women aged 25-29 versus 35-39 years. While according to the CDC, the number of live births per 1,000 women was greatest in those aged 30-34 years.
Overall across industries, research has shown that 43% of highly skilled women leave the workforce after becoming mothers. 86% of working mothers will leave a job for an opportunity that better supports their work and life considerations. 75% of women surveyed believe employer support of work-life flexibility is the most critical criteria for feeling respected at work.
We have highlighted more of these statistics in our research HERE.
So, now what? The article in Forbes highlights how freelancers are becoming more and more prevalent and are projected to make up over half of all employees by 2027. That time is quickly approaching.
And now that we have this data and we have the numbers of people who cannot continue to live and work in the same old, same old, are we going to keep trying to force ourselves into a system that does not accommodate us or do we come together and disrupt for the better? (Hopefully this is rhetorical.)
Change is not impossible or so out of reach that it won’t happen and aviation is no different. We can make a large-scale change based on what our friends and colleagues have repeatedly told us they need and support, and it’s what Hera is advocating for and working toward every day.
Employees want to be trusted to have control over their own schedules and time while also getting their work done. As long as deadlines are met and clients are happy, who is to say if this is done in four hours or six? This is especially critical with salaried employees or those paid by project and not hourly.
Hera works every day to reach out to organizations and groups that want to make these changes in their pilot workforces. We have met with wonderful, engaged, and empathetic leaders who see how critical it is for the aviation community to make this shift in culture NOW before we are left with a critical lack of talent in the pool.
Our programs range from initial assessments to fully guided workshops to take employees through the steps needed for their specific organization. Not only will aviation be able to attract the generation that is coming up and requiring a new way of working but it will retain and even bring back so many who have had to step aside.
So, what say you? Change with us now or leave all your talent to be scooped up by competitors?