Survey finds more than half of women want to quit their jobs

There's new data out that suggests the number of women around the world who actively want to quit their jobs is at an all-time high.

Deloitte surveyed about 5,000 women and 53 per cent said they would like to quit within two years.

Sara McElroy, a career transition expert in the United States, said she's glad she's not the only one feeling that way.

“On the other side of two back-to-back career failures, I figured there have to be other women out there feeling like I’m feeling," McElroy said.

"So I decided to speak with other women who’ve been a part of the mass workplace exodus called The Great Resignation and have been interviewing them for a project I call 'Raze to Rise' to amplify their voices."

She described the Deloitte results as "red alarm type numbers."

"If we look on a five-year horizon, that number actually spikes to 90 per cent," McElroy said.

"There are only 10 per cent of women who intend to be with their current employer over the next five years, which is unreal."

Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce chair Anthony Davis said the survey is unwelcome news, with so many businesses already struggling to find staff.

“All the workforces all over Canada are struggling with skilled people working and hearing that 50 per cent of the women are thinking of leaving is stressful I imagine to all employers,” Davis said.

Reasons women want to quit vary, but McElroy said there are common themes.

“Many of us are experiencing the same sorts of things as far as burnout, reprioritization, problems with finding child care, things like that," she said.

"We all are united by the need to re-architect an approach to our careers that fits better into our lives.”

McElroy and Davis agree that to mitigate the problem, employers need to be flexible and accommodating to retain employees in the long term.

“They just need to understand their staff," Davis said.

"They need to understand which stage of life they’re in because 20-year-old Jane Doe is going be different than 40-year-old Jane Doe."