Research

Through our proprietary research across different industries, we shine an expert light on the factors impacting women's appetite and ability to progress in their careers and to step into senior leadership roles.

Whether you are embarking on your gender equality journey or looking to build on your efforts and progress to date, our industry-leading insights can help you uncover and address hidden barriers that may be hindering female progression or triggering decisions to leave.

  • On average, women are 38% likely to leave their employer in the next two years.

    Why Women Leave, Encompass Equality

  • 70% of women say that their prospects for career progression have a 'huge' or 'significant' impact on their decision about whether to stay with or leave their employer.

    Why Women Leave, Encompass Equality

  • 82% of women say that the support they get from their line manager has a 'huge' or 'significant' impact bearing on their decision to stay or leave.

    Why Women Leave, Encompass Equality

Find out Why Women Leave

We believe that any efforts to close gender pay gaps must be rooted in a deeper understanding of the central issue of retention. Our 2023 cross-industry research of over 4,000 women looks at the factors that impact women’s decisions on whether to stay or leave their employer.

It clearly shows that the key to retention isn’t to fix women, it’s to fix organisations.


How gender influences retention

Our Why Women Leave research was updated in May 2024 to include new data from 1,400 men and reveals important differences between men and women in terms of the factors that influence their decisions about whether to stay with or leave their employer.

“We need to see the retention of women as a systemic and cultural challenge. We don’t need to fix the women, we need to fix organisations.”

Joy Burnford, Founder & CEO

Hear more about Why Women Leave

Report author, Edward Haigh, shares the key findings from the main Why Women Leave research of 4,000 women, and the updated insights including new data from 1,400 men in these two videos.

“This is an incredibly insightful piece of research…this evidence demonstrates why we must continue to take concerted action if we are to address the persistent inequalities that are holding women back.”

Anthony Painter, Director of Policy and External Affairs, Chartered Management Institute

“Your research has been pivotal in shaping the foundation of our new Diversity & Inclusion strategy, particularly the Gender Action Plan. We firmly believe in the power of data and evidence to guide and sharpen our efforts, and your report has provided us with the clarity to address critical challenges head-on. It has equipped me with the confidence to amplify these essential messages across our organisation, driving meaningful change and ensuring our initiatives are both focused and impactful.”

Lucy Kendall, Europe Head of Resourcing, Diversity & Inclusion, Laing O'Rourke

What our clients say about our research

Watch this video to hear about what our clients say about working with us on our research and the impact we have made to their organisations.

Nina Goswami, Head of Inclusion UK, Clifford Chance LLP

Membership

Encompass Equality membership gives you exclusive access to our unrivalled suite of industry-leading research, data and resources so you can stay ahead of the curve on what truly drives progress and moves the dial.