Recruit and retain women at work

This is the second article in a series about Iceberg Demographics and how to manage new realities regarding inclusion in the workplace. You can read the first article here.

Organizations are increasingly relying on women - who often are the primary or sole breadwinners in their households - to fill jobs in the U.S. economy. New insights into the barriers and constraints HR leaders will have to address to successfully recruit and retain women moving forward are provided in a new Census Bureau Household Trends and Outlook Plus Survey (HTOPS).

The ability to recruit and retain women at work

We refer to the types of workforce barriers and constraints uncovered in the HTOPS survey as Iceberg Demographics. That’s because these constraints, like 90 percent of a freshwater iceberg submerged below the water line, are not immediately visible or apparent in job screenings or in routine interactions in the workplace. 

We also argue that these challenges transcend the visible intersections in the workplace, such as race, ethnicity and gender, and are misconstrued, often, as signs of a poor work ethic or performance rather than manifestations of the uncertainty and turbulence that dominate lived experiences in today’s highly polarized society.

According to HTOPS, there are four categories of iceberg demographic workforce and workplace challenges: Physical limitations, cognitive issues, economic vulnerabilities and caregiving constraints. Working-aged women are overrepresented in all four categories compared to frequencies in the total working age population.

Physical limitations

Women report both seeing difficulties and mobility constraints at higher frequencies than all working age survey respondents. HTOPS does not specify the reasons for these physical limitations.

But research suggests that these constraints reflect either age-related genetic maladies or the early onset of vision and mobility issues, which remain unaddressed because of the escalating cost of health care. These include “seeing” issues, such as dry eye disease, cataracts and glaucoma and mobility constraining muscular skeletal disorders caused by auto immune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis and lupus.

Such conditions might not be evident or visibly apparent in routine work encounters, consistent with our iceberg metaphor. However, they can affect worker productivity and contribute to high rates of worker turnover unless appropriate accommodations are made.

The frequency of reported cognitive issues, defined as “problems with a person’s ability to think, learn, remember, use judgement and make decisions,” was high among all HTOPS respondents. But, notably, working age females reported worry, anxiety, depression and loneliness as well as difficulty remembering/concentrating at significantly higher rates than all working age individuals. Consistent with our iceberg demographic frame, these cognition issues can be invisible in the workplace and, if left unaddressed, can severely impact job performance and lead to voluntary quits and forced terminations.

Watch the full session on digital transformation for inclusive workplaces. 

Other challenges

Women’s cognition issues likely stemmed from the economic and caregiving challenges - household level iceberg demographics - they were experiencing when the survey was conducted in February 2025. According to HTOPs, working-age women had difficulty covering household expenses, paying energy bills and rent, securing enough food to eat and avoiding the risk of eviction at higher frequencies than the general working-age population.

Those with young children were more likely than all working-age individuals to experience job loss because of the lack of access to childcare. They also had more trouble accessing mental health treatment for their children, which likely can be attributed to staffing shortages and inadequate funding for such services in public schools.  

Investments in workforce housing and accessible, affordable, and high-quality childcare, we contend, will go a long way toward successfully addressing these and a much broader set of Iceberg Demographic challenges that women face in the U.S. labor market. Our view is that such investments will reduce the frequency of cognition issues and lessen the impact of physical health challenges uncovered in HTOPS.

Accommodations for menopause

Given the nation’s aging workforce, organizations have begun to develop accommodations for menopause, which is a major iceberg demographic that mature women face. Organizations need to replicate HTOPS to determine the prevalence of other iceberg demographics identities in their existing workforces. And they must demonstrate empathy and compassion by establishing targeted workplace accommodations and benefits for female iceberg demographic challenges.

This data-driven approach to reimagining workforce policy making and practices will create a keen sense of belonging for women employees which, in turn, will enhance female talent recruitment and retention. This is not only the right thing to do; it is enlightened self-interest for organizations striving to compete for talent in an ever-changing global marketplace.

James H. Johnson, Jr. is the William Rand Kenan, Jr. Distinguished Professor of strategy and entrepreneurship in UNC-Chapel Hill’s Kenan-Flagler Business School.

Stephen J. Appold is a Senior Research Associate in the Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise’s Urban Investment Strategies Center.

Jeanne Milliken Bonds is a Professor of Practice, Impact Investing and Sustainable Finance, at UNC-Chapel Hill’s Kenan-Flagler Business School. 

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