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Irish women lack workplace confidence compared to international peers

A new survey of 19 countries has found Irish women lack confidence in the workplace compared to t...
Newstalk
Newstalk

09.30 8 Jun 2016


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Irish women lack workplace con...

Irish women lack workplace confidence compared to international peers

Newstalk
Newstalk

09.30 8 Jun 2016


Share this article


A new survey of 19 countries has found Irish women lack confidence in the workplace compared to their international peers.

The data from LinkedIn, conducted by Censuswide, reveal that Irish women lack confidence in telling their work story and are less proud of their work achievements.

Just 19% of Irish women say that they are proud of their work achievements, compared to 26% internationally.

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This is marginally ahead of UK at 18% - but lags far behind countries like India at 30%, Spain at 38% and the USA at 38%.

But the study also found that only 46% of Irish women were confident they could effectively describe their work achievements if they “stumbled across their dream employer” - compared to 56% of Irish men asked the same question.

The survey found that almost 23% of women stated they would “panic” if they were asked on the spot to describe their achievements - compared to just 12% of men.

When it comes to sharing professional achievements online, Irish women were also less likely to talk about promotions than their male colleagues.

Some 20% of males surveyed would happily post about promotions online, compared to 13% of females.

"There is a real opportunity for women" - LinkedIn's Wendy Murphy

Family first

The findings also showed that women like to share their family’s work achievements ahead of their own.

Less than one-in-five feel pride in talking about their own achievements but more than double, 40%, feel pride in sharing information about their family’s professional success.

This compares to only 26% of males asked how proud they were about sharing details of family success in the workplace.

It is thought this lack of confidence and pride in communicating achievements may affect career progression, as 63% of those hiring agree it is important to let senior staff members know about professional achievements in order to get a pay rise or promotion.

“There is a real opportunity for women working in Ireland to consider how they tell their work story and showcase their professional achievements”, according to LinkedIn’s senior director of HR for LinkedIn EMEA, Wendy Murphy.

“Being comfortable communicating the fruits of your hard work is vital if you want to climb the career ladder”.

“Telling your work story online is of the utmost importance for career progression and advancement too, with 70%of those in hiring positions agreeing that the impression you make online is just as important as the one you make in person”, she added.

The study surveyed 11,228 adults in employment in Canada, the United States, Brazil, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, the UK, Ireland, India, Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Sweden, Mexico, France, Singapore, China and Japan.


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