What Deloitte and Zoom’s Recent Benefits Cuts Tell Women About Their Worth

What do uneven benefits changes from mega corporations tell us about how these workplaces value women? In the past few months, both Deloitte and Zoom have publicly announced significant changes to particular portions of their employee benefits packages. These adjustments amount to telling certain employees (mostly women) that they matter less than others. 

By slashing paid family and medical leave and paid time off for “support roles,” Deloitte is effectively hamstringing the predominantly female portion of their staff - those workers in positions like finance, admin, and HR (and the changes also impact IT and marketing). Comparatively, they confirmed that no deductions will befall employees in client-facing positions. In this episode, I break down what companies are saying when they curb vital childcare and parental benefits for the portion of their workforce that shoulders the bulk of caregiving responsibilities.

Learn more about this “gender-scrubbing” form of sexism that perpetuates workplace inequity, including:

• How companies use language to erase women from the narrative;
• The dangerous precedent that a change like this sets;
• Why not all two-tier benefit structures are made equal;
• Four steps you can take to make your voice heard.

Related Links:

• Episode 451, The Impact of Return-to-Office Mandates on Working Moms - https://www.bossedup.org/podcast/episode451
• Episode 540, The Double Disadvantage: AI, Women, and the Future of Work - 
• https://www.bossedup.org/podcast/episode540
• CXM, Deloitte’s Two-Tier Benefits Cut: Smart Cost Management or a Signal About Who Matters? - https://cxm.world/employee-experience/deloittes-two-tier-benefits-cut-smart-cost-management-or-a-signal-about-who-matters/
• HR Executive, PTO pullback: Did Deloitte, Zoom just set a new precedent? - https://hrexecutive.com/pto-pullback-did-deloitte-zoom-just-set-a-new-precedent/
• Inc, The Great Rollback Has Begun: Deloitte and Zoom Take the Lead in Slashing the Most Coveted Benefits - https://www.inc.com/kaylawebster/the-great-rollback-has-begun-deloitte-and-zoom-take-the-lead-in-slashing-the-most-coveted-benefits/91333534
• HRDive, Deloitte, Zoom benefit cuts threaten employee trust and retention, experts say - https://www.hrdive.com/news/deloitte-zoom-benefits-cuts-a-risk-to-employee-trust-retention/818818/
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 39 Percent of Manages in 2015 Were Women - https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2016/39-percent-of-managers-in-2015-were-women.htm
• Susan Colantuono, They Erased the Word “Women.” That Was the Point - https://www.bebusinesssavvy.com/p/they-erased-the-word-women-that-was
• Bipartisan Policy Center, Paid Family Leave Across OECD Countries - https://bipartisanpolicy.org/explainer/paid-family-leave-across-oecd-countries/
• Businesswire, Child Care Overtakes Retirement as a Top Workplace Benefit – But Employers Are Falling Behind, According to New KinderCare Research - https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260219275404/en/Child-Care-Overtakes-Retirement-as-a-Top-Workplace-Benefit-But-Employers-Are-Falling-Behind-According-to-New-KinderCare-Research
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Women in the labor force, 2024: occupation employment profiles of women and men by age - https://www.bls.gov/opub/reports/womens-databook/2024/home.htm
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Household Data, Employed people by occupation, sex, and age - https://www.bls.gov/web/empsit/cpseea19.pdf
• New America, A Chapter of “Paid Family Leave: How Much Time Is Enough?”, Economic Impact - https://www.newamerica.org/insights/paid-family-leave-how-much-time-enough/economic-impact/
• TAKE ACTION with Bossed Up - https://www.bossedup.org/takeaction
• Bossed Up Courage Community - https://www.facebook.com/groups/927776673968737/
• Bossed Up LinkedIn Group - https://www.linkedin.com/groups/7071888/

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