Section 3 Key Findings

The key findings from the survey are included here and organized into the following sections: work status, workplace satisfaction, home life, and community perceptions.

3.1 Work Status

  • The majority of women surveyed were full-time employees at one job and worked 35 to 50 hours per week.
  • 1 out of 5 women never received a job promotion in pay or title.
  • A little over half (53%) of women said that their employer had at least 250 employees; 21% of respondents reported working for organizations with fewer than 20 employees.

3.2 Workplace Satisfaction

  • A majority of women surveyed were satisfied with their supervisor and organization which is reflected in women reporting that their opinion at work was valued by both their colleagues and work supervisor.
  • The majority of women were also satisfied with various aspects of their job, such as having the flexibility to use flextime or take personal time.
  • Women were less satisfied with their base salary / wage. A higher salary was identified as a top factor — alongside workplace culture — for considering a job change.
  • About 4 out of 5 women reported having felt burned out at work in the last few months.
  • More than half (60%) of women reported that they were at least satisfied with their professional development in their organization, and almost half (49%) of women identified access to professional development as having a positive impact on their career advancement.
  • Women ranked having greater time/schedule flexibility as the more important flexible benefit over remote work (either occasionally or full-time remote work).
  • Affordable medical insurance coverage (91% of women) and mental health coverage (82% of women) were the top-ranked benefits.
  • Bullying was the most frequent form of discrimination witnessed or experienced by women surveyed. About a quarter of women surveyed reported never witnessing or experiencing ageism, bullying, gender discrimination, and/or sexual harassment in the workplace.

3.3 Home Life

  • Half of the women survey reported never taking temporary or permanent leave from work to take care of family responsibilities like child or eldercare and when they did, it was for shorter periods (e.g., less than a month or 1-3 months).
  • Division of labor in the household skews toward women having all or the majority of the responsibility in the household.
  • While the majority of women surveyed reported not facing a career penalty from demands of family responsibility, 1 in 10 women reported being reprimanded, penalized, or terminated.

3.4 Community Perceptions

  • The bulk of surveyed women believe Winston-Salem is an affordable city to live and work in and one that welcomes professional women.
  • A bout half of the women said that Winston-Salem does not have enough quality and affordable child care.