Across corporate America, women who have climbed to the highest rungs of the professional hierarchy are discovering that the achievement of power and prestige often comes hand in hand with another, far less welcome companion: exhaustion. A comprehensive report released on Tuesday by McKinsey & Company in partnership with LeanIn.org—a nonprofit organization founded by business leader and author Sheryl Sandberg—reveals troubling evidence that burnout among senior-level women has surged to its worst levels in half a decade. The findings underscore a crisis that extends beyond simple fatigue, reflecting deeper systemic imbalances in workload, recognition, and institutional support.
The study, titled *Women in the Workplace 2025*, indicates that approximately 60% of women in senior leadership positions have frequently experienced burnout within the past several months. This figure stands in stark contrast to the 50% of senior male leaders who reported similar levels of exhaustion. The gap is particularly severe among women who have only recently assumed their leadership roles. Among those who have worked at their current companies for five years or fewer, an astonishing 70% reported recurring burnout, while 81% admitted to heightened anxiety about job stability and long-term career prospects.
The report highlights that such elevated levels of concern are consistent with broader research indicating that women—especially those who are new to an organization—must often exert disproportionate effort to prove their competence and legitimacy. This dynamic fosters a constant state of hypervigilance, which can easily spiral into burnout. The authors further note that Black women in leadership positions encounter especially intense pressure, facing both exceptional burnout rates and widespread feelings of insecurity. In contrast, men and women with longer tenures within the same organization tend to experience comparable levels of well-being and job security, suggesting that the early years in leadership represent a uniquely vulnerable period for women striving to define their authority.
The *Women in the Workplace* report, now an annual benchmark for corporate gender equity, surveyed 9,500 employees across 124 organizations between July and August. These participating companies collectively employ around 3 million individuals, offering a remarkably large and representative cross-section of professional environments. To deepen their understanding, the researchers also conducted detailed interviews with 62 senior human resources executives and incorporated company-reported data that shed light on how corporate structures either support or hinder female advancement.
LeanIn.org initially launched this joint study with McKinsey in 2015 to track the progression of women through different stages of the corporate pipeline, identifying precisely where organizational systems falter in promoting equality. The organization itself takes its name from Sandberg’s 2013 best-selling book, *Lean In*, which ignited a national dialogue about the meaning of ambition, leadership, and gender parity in the workplace.
Unfortunately, this year’s findings portray a deeply concerning picture for women who have reached top executive positions. Many senior women, the report notes, hesitate to further pursue advancement because they perceive the path ahead as more treacherous and less attainable than it is for their male peers. Eleven percent of women in senior management who have chosen not to pursue higher roles cite what they view as an unrealistic or blocked route to promotion, compared with merely 3% of men who express the same sentiment. Furthermore, 21% of senior women report seeing more leaders—especially women—around them visibly burned out or unhappy, nearly twice the proportion of men who make similar observations.
Critically, the McKinsey-LeanIn findings dispel the notion that women are less dedicated or invested in their careers. The report makes it clear that men and women demonstrate equal commitment to their work and organizations. What diverges, however, is not their work ethic but their appetite to continue ascending. This distinction manifests in what the analysts term an “ambition gap.” According to the data, 80% of women expressed a desire to be promoted to the next organizational level, compared with 86% of men. The disparity is widest at the earliest and most senior stages of career progression: at the entry level, only 69% of women aspire to rise to the next position versus 80% of men, while among senior executives the corresponding figures are 84% and 92%.
For the first time in the eleven-year history of this landmark report, women’s stated interest in promotion has fallen below that of men. This decline represents a pivotal shift in workplace dynamics. Yet encouragingly, the ambition gap appears to diminish entirely when female employees receive equal access to mentorship, sponsorship, and growth opportunities—forms of professional support that have historically favored men. The researchers conclude that organizational culture, not individual motivation, lies at the root of this discrepancy. As Sandberg herself emphasized in an interview with Bloomberg Television following the report’s release, women are not choosing to disengage; rather, they are reacting to environments that fail to equip them with comparable opportunities for advancement. “This is only happening in companies that are not doing the right thing,” she said. “When women receive full support and the same stretch assignments as their male peers, they are not leaning out at all.” Sandberg further explained that women encounter additional barriers at nearly every career stage, forcing them to work harder simply to remain visible and competitive.
Yet while the necessity for inclusive initiatives has never been clearer, the report warns of a discouraging trend: many companies are quietly scaling back their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts. Despite public pledges of commitment, roughly one in six organizations has reduced the size or resources of their DEI teams. Approximately 13% have curtailed or eliminated programs specifically designed to foster women’s career development, while another 13% have withdrawn funding from formal sponsorship programs—a move that carries serious implications, since such sponsorships often play a decisive role in helping employees, particularly women, achieve promotions and gain access to key assignments.
The report underscores the significance of sponsorship as a career accelerator. Women are, on average, less likely than men to have sponsors—senior advocates who champion their visibility and advancement. This absence has measurable consequences: employees who benefit from active sponsorship are promoted at nearly twice the rate of those who lack such guidance and advocacy.
Compounding the challenge, organizations are also retreating from remote and flexible working arrangements, both of which have proven critical for many women balancing intense professional demands with personal or family responsibilities. About one in four companies has scaled back hybrid or fully remote policies, while 13% have reduced flexible working hours over the past year alone. These shifts threaten to erode gains made in recent years that enabled women to remain in the workforce and pursue leadership without sacrificing well-being. However, the report also points out a paradox: women who work remotely most of the time are statistically less likely to have sponsors or to have been promoted in the last two years compared with women who work primarily on-site. Men, in contrast, tend to receive comparable levels of sponsorship and promotion regardless of their work location.
At the entry level—the phase where mentorship, advocacy, and visibility are most crucial—the inequities continue. The study finds that women are consistently less likely than men to be offered ‘stretch’ assignments or high-impact projects that showcase their capabilities and position them for career advancement. Without these opportunities, women’s early momentum slows, which in turn affects the composition of future leadership cohorts.
Interestingly, last year’s iteration of the *Women in the Workplace* report did offer cautious optimism, noting that more women had successfully ascended to senior leadership than ever before. As of 2024, women held 29% of C-suite roles, reflecting meaningful progress from 17% in 2015. Yet the current report reveals that progress at the top masks stagnation—and even regression—elsewhere in the corporate hierarchy. For instance, in 2018, for every 100 men promoted to managerial positions, only 79 women advanced. Today, that number has improved only marginally—to 81 women per 100 men. These persistent disparities illuminate why the mounting burnout among senior women is not just a personal health crisis, but a structural one that will continue to undermine equity unless organizations take deliberate and sustained action to address it.
Sourse: https://www.businessinsider.com/women-senior-leaders-burn-out-mckinsey-lean-in-workplace-report-2025-12
