What if women were the best barometer of the health of your company? This is the provocative, and solidly supported, thesis of a study published in May 2026 by ChooseMyCompany and the Women’s Forum for the Economy and Society. Conducted among 35,000 female employees in France between March 2025 and March 2026, it provides a clear conclusion: women see crises coming before anyone else. To ignore their experience is to deprive ourselves of the most reliable warning signal there is.
Women: the best radar in the company
The study reveals a striking figure. Between 2020 and 2026, women’s evaluations changed almost three times faster than those of men. Their satisfaction score has six times greater variability: 6.4 standard deviation points compared to 2.4 points for men.
This is not a sign of fragility. On the contrary, it is a major strategic advantage. Where traditional indicators remain stable, women detect tensions, dysfunctions and weak signals earlier. They reveal the gap between what the organization plans… and what it actually allows you to do.
In other words: what women say today, all employees will say tomorrow.
What really motivates women, and it’s not what we think
6 out of 10 women say they are motivated at work in 2026. Good news. But what engages them in the long term surprises those who expected peripheral answers: flexibility, benefits, atmosphere.
The first five motivation levers are actually very concrete:
- Positive relationships with customers and partners : 72.8%
- Work effectively mobilizing their skills : 71.1%
- Usefulness and impact of the work : 70.1%
- Manager support : 69.1%
- Useful feedback from manager : 68%
The message is clear. Women want to fully practice their profession. They want to contribute, decide, deliver. When these conditions exist, motivation naturally follows. Not because the organization promises more, but because it allows you to act effectively.
Brakes: systemic and not individual blockages
However, several dimensions remain profoundly insufficient. And they all have one thing in common: they relate to the ability to understand, decide and act collectively.
So, only 42.6% of women say that their opinions are taken into account at work. Collaboration between services only convinces 49.1% of them. Change management satisfies 48.1%. And the understanding of decisions falls to 42.6%, more than 12 points below the men’s score.
This is not trivial. When decisions remain opaque and transformations unexplained, the organization loses coherence. It also loses performance.
But these are the numbers on the organizational justice which appeal the most:
- Equal opportunities: 57.7% (-12.3 pts vs men)
- Development prospects: 51.5% (-11.8 pts vs men)
- Remuneration considered suitable: 38.5% (-11 pts vs men)
Only 38.5% of women believe that their salary is adequate. This figure alone should alert all HR departments. Especially since the European directive on salary transparency comes into force in June 2026.
AI and teleworking: two transformations under pressure
The study also looks at two major upheavals of 2026. The results are revealing.
Teleworking is declining…unevenly
Since 2021, women and men have perceived work/life balance in a relatively similar way. In 2026, the gap widens sharply: 9 points now separate the two groups. The highest level observed in five years. 69% of women say they are satisfied with this balance, compared to nearly 78% of men.
This movement reflects a direct reaction to the increasing restrictions on teleworking. A lever that had enabled many women to invest more fully in their business is now under pressure. And they are the ones who pay the price first.
AI: they want to understand, not suffer
On artificial intelligence, women are sending a very clear message. Alone 4 out of 10 declare that they understand concretely how generative AI will impact their business and their activities. Among men, this figure reaches almost two thirds.
But be careful: this is not a lack of interest. It is precisely the opposite. 75% of women want to be supported to integrate AI into their professional practices. They do not reject transformation. They identify what it lacks to really function. As is often the case in this study, they reveal the conditions necessary for success, before the rest of the organization formulates them.
Proof from the best: when the organization works, everything changes
The study doesn’t just point out the problems. It also shows what works, and that’s where the data becomes truly inspiring.
In organizations ranked Best-In-Class by ChooseMyCompany, 84% of women and 85% of men say they are satisfied, compared to 64.5% on the national average. Nine out of ten employees recommend their company, women and men alike.
Better yet: in these organizations, the gaps between women and men disappear almost completely. On understanding decisions, women achieve 77.5% (compared to 42.6% on average). On equal opportunities: 85.8% (compared to 57.7%). And finally, on adapted remuneration: 73.6% (compared to 38.5%).
The conclusion is clear. These differences are not inevitable. They disappear when the organization offers a clear, readable and equitable framework. The best companies do not meet specific expectations for women. They simply create the conditions in which each can understand, contribute and progress.
Becoming a manager transforms everything
The study once again provides a particularly powerful demonstration. Becoming a manager radically transforms the experience of women, much more than age or seniority.
Among female managers, the gaps in perception with men: often between 8 and 12 points among individual contributors; are reduced to 1 or 2 points only. Sometimes they disappear completely.
For what ? Because women managers have direct access to information. They participate in decisions. Their words are heard. Their role becomes legible.
This result confirms an essential point: it’s not the expectations that differ. These are the conditions for access to understanding and action.
What does this actually change for your business?
Based on these lessons, the study makes five recommendations. Here is the gist of it:
- Anchor it clarity at the heart of your transformations: explain, associate, give meaning.
- Place fair and respected rules : say what you do, do what you say.
- Structure a real listeningintegrated into decisions, not just declarative.
- Align your equality indicators on the actual experience.
- And finally, do full place for women in managerial and decision-making roles.
This study does not talk about diversity in the formal sense of the term. She talks about performance, resilience, the ability to execute in a world in constant transformation.
Women do not describe a different reality. They reveal the future of organizations. So the question is no longer whether you should listen to them. It’s whether you can afford not to do it.
“If you want to know how your organization is performing today, look at your metrics. If you want to know if it will work tomorrow, listen to women. » – ChooseMyCompany x Women’s Forum, May 2026
