In media, we love to call ourselves progressive, but there’s one of the most expensive and damaging blind spots we keep ignoring: the mid-career cliff, writes Marilla Akkermans, founder and managing director of Equality Media + Marketing.
Women in their 30s, 40s, and 50s are among the most experienced, profitable, and influential individuals in our businesses. They hold client relationships together. They mentor the next generation. They carry the institutional memory that gets us through chaos. And yet, they’re the ones most likely to leave, or be quietly pushed out. And when they do, everyone pays.
The real cost of letting women go
Replacing skilled staff costs a fortune. According to the Society for Human Resource Management, replacing an experienced employee can cost anywhere between 50 per cent to 200 per cent of their annual salary, and that’s before you factor in lost client trust, slower delivery, and the time it takes to bring a replacement up to speed. Multiply that by a department, and you’re throwing away hundreds of thousands, even millions, every year.
The data shows it’s getting worse. McKinsey and LeanIn.org’s Women in the Workplace report found that mid-career women are leaving at the highest rates in over a decade. In some cases, for every woman promoted, two leave director-level roles. Not because they’re less ambitious, but because our industry still hasn’t been designed with them in mind. Caregiving. Career plateaus. Cultures that feel increasingly unwelcoming. It becomes impossible to keep going.
This isn’t a pipeline problem. It’s a design flaw.
Why mid-career women matter
When women leave at this stage, it’s not just people we lose—it’s profit. McKinsey’s Diversity Wins report shows companies in the top quartile for gender diversity at the executive level are 25 per cent more likely to outperform on profitability. Mid-career women are also often the ones mentoring younger, diverse talent, the backbone of any succession plan.
At Equality Media + Marketing, I’ve seen first hand what happens when you invest in mid-career women. In 2021, we rolled out our four-day, 32-hour workweek.
The result? Every single one of our previously part-time team members, nearly all mid-career women, has transitioned back into full-time roles. Retention now stands at 85 per cent, our headcount has increased by 65 per cent in six months and profit has risen considerably year-on-year. That’s not “nice to have.” That’s just good business.
How to stop the cliff
We don’t need more inspirational posters about resilience. We need to redesign work so people can actually stay. Start here:
- Make flexibility standard. Don’t punish mid-career women for needing autonomy. Our four-day week changed everything.
- Be transparent on pay. Close the quiet gaps that widen over time.
- Invest in growth at every stage. Ambition doesn’t expire at 30.
- Acknowledge real life. Name and normalise menopause, caregiving, and mental health.
- Start small if you have to. Meeting-free days and hybrid trials can make a difference right now.
As one analyst put it: “The hidden costs of mid-career attrition aren’t just financial, they erode the creative and strategic capital at the heart of every agency.”
Why it matters for our industry
This is urgent for Australian media and marketing, where competition for good people is fierce and international standards are shifting fast. Flexible, human-first workplaces are already experiencing stronger engagement, better retention, and more consistent growth, setting new benchmarks for what great looks like.
When you keep women in your business, you keep knowledge, creativity, stability and profit. You keep the very things we all say we care about. We can’t afford to keep bleeding talent in their prime. But we can choose to stop it.
And when we do, everyone wins.
Enter B&T’s Women In Media Awards, presented by Are Media, now!
