Dynamics of Job Quitting among High Educated Female Former Employees

The number of female employee in the society is increasing from year to year. The increament is closely connected with the success rate of goverment’s family planning programs; women’s emancipation movements; wider scope of work for white collar workers; new fields and business opportunites suitable for side jobs which have flexible hours or don’t require hours like a conventional full time jobs; as well as higher importance of personal attitute, values, and choices (Hakim, 1990). The growth of working women In Indonesia can be seen in the the current data of Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration (Kementrian Tenaga Kerja dan Transmigrasi or Kemenakertrans) for the two genders (http:// pusdatinaker.balitfo.depnakertrans.go.id). The data showed that the ratio of the workers has changed over the period of August 2008 to February 2010. In August 2008, the difference between male and female workers was 25% and the percentage has decreased for 2% in February 2010. In the same period of time, the percentage of female workers has increased from 90% to 92% of all woman in Indonesia in the productive age group. This national number for working woman in Indonesia is quite good, though compare to other countries in the south East Asia region, the number is still relatively low. World Bank Data (http://data.worldbank.org) from 2005 to 2008 showed that in Indonesia, the percentage difference between male and female workers Vol. 5 | No. 2 ISSN: 2089-6271

Continuing these studies, this study wanted to look beyond the dynamics of decision-making process of the interrelation and interaction of these factors (cf.Nurrachman, 2011).Decision-making models that are linear and quantitatively insufficient to explain the meaning of the decision-making experience as well as a woman (cf.Burman, 2002;Porter, 2002).Time series between the before, during and after the decision can not be seen as partial.Also included are discussions, situations and events that are experienced and interpreted a woman with the people around her is a very unique theme to be reduced.

Participant
Using the "Snow Ball" technic, this research involved 12 women.Several participants who had been interviewed were asked to give refferals of her colleages who have similar characters and backgrounds.Those potential participants aqquired from the first participants were then contacted for their participation in this research.The interview process was be semi-constructed, interviewer explained to the participant at the beginning of the session the goal of the research as well as requested their participation in the research.
Participants were all female who was no longer working full time at an office.Length of employment was between 3-7 years, with average of 5 years.Income level was between 2 to 18 millions per month, with average of 10.5 Most of the participants were stayed home mom, only 3 was working as freelancers and 1 as part-timers during the research.Participant's work place was Jakarta and resided in Jakarta or Jakarta's surrounding areas.The age group was between 30 to 37 years old, with average of 33 years old.Most participants have 2 children, 4 participants have one child and 1 participant has 3 children.

Procedure
Once the participant has agreed to participate in the research then the interview was started.
Researcher explained that a recorder was used during the interview to record the entire session.
However, participant still has the right to exclude any part of the conversation which she did not wish to be recorded.Length of the interview was ranging between 1.5 to 2 hours.Data collection is also done through email and chat communications and conduct home visits to the respondent.
On the basis of grounded research (cf.Willig, 2008) which is inductive, data are categorized and openly decoded for synthesized and summarized.. Analyses then performed to obtain the relationship and comparison between categorization and also to see the negative cases that arise.Analysis then formed a "theory" which derived from the data.

Spouse's Support for Working Woman
All participants said that their spouse supported their career.There are two main reasons: self development for the wife and financial needs.
According to the participants, their spouse realized that they have potentials which should be utilized and developed in their work field.Otherwise, their highly educated background and their hardwork in building a career would be such a waste.Their spouse perceived that working has more benefits than not working at all.
Malaysia and Philippines have a similar number to Indonesia, while for Singapore (23%-24%) and Thailand (15%) the percentage difference was smaller.This data indicated that even only in this region, the percentage difference between the two working genders in Indonesia is still relatively big, eventhough the number of working woman nationaly is growing.
One of the growth in number of working woman occured in the University Graduate (UG) female worker group.Kemenakertrans data showed growth from 39% to 41% within August 2008 to February 2010 for this particular group of female worker.In DKI Jakarta itself, the percentage of this group leveled the national percentage for February 2008.During the same period, the number of female worker who is working for 35-44 hours per week was increased by 11%, which included the 15% increament of UG female worker within that working hours duration.
However, despite the rising number of educated working woman in the field, there are still many fundamental differences between the two working groups that haven't changed.These differences are more obvious when the two genders are compared in more detail groupings such as certain working hours, managerial ranks, and income level.In the longer working hour duration of 45-59 hours per week, the percentage of male worker increased by 26% while for female worker decreased by 14%.
In managerial ranks, data showed that head of companies as well as top management in general were dominated by male workers.International Labor Organization noted that in Indonesia, from 2003 to 2007, the percentage of female for that ranks were never exceeded 22% (http://laborsta.

ilo.org). Current data from Kemenakertrans for
August 2008 to February 2010 also showed similar trend (http://pusdatinaker.balitfo.depnakertrans.go.id).Whereas based on their income level, male workers in average were still earning more than female workers by 12% to 14% difference.Those facts mentioned above clearly indicated the inequity which happened between the two genders working groups in the field, even for highly educated working women.This inequity of opportunity for higher earnings and promotions which often occured at work were a few examples and has become some of the reasons for working women to quit their jobs.
Aside from those reasons above, another major factor that often drove working women to quit their jobs was having a child.According to Barnes and Jones (1974), quitting job can be categorized into two categories, 1) Shifting in work field: from one occupation to another one or from working to non working.2) Leaving the work field.The second category usually encouraged by changes that come with marriage, pregnancy, parenthood, and retirement disability.Woman tend to concentrate in her career for a period of time in the beginning, but then tend to find balance between her career and family life in later life (Sullivan and Mainiero,2008).This balancing period usually initiated by the process of marriage, pregnancy, and parenthood (Sullivan and Mainiero, 2008;Stanfors, 2006).Pysical and Socio-pyscological changes that arised from those events often times drove women to end their career (Goldin, 2004).
Research further indicated that once they quit their job, it is unlikely for women to resume their career (Meitzen, 1986).
Research that studied background factors that As long as the decision made will not turn to be something she regretted one day.Some husbands even encouraged their wife to quit the job when the situation at work was no longer constructive for their wife.-RL.
(worked so hard to graduate, don't be jobless.why?Have to actualized yourself.) Menjadi produktif itu akan lebih positif daripada kamu nongkrong di rumah, -D (being productive is more positive than just do nothing at home) ...kalo istri dirumah, gak ada kesibukan, juga kalo diajak ngobrol gak nyambung -RP (…when the wife is only at home, no activity, it will be hard to have a good conversation since she won't know much…) Financial need was the other major reason for husbands in supporting their wife in having a career.One participant mentioned that it is closely related to the fact that she was the bread wiener in the family ('..now is 60-40", M).Long term financial commitment was another common theme.How the couples managed their income and expenses required them to maintain double incomes ("we still have to make those payments…", RB).One of the participant brought up the fact that her spouse supported her to work since their expenses were quite large, apart from their own household expenses they still had to support several of their relatives ("most of their expenses especially our nephews' and nieces' school tuitions were our responsibility.Not to mention the money we needed at that time to build our house, bought the car..", BU)

Reason to Quit the Job
There are two common reasons for a woman to quit their job: child and circumstances at work.If the main reason is her child, she would say how meaningful her child is for her when she had to choose between her career and family.It is common knowledge that good employees are hard to find, many companies suffer for lacking reliable staffs (Goldsmith dan Carter, 2010).By losing this asset, a company would find difficulties in finding its replacement which could lead to lower productivity (Phillips dan Edwards, 2009).

Ini anak titipan
For these participants, the decision making process was mainly initiated by themselves.Some of the participants even didn't notify their spouse until they actually has resigned from their job.This outcome is consistent with a study done by Stone and Lovejoy (2004) which showed that husbands were not taking major role in their wife's decision making process, in regards of ending her career.
The act of respecting the wife's decision could be perceived as a form of gender equality.
Participants claimed that quitting their job was the right decision and they never regretted the decision.They were satisfied with their current life because it was more balance.Sullivan dan Mainiero (2008) wrote that women usually have "double dreams", which were succesful career at the office and home.That condition created stress for women, especially when conflicts between her roles at the office and at home took place (Frone dan Russell, 1997).Research on work-family related conflicts (Greenhaus dan Beutell, 1985), further showed the impacts of this condition was more intense for women than for men (Frone dan Russell, 1992).In this condition, quitting her job become the solution.Though it was not necessarily mean as the end of her career.Sullivan (1999) expressed her critics on the subject by stating that current concept of woman's that drove husbands supporting their wife's career was to assure family financial security.
Wives contributions in providing extra income was essential for some families, infact for some participants, the wife take part as the bread wiener in her family.
Nonetheless, participants' spouses had no objection to their decision of quitting their job.Most of the participants had independently made their own decision in ending their career based on both family driven and work related factors.If there was any rejection from the husband about the decision, they did not reveal it directly.Most of the husbands subtly express their concerns by asking their wife to reconsider and give the idea some more thoughts.
The husbands were just anticipating their wife's possible psychological reaction after the decision was taken, such as regret and guilt.Other factors which several husbands of the participants asked to be considered in their decision making were the possible prospects of their future career and the anticipations in managing family financial condition when they lost one source of income.
From this, it was shown that all participants' spouse recognized their wife's potential in developing a career and would not want to hold back their wife in seizing that opportunity (see.Betz, 2008).On the other hand, all husbands gave the liberty to the participants if they wanted to quit their job.They believed that whatever the decision made would be the best for both the family and the participant herself.It could be said that the gender role orientation for these couples are sharing roles and not roles differentiation.Gender roles orientations are stretched from traditional orientation which clearly separate the roles between man and woman according to their gender orientation (Ahmad, 1999).Man who follows sharing roles orientation would perceive having a career for woman as a normal thing, as normal as himself taking part in doing house chores such as washing, cooking, and taking care of the children.career was still based on conventional situations where organizational structure was still traditional, information technology was not as advance, and woman's participation in work field was still low.She suggested a more integral perception to see woman's career at the office and family (Sullivan, 1999).
The desire of going back to work fulltime at an office was no longer an option if participants decided to work again.They tend to choose to be a part-timer or freelancer.Research by Meitzen (1986) showed that number of total female worker decreased as the length of emploment is longer, the contrary occured for male workers.The more flexible options were found to be more suitable for the participants.One of Konrad findings in Gutek, 2002 showed that compare to men, women tend to choose an occupation based on its working hours.They prefer to take a job with flexible hours, work as a part-timer, a freelancer, or take a project which they can do at home.With this working hours, participants hoped that they could still fulfil their role at home and have a job at the same time.

MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONS
Most women were aware that work and family were two integrated sides of life that they have to deal with.Furthermore, the integration required an awareness of the expectations of their roles at both places.This awareness became essential when a child was taking part in a woman's life.
Adapting to a new role and taking in the new expectations as a mother were not easy, especially when she still has to combine it expectations at work.The expectations at both places were not always in compliance, in some circumstances, they could even conflict with each other.When that happens, women would need some support from her surrounding, this should include the support from the supervisor and the organization where she works.In organization insight, forming a family friendly organization could be the opportunity to show its support for working women.This culture arises from the assumption that work life could not be separated from family life.The security and harmony at home would directly reflect in a person's wellbeing and performance at work.By creating a family friendly culture at work, the organization could support the creation of this conducive condition at work and at home as well.Which at the end, will benefit not only the worker, but also the organization itself.Having this culture in an organization is clearly something that is highly regarded especially for working women (Frone and Russell, 1997).
Several policies that indicated a family friendly organization are: transport allowance for woman who had to go home late after work, flexible working hours, availability of insurance for staff including the family, maternity leave policy, parenting workshop for couples who just had a baby, availability of nursing room and daycare center (fc.Andreassi and Thomson, 2008).
Retention attempts which participants mentioned could also be an option for an organization.The Anticipation of family financial managements post resignation were related to the projection and anticipative steps needed as one of the source of income would no longer be available.The actual topic regarding the child was not so much mentioned during the discussion with the spouse, not because it was not important, on the contrary, it was regarded as the basic profound reason for the decision making thus it unnecessary to even be discussed.With that considerations, the husbands gave the wife the liberty in making her own decision regarding quitting or staying the job.
At work, supervisors tend not to let the participants quit their job.Most of the participants had a great working performance and expected to continue remain as one of the company assets.Many retention attempts were taken by the supervisor in order to lure the participants in staying the job, such as promotion, salary increase, un-paid leave opportunity, or even directly refused the resignation.All of these attempts were regarded as an appreciation by the participants, nevertherless advancing career and salary were not their first prioriy at that time.For them, that privilage was own by their kids.
All participants did not regret their decision.They acutally were grateful for making the decision of quitting their job and took it as the right thing to do.There were several particiapants who were still not fully comfortable with their current condition.This mainly due to the limeted social relations that they now encountered which was not the case when they were still having a job.
In regards to the desire of going back to work fulltime in an organization, this research finding showed that the participants would not choose an occupation with this parameter.They prefer to not having a job so they could focus to their family, thus being an enterpreneur, a part-timer, or a freelancer seemed to be the preferances.
millions per month.While working 7 participants have subordinates, and 5 have none.Participants work field included pharmaceutical, media, fashion, banking, information tecnology, trade, and public services office.10 of the participants have Undergraduate degree and the other 2 have Master degree.
influenced highly educated women to end their career have showed various results.The results showed that both family driven and work place related factors influenced the decision making process.Rubin dan Wooten (2001) gave for examples, family driven factors that such as: the process of decision making, the advantage of staying at home, challanges of stayed home mom, self preservations and developments to be some of the factors.While Stone dan Lovejoy (2004) research showed that work related factors, conflict of self identity, and spouse as who take itu aja saya pikirannya.-DS (I just really want my kid to be the one I can treasure later on, that's all.-DS) Some didn't only think about the child, they also consider their parents who had help them looking after their child all those time.Dan mikirnya gak cuman anaknya, tapi aduh kasihan nih eyangnya kecapekan.Jadi ya kayaknya gak fokus aja.Akunya juga jadinya stres sendiri.Kalo kerjaan banyak di kantor, ninggalin anak.-RA (and not only about the kid, but also I feel sorry for the grandma who got too tired.So I can't concentrate.I ended up getting stressed out when there were loads of assignments at work and had to leave the kid.-RA) .. kayaknya mami kok mulai kewalahan.-PT (…seems like mom is starting to be overwhelmed._PT) Terus kasihan juga mama kalo harus ngurus anak -RP (Poor mom is she has to take care my kid.-RP) Circumstances at the office could also be a reason for a woman to quit her job: Berhentinya karena memang tidak sesuai dengan kebijakan-kebijakan manajemen.Kondisi bekerja yang sudah tidak kondusif bagi saya.-R (I quit because they didn't follow management policies anymore.The condition at work was just not conducive for me.-R) Aku mulai gak bisa bagi waktu, kerjaan makin banyak, loading semakin tinggi, ekspektasi semakin tinggi.Aku bisa cope, bisa aku kejar, tapi ditambah sama emotional pressure dari atasan yang karena dia gak menguasai bidangnya, dia sangat demanding untuk minta sebagai pride-nya dia." -RB (I couldn't manage my time anymore, many things to do, work load was piling high, expectations' too.I could still cope, I could finish them, but plus the emotional pressure from my boss who didn't even master his field yet very demanding to compensate his pride.-RB) Semata-mata karena tidak cocok dengan atasan.-M (Solely because I couldn't work it out with the boss.-M) Spouse's Reaction All participant's spouse supported and let the wife made her own decision about quitting her job.
..biasa aktif, biasa ketemu orang, biasa independen, biasa dapet income, abis gitu aku di rumah lagi -PT (..used to be active, meet people, independent, have an income, while now I just stay at home again -PT)Not Regretting the Decision to QuitMost participants said that they didn't regret their decision of quitting their job.They even saw that their current condition was better than when they had a job.Thus their decision of ending their career was indeed the right decision at that time.Kalo nyesel sih enggak ya, karena kalo dibilang memang sudah waktunya barangkali ya benar, karena begitu saya resign waktu itu secara pendapatan justru bertambah, pendapatan keluarga.-D (No regret, because maybe it was the right time, right after I resigned, our income was actually increasing, our family income.-D) Enggak.Karena saya mau maju aja.Kalo saya gak resign malah saya jalan di tempat.-RB (No.Because I was just moving forward.If I didn't resign, it would like I was just walking at the same place, I wasn't going anywhere.-RB) Saya tidak merasa kehilangan apapun dari dunia saya yang dulu.Malahan saya mendapatkan lebih banyak hal.-WK (I don't feel I lost anything from my work days.I feel like I have more now.-WK) One participant who quit her job due to conflicts with her supervisor even able to see the event more positively: "Aku sudah dalam tahap terima kasih, pak dan bu bosku, karena kamu telah membuatku menjadi resign.-M ("I'm already at the grateful phase to my bosses for making me resigned."-M) Some participants said that sometimes they felt the longing to go back to work.That happens especially when boredom of staying at home only came while the good memories of workdays with their co-workers seemed to be enticing.One participant was even still hold a desire to resume her career one day.Kapan itu pas bosen, pernah kepikiran.-DS (Crossed my mind when I was bored.-DS) Kangennya tuh ya, kayaknya asik ya ramerame.Makan siang rame-rame.-RA (I miss the fun with friends.Hang out having lunch.-RA) Muncul perasaan iri melihat perempuan yang bekerja Gua kadang iri sama temen-temen yang punya karir bagus, punya posisi, and they have something gitu ya.Kerja dimana?gua kerja disini.Biar gimanapun gua pernah merasakan di posisi itu yang memang bangga banget -RL.(There's envy when I see working women.Sometimes I envy my friends who have successful career, good position, like they have something.'Where do u work at?I work here…' I had that before, I knew the feeling, it made me proud.RL) (My husband did suggested me to quit.. better look for other and better job.-R) Not all spouses immediately support their wife's decision in ending her career.Some spouses ask their wife to reconsider and give it some more thoughts.This has to do with financial condition as well as the wife's career prospects at work.Awalnya jangan dulu, karena takut secara finansial itu kan.Karena dia tahu kalo ini ada 2 penopangnya kan.Terus ya udah kita itungitung aja di atas kertas, segini segini gimana.Terus diitung juga, kalo misalnya hanya dengan uang suami, misalnya segini masih ketutup apa enggak"-RL (there was some hesitant at the beginning, worry about our finance of course.From double to single income.Thus we sat and started to put the numbers on paper, how much were our expenses and would his income cover them all.-RL) Dia minta tahanlah sampe 2 tahun ke depan -D (He asked me to work for 2 more years.-D) Reactions in the Work Place The supervisors did not let the participants quit their job hastily.Those supervisors realized that the participants were excellent employee which heavily relied on and have promising future in the company.They tried to persuade the participants to stay by various means, such as: ..naikin jabatan dan naikin gaji -RA (promote and increase the salary.-RA) 'Saya mengusulkan kamu untuk pegang penjualan, tapi jadi manajernya.Coba deh kamu pertimbangkan' -RP ('I suggest you to manage sales as the manager.Why don't you consider the offer.' -RP) ..sampe pemiliknya itu dateng ke ruangan.-D (..the owner of the company came to see me in my room.. -D) saya malah diomelin.-DS (they got angry at me. -DS) To one participant, her supervisor was even said: "NO." and my resignation letter was torn…'-RB Current Psychological Condition after Quitting Most participants felt that they are in a better condition after quitting their job.They felt their life was more balance and they could enjoy it more.The most important thing was they felt that they have more time to take care of their children.Sekarang lebih bebas dan lebih balance segala macemnya.Lebih senang.-M (now I have more freedom and more balance in everything.Happier.-M) Enak sekarang.Bisa merhatiin anak-anak-RB (It's nice.I could pay attention to my kids.-RB) Lebih lega.Alhamdullilah lebih bahagia.Lebih bisa menata hidup.Menikmati hidup.-R (More relieved.Thank God, happier.Could manage my life more.Enjoying life.-R) Saya melihat perkembangan anak saya setiap hari.Dan menurut saya itu prestasi tersendiri -WK (I watch my kids grow every day.And I think that is an achievement.-WK) Some participants mentioned that sometimes there would be some unsettledness.This has to do mainly with their limited social contacts that came with their new condition.By staying at home, they have less social exposures and couldn't have as much interactions as before with their friends.Banyak bergaul.Yang waktu kerja kan banyak wira wiri, ke sana kemari.Mau kemana.Ya No More Desire to Work Fulltime Some participants said that they had no more desire to work fulltime.Some others choose to work part-time, as a freelancer, or starting her own business.They didn't want to focus on building a career; nonetheless, they were proud with their current occupation they opted.saya lebih memilih freelance aja -WK (I prefer to be a freelancer.-WK) gak terlalu central career gitu lho.Gak bener-bener hidup untuk kerja.Aku punya kehidupan lain, itu maksud aku.Aku sih lebih kepikir yang freelancer.-RB (not too career driven.Don't live only for work.I have other life, that's what I mean.I lean towards freelancer.-RB) Sebagai freelance,…, aku masih merasa pengakuannya lebih bulat, aku masih merasa bangga dengan pekerjaanku -M (as a freelancer,.. still feel I got a solid recognition, I'm still proud of what I do.-M) Sama suami pengen buka sekolah.Sekolah, jadi punya usaha sendiri gitu.-RP(My husband and I want to open a school.School, so we have our own business.-RP) Kalo kerja full time lagi, enggak sih… pengen cari usaha lain aja -RA (No, not working fulltime again.. want to look for other opportunities.-RA) Research showed that participants role at work were supported by their spouse.This also stated by Ezzedeen dan Ritchey (2008) who found that one form of support from husband to his wife is by supporting her career.Husbands gave encouraging attitude and real support to their wife as they realized that working gave their wife the opportunity to grow themselves and also a gesture of appreciation of their wife's hardworks in achieving their high education.Another factor Interesting enough, in this research, participants encountered strongest rejection from their workplace.This rejection indicated the fact that the participans were considered as a great asset for the company.Retention attempts taken such as: salary increament, level promotion, paid leave privilages, direct refusal from the supervisor to the resignation request, to personal persuation from the owner of the company has clearly shown that.

A
supervisor has the authority to do staff management in his/her department.That authority could include the allocation of work sources allocations and task managements among the staffs.At this stage, the supervisor could show his/ her position at the matter.Examples of supports he/she could give were: no overtime, flexible working hours, availability for days off, chances for bringing the kids to work, or friendly hospital visit post delivery.Certainly this policy is adapted to specific industry characteristics and sense of justice among workers, so it does not reduce the productivity of work team or organization.
options included: promotion, salary increase, unpaid leave, or cross division transfer.All attempts were based on the idea that eventually she was the one who made the decision of quitting or staying the job.Discussion with the spouse and evaluation of work related factors, which all related to her new role as a mother with a child were taking very personally into consideration.This has closely to do with her own values as a woman.At this situation, the role of supervisor and organization were limited, participant's decision of quitting their job showed that fact.CONCLUSION This reseacth was dedicated to evaluate the dinamic of decision making in quitting a job for working woman.The evaluation involved family related factors which was represented by spouse and children, as well as work related factor which in this case was the supervisor.Reasearch findings showed that the main reason for women quitting their job is the existence of a child in the family.The awareness of the values of her child and her roles as a mother became the essential considerations to re-evaluate her role as a worker.Other factor such a non conducive situation at work could trigger or support the decision too.Discussion with the spouse showed that husbands supported any decision the wife's made.Discussion covered two topics, which were anticipation of possible regrets and family financial managements post resignation.Regret anticipation was related to the un-utilized potentials by staying at home and the loss of possible opportunities in advancing a career as well as income at the current job.