On International Women’s Day, Arianna Huffington says many businesses have a “culture ceiling” that needs to be addressed. 

In an interview with BNN Bloomberg on Friday, Huffington, the co-founder of The Huffington Post and founder and CEO Thrive Global, said that Thrive Global works with companies on issues of employee well-being. She said focusing on wellbeing “needs to be seen as a productivity multiplier” and is “incredibly important to allow women to advance.” 

“What stands out to me is that we need to pay more attention to the cultures in companies that make it harder for women to stay and advance because we have a lot of scientific data that shows that women respond to toxic stress and burnout differently than men,” Huffington said. 

“So in a sense, we have a culture ceiling that we need to look at.” 

Huffington also highlighted that flexible work options have been “great for women.” 

“We see more women participation in the workforce and that has a lot to do with the flexibility, that's available to them now because of remote and hybrid work,” she said. “The key is not so much where we work, but how flexible are our employers. That's what women need to navigate their lives.”

Huffington also noted that she feels the conversation around flexible working arrangements has been “settled.” 

“I think there are very few employers now who expect employees to be at work nine to five, five days a week. Flexibility has been more integrated into the expectations employers have,” she said.