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Many employers are still not doing enough for women who are re-entering he workplace following maternity leave, if they are to prove their equality company culture must change.
A 2015 report by Workingmums.co.uk, which interviewed over 2,300 mothers, found that many returning mothers struggled to find a relevant role again. A fifth returned at a lower level, meaning lower pay, and a third had to undergo some form of training to help them find work. And that’s only getting their foot in the door.
When they do re-enter the workplace, it can result in a horror story. This, in part, is probably why men were twice as likely as women to think that flexible working would have a negative impact on their career, according to the 2017 Modern Families Index. They see the impact childcare responsibilities has on a career, with one-fifth of fathers stating that their employer expected no disruption to work when it came to childcare.
Below you can find tips on how to improve this element of your Resourcing strategy.
San Juan, Head of EMEA Infrastructure Staffing at Bank of America Merrill Lynch: ‘Root your culture in diversity’
“The benefits of building a workforce of diverse talent who are empowered to positively contribute to a company’s success are numerous – from better financial performance and more innovative problem-solving to effective employee retention and greater customer or client appeal.
“We recognise that we gain strength from a diverse workforce and so we embrace our differences. In order to support this culture, we have developed programmes designed to help us attract and retain diverse talent.
“We know that people who have been out of work for a length of time often feel overlooked, that quite often, potential employers cannot see ‘beyond the gap’ and take the time to review candidates’ previous, and often very extensive, experience.
“This stigma around the returner profile will often leave people suffering from a lack of confidence, so through our programme, we seek to recognise this huge range of talented people.”
Vittorio Colao, Group Chief Executive at Vodafone: ‘Innovate maternity policy’
“Companies often struggle to recruit and retain women in management and leadership roles. Innovations such as our global maternity policy and now our new ReConnect programme can make a real difference to women who work for us today and who will work for us in the future.”
Dora Kaplan and Gwen Wunderlich, Co-Founders of Wunderlich Kaplan Communications: ‘Look beyond Twitter’
Kaplan: “There is so much knowledge that this segment [that returning mothers] hold. People are forgetting that just because you do not tweet does not mean you don’t know what’s up.”
Wunderlich: “Millennials tend to be less focused; they’ll have a blog on the side, and they want to be a photographer, and they have all these things they want but don’t necessarily want to put in the legwork to get that.”
Kaplan: “You’d be surprised, at the lack of interpersonal social skills. They don’t know the real value of getting off the phone and beyond a computer screen.
“With some of the things that young people say to me, I’d rather have a woman who raised four kids and managed a household. She knows how to run an office.”
For advice and assistance with your HR department policies & practices, please contact HPC through this website or via our social media channels.
Link to full article on this issue provided by HR grapevine: https://www.hrgrapevine.com/content/article/feature-2017-03-14-how-to-help-women-re-enter-the-workplace