In her first monthly column for Careers File, Christine Hayhurst outlines some smart ways to encourage mothers back to work, enabling them to balance career and home commitments
During the recent TV series of ‘I’m a celebrity, get me out of here’, Katie Price (Jordan) was praised for her ability to manage her career yet still meet the needs of her baby son. And she is not the only celebrity who is successfully juggling a demanding career with children - Liz Hurley, Kate Moss and Victoria Beckham are among a growing list of high profile mothers able to maintain flourishing careers.
But celebrities aside, not everyone finds it so easy. The rising cost of living has put increasing pressure on women to return to work after childbirth but it can be a struggle to boost the family coffers while meeting the demands of family life.
In the retail sector long and sometimes irregular hours can make it even more difficult. Working with fast moving consumer goods often means reacting at short notice, whether to implement a new marketing campaign or stack shelves to keep the customers happy.
It’s worth remembering that mothers often offer maturity and experience. They are likely to be settled and keen to commit to an employer with whom there is a strong relationship.
What’s more, the government is also encouraging mothers to return to work and currently they make up over 80% of new entrants to the labour force. It’s also widely accepted that there are considerable advantages in catering for employee needs and working mothers are clearly no exception. But how to go about it is an entirely different matter.
The first step is to review your working practices. There is never just one answer to the question: How can we increase morale and productivity at the same time? So investigate your team’s attitude towards flexible working and make sure you don’t introduce a policy that’s seen as one rule for mothers and another for everyone else. To do so will only create resentment. Could you offer part-time, flexi-time, job sharing and term-time hours to enable working mothers to combine paid employment with family responsibilities? And can this be linked to other team members, each of whom probably has their own needs to be taken into account?
Some people believe that only large organisations can offer subsidised child care on-site but, as an alternative, you can easily help your staff find good quality child care. Find out if it is feasible to share nursery places with other local employers. Maybe even buy places at nurseries or offer childcare vouchers. Taken further, a holiday playscheme would be a great way of offering support to your employees while also raising the profile of the organisation. Or, in a store environment, perhaps you could offer extra hours to other staff members who might be prepared to work longer during school holidays.
Many people,
when they return to work after a lengthy leave of absence, can feel that they have missed crucial information; that they are out of the loop.
So ensure the appropriate training is given as soon as possible. It may be something that builds confidence or it might be designed to update an individual’s skills.
Ultimately the key is to ensure people returning to work are at the same level as their colleagues, so that the organisation benefits and the opportunity for promotion is fair and not dependent on breaks in service.
For any business, the idea of losing someone for a long period of time, when they have in-depth knowledge of the organisation and the right skills for the job, may seem daunting. But the rewards of allowing an individual to extend their time away from work can be valuable.
And here it’s not only about working mothers. So think about extending provision to other employees. If there is a valid case for extended leave, see if you can accommodate it.
In terms of gaining long-term loyalty and avoiding the costs of recruiting and training someone new, the advantages are obvious.
And remember that we all spend a high proportion of our waking time at work. It’s so easy to make people feel valued, so it’s a good idea to counter the old adage that out of sight is out of mind. Set up a scheme enabling women on maternity leave to follow developments at work and keep in touch with colleagues.
And don’t forget to include them on the invitation list for those team nights out.
n Christine Hayhurst is director of professional affairs at the Chartered Management Institute
During the recent TV series of ‘I’m a celebrity, get me out of here’, Katie Price (Jordan) was praised for her ability to manage her career yet still meet the needs of her baby son. And she is not the only celebrity who is successfully juggling a demanding career with children - Liz Hurley, Kate Moss and Victoria Beckham are among a growing list of high profile mothers able to maintain flourishing careers.
But celebrities aside, not everyone finds it so easy. The rising cost of living has put increasing pressure on women to return to work after childbirth but it can be a struggle to boost the family coffers while meeting the demands of family life.
In the retail sector long and sometimes irregular hours can make it even more difficult. Working with fast moving consumer goods often means reacting at short notice, whether to implement a new marketing campaign or stack shelves to keep the customers happy.
It’s worth remembering that mothers often offer maturity and experience. They are likely to be settled and keen to commit to an employer with whom there is a strong relationship.
What’s more, the government is also encouraging mothers to return to work and currently they make up over 80% of new entrants to the labour force. It’s also widely accepted that there are considerable advantages in catering for employee needs and working mothers are clearly no exception. But how to go about it is an entirely different matter.
The first step is to review your working practices. There is never just one answer to the question: How can we increase morale and productivity at the same time? So investigate your team’s attitude towards flexible working and make sure you don’t introduce a policy that’s seen as one rule for mothers and another for everyone else. To do so will only create resentment. Could you offer part-time, flexi-time, job sharing and term-time hours to enable working mothers to combine paid employment with family responsibilities? And can this be linked to other team members, each of whom probably has their own needs to be taken into account?
Some people believe that only large organisations can offer subsidised child care on-site but, as an alternative, you can easily help your staff find good quality child care. Find out if it is feasible to share nursery places with other local employers. Maybe even buy places at nurseries or offer childcare vouchers. Taken further, a holiday playscheme would be a great way of offering support to your employees while also raising the profile of the organisation. Or, in a store environment, perhaps you could offer extra hours to other staff members who might be prepared to work longer during school holidays.
Many people,
when they return to work after a lengthy leave of absence, can feel that they have missed crucial information; that they are out of the loop.
So ensure the appropriate training is given as soon as possible. It may be something that builds confidence or it might be designed to update an individual’s skills.
Ultimately the key is to ensure people returning to work are at the same level as their colleagues, so that the organisation benefits and the opportunity for promotion is fair and not dependent on breaks in service.
For any business, the idea of losing someone for a long period of time, when they have in-depth knowledge of the organisation and the right skills for the job, may seem daunting. But the rewards of allowing an individual to extend their time away from work can be valuable.
And here it’s not only about working mothers. So think about extending provision to other employees. If there is a valid case for extended leave, see if you can accommodate it.
In terms of gaining long-term loyalty and avoiding the costs of recruiting and training someone new, the advantages are obvious.
And remember that we all spend a high proportion of our waking time at work. It’s so easy to make people feel valued, so it’s a good idea to counter the old adage that out of sight is out of mind. Set up a scheme enabling women on maternity leave to follow developments at work and keep in touch with colleagues.
And don’t forget to include them on the invitation list for those team nights out.
No comments yet