A recent report from & Culture Consultancy found that only 17% of mums felt confident returning to work post maternity leave, with over half stating they were unhappy with the support they received when returning to work. At a time when 57% of women returners leave the fulltime workforce within two years of returning from mat leave – why are businesses not correctly investing in return-to-work support?
One of the most significant factors in the alarming gender pay gap is maternity. Many women feel like they must trade their careers for their children, leading to a higher number stepping away from full-time work or leaving the workforce completely.
As conversations around the cost of parenting dominate the topic, business practices must come into question, particularly the support provided during the crucial transition back to work. With only 20% of women describing their return as “very positive,” the experience is often marked by anxiety, stress, and even dread, leaving 70% struggling with negative emotions as they re-enter the workforce.
Alongside fears of redundancy – which charity Pregnant then Screwed found affects 74,000 women a year when pregnant or taking maternity leave – women reported negative experiences such as forced demotions, dehumanisation and bullying in the workplace upon returning to work.
When sharing her experiences for the report, one woman reported: “After returning I was encouraged by my manager to take a demotion and pay cut or leave entirely. I’m still disgusted and hurt by this to be honest, especially since a change of careers was the last thing I needed to consider when my son had been regularly in intensive care. I will never, ever forget X’s treatment of me during such a vulnerable time. PLEASE reassess your policies.”
Adding to this, another shared: “I arrived back to a message of “How are you going to fix the mess your mat leave cover left the team in?” After settling back in I was told by the Head of Marketing that I “wasn’t doing as well as before”. Instead of supporting and defending me (and making it clear the issues weren’t my fault), she suggested we go back to the partners with a plan of “how we were going to turn things around” after my “dip” in performance.
I resigned that very day! I didn’t have another role to go to, but I could see it would be a losing battle to prove myself and have any chance of promotion.”
Whilst the report shows a mix of experiences across the board, it hopes to shine a light on how many businesses are failing their female employees and provides practical advice for HR professionals and managers to improve their current return-to-work offering.
Commenting on the report’s findings and the overwhelming lack of support found in many accounts, Clare Radford, Founder and CEO of & Culture Consultancy addressed: “I set out with this report to show what most working mums, including myself, have experienced– that support when mums return to work is severely lacking, across all sectors. Not only that, but that maternal bias is truly alive and well from the language used in the office, to bullying and gaslighting from line managers. We’ve found many organisations need a complete re-evaluation of what they’re offering returning parents or they risk losing a significant proportion of their talented workforce.
We hope these findings, paired with real stories and expert guidance, will help organisations recognise that change is needed, and how they can make the shifts to be truly effective. The emotional and economic cost of not supporting returning mums is too severe for organisations to continue as they are – if businesses are truly committed to closing the gender pay gap, and retaining female talent they need to take a deep look at their return practices and organisational culture.”
