Fast Forward. Play. Pause. Rewind. Stop.
Why this should never be a woman’s career story for becoming a mother.
Women are being forced to compromise or forfeit their careers for having a baby.
Is there a conspiracy against working mothers?
When you start working you pretty much give zero thought to what your career might look like once you have children. Any niggles about the long term being pushed aside ‘I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it’. Yet it’s not until you are having a baby that reality kicks in. Suddenly you’re faced with some stark choices as the truth about workplace inequality becomes apparent.
You realise you can’t just pause your career to have a baby, press play at the end of maternity leave and continue as you were. In fact, retaining the career you worked so hard for will actually take more hard work again, a lot of sacrifices and a hell of a lot of favours to work around inflexible childcare and often at considerable expense.
It will also take courage, determination and self belief. Tricky when children leave you sleep deprived and maternity leave can leave a dent in your confidence.
During this overwhelming time of change, it can feel as though the odds are stacked against you.
Equality shouldn’t look like this in 2018
New research has found the number of expectant and new mothers forced to leave their jobs has almost doubled in the UK to 54,000 since 2005.*
The same research revealed the majority of working mothers in the UK have lost out on opportunities for promotion, training or even been threatened with dismissal as part of pregnancy and maternity discrimination experienced in the workplace.
In addition, the gender pay gap continues to disadvantage working women and has shown to consistently rise for 12 years after a first child is born, from 18% to 33% less pay an hour than men.
Also, ONS data shows that employment rates for mums decline after they have a baby. This is likely due to childcare costs, work-life balance costs or a lesser salary. Not helped by the fact women do, on average, 60% more unpaid work around the home than men.
This discrimination is leading many women to leave their respective industries, some never returning. Instead choosing to stay at home (some 2.6 million mothers are currently out of the labour force) save money on childcare and spend time with their families.
Some women are not able to return simply because companies are not open to making flexible arrangements available which could have been a game changer. There are many reasons why companies are cautious. A culture of presenteeism remains in many industries and there is often a fear that if one person is given the green light to change their contract, it will set a precedent managers are, ironically, not prepared to manage.
What are the positive developments?
With the exponential growth of technology there have been significant steps in workplace innovation so employees can constantly and effectively be connected. The ability to work anywhere is now possible for most businesses.
There are many pioneering companies like Virgin and Deloitte who are advocates for working flexibly across the board. They are leading the way by supporting staff to be more productive and ultimately happier.
Millennials (born between early 1980s to the early 2000s) are also seeking flexibility in their careers. They want to pursue what life has to offer beyond work, as well as enjoy successful careers. This is forcing businesses to rethink their outdated working practices and particularly their stance on flexibility to attract and retain the best young talent. This will significantly benefit parents who are seeking the same.
I want to work
Almost 7 in 10 stay-at-home-mums said they would go back in some capacity if flexible working around childcare was an option.
With the technology available to us, we should be able to enjoy a fulfilling work life and home life. We should be paid the same as a man for the same role. We should be able to share responsibilities at home. We should be able to take time off work to raise our children. We should be able to work flexibly.
Let’s turn negatives into positives
The Joy of Flex has been created to share the positive benefits of flexible working. Businesses benefit from improved productivity, cost efficiencies, talent acquisition and retention and employees can achieve work that works. Flexibility allowing women to manage the demands of family life and continue their careers. Win/win.
The Joy of Flex also aims to inspire women to seek, secure and succeed in work that works through positive and useful career advice.
If you want to work and are a fan of flexibility, please join the conversation:
Source: Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) 2015, The Gender Pay Gap institute for Fiscal Studies August 2016, Cebr combined results of the You/Gov survey with data from the Labour Force Survey.
Picture credit: Here