MAKING THE WORKPLACE WORK FOR MOTHERS
I collaborate with purpose-driven employers to recognise, support and retain female talent during the transformational period of becoming a mother, known as matrescence.
The lead-up to becoming a parent, taking a career pause, and subsequently returning to the workplace is challenging and disruptive for most mothers.
Nine in 10 mothers encounter difficulties when returning to the workplace after maternity leave.
Fewer than one in five women feel confident about returning to work after maternity leave.
60% of professional women will leave their organisation within a year of returning to the workplace after maternity leave. The most common reason is that they felt unsupported by their employer.
— Pregnant Then Screwed
While improvements in flexible working and family-friendly policies have been made, discrimination against mothers remains prevalent.
Over half of mothers have faced discrimination when pregnant, on maternity or when they returned.
Two-thirds of women do not receive any formal support to help them transition back to work.
43% say employers' lack of empathy for working parents is a barrier to them returning to work.
Almost one in five women leave the workforce completely due to the unsustainable pressures of motherhood and a career.
Mothers deserve better. They deserve to be recognised, valued, and supported as they adjust to this new phase in their life.
But this doesn’t just benefit mothers, this makes good business sense.
The average cost of recruiting, onboarding and retraining a new member of staff to replace a mother who has left the workplace is around £30,000. The knowledge, skills and built relationships lost in this process are far harder to quantify.
Investing in dedicated support for mothers going through matrescence helps you to:
Retain valued employees and enable them to thrive within the business.
Reduce recruitment, training and onboarding costs from high staff turnover.
Build and nurture a healthy female talent pipeline.
Create positive role models to retain and attract more female talent.
Demonstrate you are an empathic employer, strengthening the psychological contract.
Help to narrow the gender pay and gender well-being gaps.
Create a more equitable, diverse, and inclusive culture.
So how do we do this?
By acknowledging that they have changed, investing in their development and supporting them to find harmony between their professional and personal lives.
I offer tailored partnership opportunities for organisations to support women throughout their matrescence journey, taking into consideration the business objectives, culture, and budget.
Through individual coaching programmes, or group workshop environments, typical areas of support include:
Preparation for the time spent away from the business.
Establishing a parental leave handover, communication strategy, and how to maximise KIT days.
Understanding how matrescence affects professional identity.
Managing challenging emotions such as maternal guilt.
Setting and maintaining realistic and sustainable boundaries.
Career goals and ambitions.
I also offer business-centric support including:
Matrescence support training for HR partners and line managers.
Family-friendly culture health checks.
Consultancy on developing internal return-to-work programmes and parental support networks.
“My vision is to enable more women to successfully blend their career with motherhood without compromising their well-being, family life, or professional aspirations.”
To find out more about how I can support your organisation, get in touch via email or book a 30-minute discovery call below.
Data sources: DPG HR Training; MMB Magazine; Pregnant then Screwed; Bloom UK: Maternity Leave Survey 2021; Working Mums: Annual Survey 2023; Careering into Motherhood: Life as a Working Mother 2023; HR Review 2023