Employers not supporting mothers returning to work, survey suggests

RA Now

A poll of women who return to work after starting a family has found that 60% felt less employable since having a child.

Three quarters of more than 1,000 users of the parenting website Mumsnet said it was harder to progress in their career.

Some employers are not offering support to pregnant workers and those returning from maternity leave, the research suggests. During pregnancy, 17% said their line manager was not supportive, 47% said they were made to feel guilty and 26% said their job was under threat.

One quarter of respondents said their employer was not supportive on returning to work, and of these, 26% said their felt their job was under threat.

The survey is part of the website’s Family Friendly Programme, which has also seen companies including Heathrow Airport, Pizza Express and the National Trust awarded for their efforts at being more family friendly.

Awarding the companies, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said: “It is sadly still far too common for women to feel shoved aside at work because they’ve decided to have children. Aside from the obvious unfairness, it’s also bad for our economy, which means everybody ends up losing out.

“Fortunately there are many employers out there who do understand the need to retain the best staff and who want to help families better balance work and home.”

Justine Roberts, CEO of Mumsnet, added: “While we have legislation designed to protect women against discrimination in the workplace it’s clear that in many cases companies are simply not following the rules.

“Our survey reveals how important the culture created at work is. As members of our Family Friendly programme attest supporting women on their return to work improves retention rates and ultimately adds value to a company.

“But with over half of mums saying they felt less employable and three-quarters saying it was harder to progress in their career since having children, it’s clear there’s still lots of work to be done to ensure family friendly practices are commonplace,” she added.

Asked about what employers could do to be more family friendly, the single most popular workplace policy was flexible working, with 28% of respondents favouring this option. Next most popular was emergency childcare provision with 15% support, job shares received 9% support and specific back to work programmes got backing from support of 8% of participants.

The government is introducing shared parental leave from April 2015.