In April 2007, the main provisions of the Work and Families Act 2006 came into force. Six months on, Liz McCaw from ICAS and Anna Hayward from Managing Maternity Ltd look at current experience of maternity within organisations.
The Work and Families Act has been the prompt for many organisations to re-evaluate whether they are keeping pace with the expectations of their employees.
In response to this, ICAS, in partnership with Managing Maternity Ltd, have conducted an annual survey of workplace practice on maternity and retention.
What is striking is that overall, over a quarter of respondents do not know their return-to-work rates after maternity. In the case of private sector organisations, almost a third of those we surveyed do not record whether women return to work after maternity leave.
Also, some organisations are not making the distinction between return rates after a first or second or subsequent child. In fact, 61 per cent do not record this. And yet, our experience suggests that for many working mothers, the birth of a second child can be the trigger to rethinking her career.
No understanding of maternity statistics
Given a shrinking talent pool and focus on diversity, it seems surprising that some organisations are yet to focus on understanding their maternity statistics to inform retention strategies.
Women are having babies later in life, at a stage where their careers are likely to have progressed further, so to risk losing their valuable skills and experience in an organisation does not make commercial sense.
Forward-thinking organisations are recognising that retention is as important as recruitment. They recognise that pregnancy and the early years of parenting can represent a critical period in the career of women, and without adequate strategies in place, they risk losing skilled, experienced women, who are costly to replace.
It is vital for managers and individual women to plan communication and return, and for an organisation to not only have in place family-friendly policies, but to demonstrate, via its culture and ways of operating, a true commitment to working parents.
Maternity leave is getting longer, which means that employers need to think carefully about communication with the employee during their leave and how to enable a successful return to work for them.
How do you best support the returning mother, who has possibly been away for up to a year, not been part of the inevitable work changes and who is adjusting to her new role and priorities as a working mother?
There are, however, encouraging messages for employers. The factors which influence the decision whether to return after having a baby are within their influence. Career development opportunities which allow work-life balance, the implementation of flexible working and promoting a family-friendly culture are all identified as important factors which influence the decision to return to work.
The role of managers is vital too. Respondents identified that communication during maternity leave has room for improvement. Managers also need to improve the way they deal with legal issues and discrimination, and need to be able to say the ‘right’ thing and handle emotions.
Just six months on, it is already becoming clear that there is demand for improved information, guidance and support for managers. It is time to ensure that some of your most valuable staff become your most valued, by creating the policies and culture they need to return to work.
Liz McCaw is client services director at ICAS, and Anna Hayward is director of Managing Maternity.
