Recent comments by Tory leadership candidate, Kemi Badenoch, have kickstarted discussion around maternity pay. Whilst this is encouraging healthy debate, it’s important to consider maternity pay in the wider context of the so-called ‘motherhood penalty’, which describes the disadvantages that working mothers face in the workplace compared to men and childless women. Careers After Babies research shows that it takes on average more than ten years for mothers’ careers to recover after having children, if they do indeed stay in the workplace.
To tackle this effectively, businesses are increasingly recognising they need to look beyond motherhood and adopt a more gender-balanced approach to work and parenthood. Here are three key areas for business leaders to consider.
Greater sharing of parental leave
Greater sharing of parental leave is a powerful lever in addressing the imbalance in childcare and according to the World Economic Forum, each month of paternity leave can increase a mother’s earnings by nearly 7%.
Statutory paternity leave is just two weeks, and recent legislative amendments only went as far as enabling fathers to split paternity leave into two one-week blocks instead of having to take it in one two-week block.
Shared Parental Leave (SPL) was introduced in the UK in 2015 to support more flexibility in sharing childcare and enables eligible parents to share up to 50 weeks of leave and up to 37 weeks of statutory pay between them. According to a report by the Department for Business and Trade however, only 1% of eligible mothers and 5% of eligible fathers and partners have taken up SPL although recent figures obtained by Eversheds Sutherland suggest this is on the rise.
Complexity, level of statutory pay and lack of awareness are all cited as barriers to uptake and whilst some of these sit at governmental level, employers have an important role in publicising and promoting the opportunities within SPL within their workforce, because it does offer a greater level of flexibility between parents.
Men are still more likely to also be held back by what they may perceive as stigma around taking any form of family leave, so by embedding and championing a flexible and family oriented culture, where men taking time off to look after a new baby is viewed as a standard option, businesses can help to promote inclusiveness and challenge traditional gender stereotypes.
Finding flexibility in every role
The right to request flexible working became a day-one right for all employees this year and employers should ideally be trying to find flexibility in every role, which can involve a whole range of solutions in relation to both hours and location, including compressed hours, flexi-time, job sharing and part time working arrangements, encompassing both home and hybrid working.
Part time working in particular is still very female-dominated, with 38% of women in employment working part-time, compared with 14% of men, according to the ONS and whilst many factors will influence this, employers can ensure that conversations around flexibility become standard for all workers, to help give parents more options to consider.
Businesses should not underestimate that line managers need the right skills to lead flexible teams, so it’s important they provide suitable training and support and firms could consider developing a family guide or toolkit, to help managers establish better work-life fit.
It’s also important to role model from the top, in terms of managers and the senior leadership team across the board enjoying, and being seen to enjoy, a healthy work-life balance, as an ‘always-on’ culture will be at odds with employees feeling they are able to progress effectively with flexibility.
Enabling career mobility
Another significant issue is the fact that women often take a back step in their post-motherhood careers. This is illustrated by the Careers After Babies research, which showed that the number of female managers drops by 32% after having children whereas mothers in admin and entry-level roles increases by 44%, with a shocking 85% of women leaving full-time employment altogether within three years of having their first child.
Flexibility must go hand in hand with career mobility in order to avoid stalled career journeys and it’s important that a practical requirement for part time hours is not equated to a lack of professional ambition. Creating defined career pathways for roles based on flexible working is therefore vital, along with structured learning and development and training opportunities that are based on core hours. Fast-track career development programmes, leadership training, mentoring, work shadowing and secondments are also effective solutions to building competence and confidence and ensuring that returning mothers have both the roadmap and learning opportunities to advance up the salary scale. According to recent research, 43% of men think flexible working might negatively affect their chance of promotion, compared to 35% of women, so even if a company is doing great work in this area, there may still be some challenges on the communication front to overcome.
Identifying ways that flexibility can work in more senior roles is key and job sharing was seen as a practical option in the ‘A question of time’ report on part-time working, with the recommendation of increased training and support for companies to design roles on this basis.
In summary, there are no quick solutions to addressing the motherhood penalty but by widening their focus in these important areas, business leaders will be able to help influence positive progress towards a more gender-balanced and inclusive workplace for parents across the board.
Rebecca Dixon is Head of HR at Progeny HR Consultancy & Advice
Feature Image by Denise Husted from Pixabay
