MATERNITY RETURNERS
Are you losing talent?
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Organisations are increasingly aware that improving how they support women returning to work after maternity has to be a priority. Gender pay gap reporting has highlighted that the maternity transition is a pivotal time in women's lives when they dip out of the workforce and their careers stall.
This weakens the female talent pipeline and is a significant contributor to the low numbers of women in senior roles and the gender pay gap. Helping women through the maternity transition, so they return engaged, positive and able to keep up career momentum brings significant benefits to organisations:
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A stronger female talent pipeline
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Age and gender diversity
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Productivity, as expertise stays in the organisation
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The gender pay gap closes
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Prevents skills gaps
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Enhances the reputation of the organisation as a family-friendly employer.
How I can help
1:1 and Group Coaching
Research shows that supporting women through the maternity transition is an effective way to make sure your organisation retains and develops women, so you keep your talent in your business. Giving women maternity coaching impacts positively in so many ways - saving on recruitment costs, and building a female talent pipeline that will ensure your organisation increases its age and gender diversity at senior levels and closes that gender pay gap. It also helps make sure you're not losing talent to your competitors.
Consultancy
Bringing more women returners into your business and putting a maternity-support framework in place will mean your organisation will capitalise on all the knowledge and expertise your maternity returners have to offer. Simple changes in your recruitment strategies, your maternity benefits, and introducing a family-friendly working culture will make a huge difference to your effectiveness in attracting and retaining maternity returners. I offer a consultancy service that shows organisations how to recruit, retain and develop maternity returners, using a toolkit of proven strategies that really do work.
Training
Are your line managers and senior team on the fence when it comes to the how and why of better supporting women through the maternity transition? I offer engaging, interactive training solutions such as workshops, talks and webinars that educate and inform, and give practical tips based on real life examples, to show how leaders and managers can re-engage maternity returners in your organisation.
Covid-19 Support
In the midst of Covid19, HR professionals are telling me that managers are focused on business continuity and easing women back into work after maternity leave isn’t on their list of priorities. What can HR do to make sure that their maternity returners are still welcomed back into the workforce and reassured that it will be ok to return at this challenging time? To help out, I’ve put together a range of maternity-returner content for company intranets, including:
• Return to work checklist
• 90-day plan
• Key conversations to have with managers
• Balancing work with family life
• Wellbeing
These can also be presented as interactive webinars or virtual lunch and learn sessions.
To discuss the best solution for your organisation, please email emma@emmawaltham.com to arrange a consultation
About Emma
Emma has worked at director level in a variety of sectors, including publishing and recruitment, and was promoted to executive-board level at Hobsons plc, a former subsiduary of the Daily Mail Group by the time she had reached her mid-thirties. She gained extensive, first-hand business expertise in business transformation and leadership.
Before taking a maternity career break, Emma was Client Services Director at Graduate Recruitment Solutions, a division of GTI which provides end-to-end bespoke recruitment process outsourcing solutions for graduate employers.
Following her break Emma gained a Certificate in Coaching with the University of Cambridge and now works as a consultant and executive coach, specialising in supporting women with their career development through their maternity transitions.
This combination of personal and professional expertise in successfully climbing the corporate ladder and being a parent, gives her an insightful and valuable perspective on both the needs of women returners and the organisations they work for.
Organisations Emma has worked with include:
Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
Hobsons plc
HSBC
Group GTI
LLUK
MyKindaFuture
Oxfam
Societe Generale
Case Study: Oxfam
Emma Waltham was engaged by Oxfam to work as an executive coach for its Future Skills programme. Oxfam's Future Skills programme provides coaching, educational group workshops and work experience to help women back into work.
Usually refugees, the women have often come to the UK with skills and work experience, but commonly experience a loss of confidence in their expertise while waiting to receive the right to work in the UK.
Emma helped the women rebuild their self confidence using strengths-based coaching. This approach focuses on raising awareness of the strengths of the participants and helping them to understand how they can use those strengths again in the future. She worked with them to break down their challenges into more manageable stages, so that the participants felt more able to move forward.
The participants reported that the coaching they'd received had been invaluable. They all found that their confidence had increased and that they felt more purposeful about what they could accomplish in the workplace in the future.
White Paper: Engaging Women in the Workplace after Maternity
This paper reviews the current situation regarding women returning to work after maternity and explores how businesses can re-engage them and get them on a career fast track.
It is designed to help organisations:
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Build and sustain a female talent pipeline
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Reduce the gender pay gap
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Broaden diversity at senior levels
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Fill skills gaps
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Generate PR opportunities
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Increase productivity
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Improve retention
