It is a regrettable but undeniable fact that pregnancy and childbirth and taking time away from work to raise children can sometimes be detrimental to a woman’s career, and that some women end up dropping out of the workplace altogether.
Benefits of Flexible Working
However, new research from
Kent University has found that if women are offered flexibility in the workplace after childbirth then the impact on their future careers can be minimised.
The study was led by Dr Heejung Chung, of the University’s School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research. It found that likelihood of a woman reducing her hours at work after childbirth was reduced by half when the option of flexitime was available.
The flexitime needs to be used though, not merely perceived as being available. The researchers explained that:
“For mothers with new-borns, perceived access to flexitime in itself may not be enough to tackle the work-life balance demands they are faced with. The flexibility needs to be enacted to really make a difference.”
Reducing the Gender Pay Gap
The researchers believe their findings will be useful in ongoing efforts to tackle the gender pay gap, stating that:
“Flexible working may help alleviate some of the negative consequences of the motherhood penalty, by allowing mothers to remain in human-capital-intensive jobs, which can help diminish the gender wage gap.”
The
Government has also recognised that helping people back into work after career breaks can be useful in tackling the gender pay gap, and has recently announced new initiatives designed to support this.
The returner programmes – part of the £5 million fund announced in this year’s Budget – are formal schemes offered by employers to provide training and support to people who have taken time out of the workplace. The Government Equalities Office will be establishing four new returner schemes across the public sector.
They will be open to women and men, with the aim of giving people who have taken career breaks the opportunity to refresh their skills and build professional networks.
According to Government’s statistics, the gender pay gap for women in their twenties is less than 7%, but widens to 25% for women in their forties. The Institute for Fiscal Studies has found that women who take time out of work earn less when they return, receiving around 2% less for every year spent out of paid work.
Career Break Penalties
Research by PwC found that addressing the career break penalty could provide a £1.7 billion boost to the country’s annual economic output. This could increase the annual earnings of female professionals by an average of £4,000 per woman.
“Millions of us need to take time out from our careers, but it can be really hard to return,” commented Minister of State for Apprenticeships, Skills and Women Anne Milton. “This is bad for the people affected, and the businesses that miss out on their talents. Women in particular find the routes back into employment closed off after taking time out to start a family.”
“These returner programmes will make it routine for women to go back to the workplace and get on with their careers,” she added. “It ultimately should also help us to tackle the gender pay gap. I think it’s important that the public sector leads by example and introduces programmes to support people returning to the workplace.”
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