Majority of women move into flexible and contractor work after maternity leave

According to a new report carried out by Robert Half, a significant number of women make
the decision to move into flexible or contractor work after being on maternity leave.

The recruitment firm’s research found that of the 200 HR directors in UK companies that were surveyed, the majority (83%) of female employees move into part time and/or flexible working after being on maternity leave.

The findings revealed that over half (51%) of respondents said that 50% of female managers return to work after maternity leave.

The research also found that when looking at men taking paternity leave, despite being entitled to take one or two weeks’, 66% of new dads do not take off the maximum allowance.

The main reasons behind this were found to be because of financial considerations (62%), societal pressures (41%), excessive workloads (34%) and perception in the workplace (25%).

Estelle James, director of Robert Half UK, said of the findings, “It bodes well for businesses that such a high proportion of new mums now want to return to work, particularly those in a management role. 

“The majority of HR directors in our survey understand that female returners want to come back to work in a flexible, part-time or job sharing capacity, so it’s good to see that they have already put measures in place to provide these opportunities – or plan to in the future.

“Hopefully this will support women in business as we look to get more female representation in executive and board-level roles.”

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