Nearly a quarter of working mothers believe it is unrealistic to progress in their careers once they have children, almost three times the proportion of fathers who feel the same, according to new research.
A survey of 706 working parents by Work, Me and the Baby (WOMBA), a consultancy focused on the experience of working parents, and Hult International Business School found that 22 percent of mothers doubted their chances of career advancement with children, compared with 8 percent of fathers. The findings mark the conclusion of a four-year academic research programme into working parenthood.
The study found fathers were consistently more confident about their future career prospects than mothers. Nearly seven in 10 fathers (69 percent) said they were clear about their long-term professional ambitions, compared with just over half of mothers (53 percent). Two thirds of fathers said they could easily imagine their “future work self”, against just over half of mothers.
A third of mothers (31 percent) reported that their commitment to their career had dropped since becoming a parent, compared with only a fifth of fathers. Researchers said the gap suggested employers do not offer equally accessible support for career progression to both mothers and fathers.
Mothers more likely to feel forced out
The imbalance also extended to parents leaving organisations. Among the 16 percent of mothers who no longer worked at the organisation where they took parental leave, 41 percent quit during their leave period. Almost a third said they felt they had no other choice but to resign, while 17 percent were made redundant.
Fathers were far less likely to leave, with only five percent doing so. Of those, nearly three quarters said their departure was voluntary, moving on to better opportunities elsewhere. By contrast, just over half of mothers who left said they did so for better roles.
“It’s incredibly challenging for mums and dads in the UK to manage parenting with a career. Most parents are forced to choose one or the other, which means that there is nearly always a sacrifice – for mums, it’s a career, and for dads, it’s parenting,” WOMBA director Helen Sachdev said.
Risks for employers
The research warned that retention gaps between mothers and fathers are costly for employers. While 68 percent of fathers said they intended to stay with their current employer, only 61 percent of mothers said the same. Overall, 14 percent of parents surveyed said they did not plan to be with their current organisation within two years.
There is also reputational risk, with 12 percent of parents saying they would not recommend their workplace as a good place for working parents.
Returning to work was identified as the most challenging stage of the journey, with 68 percent of mothers and 64 percent of fathers saying it was moderately to extremely difficult. Mothers were almost twice as likely as fathers to describe themselves as unsettled and were more likely to report feelings of guilt. The research also found lower levels of resilience and self-esteem among mothers compared with fathers.
Despite the challenges, many organisations were failing to prepare parents for their return. More than a third said they were not offered “keep in touch” days, and significant numbers reported a lack of communication from managers and HR during their leave. Almost half were not given an induction on returning, and more than half were not offered a return-to-work interview.
What parents need
When asked what helped them to thrive, financial stability was ranked highest by both mothers (88 percent) and fathers (87 percent). Mothers also pointed to flexible working hours, affordable childcare, supportive managers and being trusted by their employer. Fathers highlighted being able to bring their whole selves to work and balance professional and parental identities, alongside trust and supportive management.
Researchers said the findings showed that while priorities differed slightly, both mothers and fathers identified the same 13 critical factors for thriving at work. These range from organisational policies such as flexible working and parent-friendly cultures to personal needs including affordable childcare and supportive networks. WOMBA and Hult International Business School called this framework the Thrive Model.
“The time to act is now, for organisations to future proof their talent pipeline and remain competitive,” said Sachdev. “We believe a systemic approach is required – including public policy reform – for thriving working parents to become the norm.”
Dr Lee Waller, professor of occupational psychology at Hult International Business School, said that “[i]f organisations themselves are to thrive, they need to attract and retain diverse talent – people who think creatively, manage competing priorities, and collaborate through empathy. No group is better equipped with these skills than working parents”.
Future pipeline
Working parents make up around a third of the UK workforce, and many are at pivotal career stages when they have children. The study warned that failure to support them risks not only individual careers but also the wider talent pipeline for employers.
“At the point workers become parents, they are often at a critical career stage and represent a high proportion of the future talent pipeline. Our study findings offer critical insight into the changes required not only to retain and attract a huge talent group, but to help working parents thrive,” Sachdev said.
The research concluded that unless employers and policymakers adopt systemic change, the UK risks losing working parent talent, with damaging consequences for organisations, families and the wider economy.
