In the latest in our Bloom EverydayActions series we ask how we can better retain one of our industry’s most precocious untapped resources: maternal talent.
Just one or two small steps can make a massive difference to an individual returning from maternity leave, to the women coming up behind them, to the business and the wider industry. Will you take them?
Coming back from maternity leave with a previous employer allowed me to see our industry in a new light. And, spoiler alert: it wasn’t hugely flattering. But if the shock of a negative experience stuck with me, so did the realisation that all of the things that could have improved it were both free and wholly within our gift as a talented, creative, and (hopefully) adaptable industry.
Maternity leave is a life-changing event. It is a moment when an employee needs support from their employer and colleagues. For some it may be the first and only moment they feel truly vulnerable in their careers.
All you have to do is ask any woman who has processed, or is still processing a negative return to understand just how important empathy to an individual's personal feelings are. Yet, this is not just a personal issue; making the return from maternity leave a positive experience is vital for the long term success of the industry.
If we are serious about achieving gender equality in our industry and making it inclusive, we have to make work work for our maternal talent.
Zara Gregory, Global Business Director at Anomaly London
The return from maternity leave is a huge moment for potential talent drop-off. According to the IPA 2020 agency census our industry gender pay gap sits at 22.7%, a gap which the All In Census 2021 reveals widens as you move towards more senior positions. As the IPA Future of Fairness report 2021 revealed women make up 52.6% of employees in our industry, but only 28.5% Managing Directors.
It’s hard to discount maternity leave return and working with young children as one key factor in this disparity. If we are serious about achieving gender equality in our industry and making it inclusive, we have to make work work for our maternal talent.
And let’s be clear, the benefits go far beyond the individual concerned. Research shows that women account for approximately 85% of consumer spending, so building that representation within our senior ranks is vital to strengthening both our thinking and creative outputs. While beyond just our industry, addressing what PWC call the ‘career break penalty’ for female professionals could generate an additional economic output of £1.7 billion annually. And that’s just for starters.
So how are we doing with our maternal talent right now?
A recent survey led by Rachel Stern for Bloom UK saw nearly half of first-time industry mums surveyed agree their maternity leave return was ‘more negative than I was expecting’. Crucially, those with negative return experiences were 63% more likely to leave their company within 6 months. Over a quarter surveyed stated that from when their pregnancy was announced they were treated more negatively.
As an industry, we have a decision to make; do we leave this as is or do we take action to retain and unlock our maternal talent? At Bloom UK, we choose the latter and hope you do too. That’s why in partnership with Major Players, we have published a practical guide to fuel successful maternity leave returns.
Currently two thirds of industry mums state that no return-to-work initiatives or programmes were available to them. This includes those that bear no cost like thorough handover processes. A fact that underlines there is clearly room for us to improve. And the good news is that it doesn’t have to be expensive or time-consuming for us to do so.
If you get the return to work experience right the benefits are quickly felt. Half of returners we surveyed with positive return experiences were still with their companies more than 3 years post return. As the industry grapples with the much-discussed talent crisis, retaining maternal talent is vital.
It also sends an important message to the next generation of talent. As Dr Nina Ansary wrote; “it’s hard to be what we cannot see.”. By encouraging more industry mums to stay, we are creating role models for the next generation of industry women.
1. Consider the pre maternity-leave experience as part of the return experience
How you respond to an employee’s pregnancy, how you work with them through pregnancy and how you help them (and you) prepare for maternity leave is just as important as how you both manage those first few weeks back.
2. Don’t discount the importance of the small things
Inclusive event planning, work equipment that aids comfort, sending a gift when the small one is born…small gestures have big impacts.
3. Develop a contact strategy for during maternity leave
The use of internal parent mentoring or buddy schemes, a considered HR/line manager check in and/or using KIT days effectively are all examples of how to maintain useful contact through maternity leave, managing expectations for a return both sides and helping combat any potential feelings of isolation.
4. Plan the return with an eye on the detail
The things most industry mums want the most? Handovers, inductions/onboardings and internal parent mentor/buddy schemes. All free. If you can add to these fundamentals by being open to phased returns and/or first week early finishes as an example, all the better. Consider what is most likely to make a return stick – familiar clients and/or working teams, practical workload adjustments should contracts have changed, are all to be considered here.
5. Fuel empathy in your workplace
Consider team-wide training on the challenges facing returning mothers (even better, broaden this to challenges that impact returning parents generally). Whether using an external third party or developing an internal roundtable of sorts, it’s about sharing perspectives and gathering insight so staff are better prepared to understand and manage a returning parent.
Bloom UK’s The Great Return: a practical guide covering the run up to maternity leave, during leave and the return itself is now available to download here
Zara Gregory is a Global Business Director at Anomaly London. Having started her career client-side in government communications at COI, Zara has spent 10 years working in creative agencies across brands including the BBC, Argos, British Gas, American Express and now, MINI. A member of Bloom UK since 2020 and mum to a two-year-old with views, she is the author of The Great Return: Ensuring work really works for new mothers and our industry.
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