It's still satisfying, isn't it? That first underfoot, autumnal crunch. It calls to the small child hiding inside each of us. But as an adult, the concept of crunch time can take on a whole new meaning. This Autumn, we've welcomed back a member of our fantastic 9-2-3 team from maternity leave. We're delighted to see her again - we've missed her fabulous sense of humour, and her innovative approach. The 9-2-3 airwaves have rung with stories of the return from our own maternity leaves. There have been increasingly enthusiastic - indeed, some might say almost frantic - attempts to pass on several attics' worth of toddler clothes and train sets.
But however much we might joke, the truth is that the return to work after maternity leave isn't always plain sailing. For many, the very act of being able to take sufficient maternity leave is fraught with financial stress and tension. A recent survey by Working Families, the national charity for working parents and carers, reveals that 40% of mothers aren't taking as much maternity leave as they'd like to. Additionally, four in ten women returned to work within 6 months of their baby being born, and only 34% continued their maternity leave beyond the Statutory Maternity Pay period of 39 weeks. Economic pressures, presumably heightened by the cost of living crisis, were a major factor in these decisions. A full 80% of mothers who didn't take as much time off as they'd have liked reported that this was due to financial concerns, whilst 70% of fathers who took less than two weeks of paternity leave also said it was because they were worried about money.
And once you arrive back at work, it's not always sunshine and roses. If you aren't lucky enough to have family help, you might find that a nursery place is becoming increasingly elusive; between 2023 and 2024, approximately 1,200 nurseries closed. In addition to the fundamental difficulty in finding a childcare place, its soaring cost can decimate family budgets - six out of ten parents reported that childcare costs were straining their finances. Against this backdrop, it's possibly no surprise that we lose more than 100,000 new mothers from the UK workforce every year. 100,000 women who are often at the prime of their professional lives, with years of industry experience.
But all is not lost - it turns out that these difficulties can be avoided with very little fuss. The first step? We believe it's the creation of a supportive workplace culture which doesn't require people to hide their parenthood - which doesn't view new parental leave as a favour or a self-indulgence, but simply a normal part of everyday life. A small pause in the span of a career which will probably last for several decades. It's not only easy, but inexpensive - it can be as simple as leading by example. It costs nothing to encourage our leaders to be open about having taken parental leave themselves, after all. We should be encouraging everyone to acknowledge that watching their child play football on a Saturday afternoon is as much a part of life as the board meeting they attend on a Monday morning. This isn't a sign of weakness. Marc Randolph, the co-founder of Netflix, famously left work every single Tuesday at 5pm to spend time with his wife and family, and that seemed to work pretty well for him - and his multi-national organisation.
We've also seen interesting suggestions that maternity leave could be rearranged in a more user-friendly way. Of course, most workplaces will already be familiar with how the statutory maternity leave framework operates, but many larger companies are also able to offer enhanced maternity or paternity leave pay. In these circumstances, cash-strapped employees may appreciate the option to take this paid new parental leave in several smaller blocks, with the opportunity to rebuild their savings in between.
Then, of course, there’s the first day back at your desk. Some returners might value the support of a workplace mentor who's recently gone through the process themselves. Others might be interested in some refresher training to boost their confidence as they're getting back into the swing of things. Certainly, if new systems have been put in place whilst you're away, you'll probably feel it’s important that you receive proper training to make them work for you, rather than being left to sink in a sea of unfamiliar software at an already-stressful time.
But the pull factor which is mentioned time and time again in surveys of working parents is the ability to work flexibly. Perhaps unsurprisingly, a huge 87% of survey respondents said that they would consider childcare arrangements before applying for a promotion or a new role, and 75% of parents who don't currently work flexibly say they would like to - a flexible offering really can be the key to a happy workforce.
So what does this look like in practice? Well, different forms of flex will work best for different people, so it's always preferable to have an open chat to your line manager, and to start the conversation early. You might want to compress your hours into fewer days, or discuss the possibility of a job share, for example. But there are definitely some crowd-pleasers which we can offer up, and which might be a good place to start your discussions. In those early days of your return from maternity leave, the ability to start later or finish earlier in order to facilitate nursery drop offs or childminder pick ups can be the difference between holding on to your career and feeling that you're being squeezed out. The ability to stagger your working hours with those of your partner can be the secret to keeping your family financially afloat during the years of high economic pressure. But it's also worth remembering that flexibility isn’t only a logistical issue.
In many cases, it also sets the tone of a workplace, and says a huge amount about an organisation and how it values its people.
Finally, we should note that while the suggestions set out above are useful tools which we often discuss with candidates returning from maternity leave, or the organisations trying to support them, (new and existing) Dads shouldn’t be excluded either. The Working Families survey reported that many men currently feel it's more acceptable for women to work part time than their male counterparts. We firmly believe that flex is for everyone, whatever their role within a family.
Modern life is getting more intense. The financial pressure is on. Our career expectations matter more to us than ever before.
It's Crunch Time. How will we all respond?