In my blog in early 2022, I wrote about retaining your top talent in the midst of the “great resignation”, I’ve invited some of my esteemed colleagues to write about the kinds of things leaders need to pay attention to and this week I’d like to introduce you to Jane Moffett. Jane is a qualified coach and post-natal specialist with over 20 years of experience working with women in their transition to parenthood.
Here Jane talks about the key actions that leaders can take which can make a big difference in retaining and engaging their new parent employees.
There is a clear business case for retaining all new parent employees. Apart from the estimation that the average cost of replacing an employee is £30,000 (ACAS), there is the realisation that an organisation’s productivity and returns are increased by greater diversity amongst employees, and that the assets of a company increase by 8% for every woman on its board (Lloyds).
The challenge for many leaders, however, can be ‘how’ to actually retain new parents – particularly mothers. In a piece of research I co-conducted in 2019-20 (Policies and Practices through the Prism of Working Parenthood. An analysis of factors that help and hinder the engagement and retention of returning talent post parental leave), six key themes were identified as being influential on the experience of parental leave returners – 98% of whom were women (there were 423 survey respondents). I’m going to give a summary of much of our findings, plus the findings from other research in what follows here.
Policies and processes
A good place to start is having current and transparent policies and processes that are easily accessible, and that everyone is aware of – really embedded into the organisation. This minimises the situation of people being treated differently and adds to a greater feeling of fairness – always important when wanting to develop a progressive and supportive workplace culture.
Key to the application of these policies and processes are line managers, and their importance in retaining and motivating new parent employees can’t be over-emphasised. Equipping them with the information and knowledge to best support their direct reports to make a successful return from a parental break is a vital piece of this puzzle. When any employee is out of the workplace for a substantial amount of time (and many women currently take off 12 months for maternity leave) they can feel vulnerable and underconfident on their return. Ensuring that lines of communication are kept open, regular contact has been made while they’re off, and big company updates have been relayed are just some of the steps that line managers can make that can make a real difference to the returner. Having an understanding that the new mother has undergone a big psychological shift, resulting in a change of identity as they adjust to being a parent, and that they are working out how to combine being an employee with being a parent, can enable line managers to treat their returners in a supportive way. Having open conversations with them, in which the line manager is not making assumptions and is genuinely trying to find out what the returner wants in the way of types of work, pace of reintegration, career plans, etc. can help build trust for the returner and reinforce that their individual skills and experience are valued. Instead of feeling that they have been forgotten (‘out of sight, out of mind’) and de-skilled, they will feel appreciated as a valued colleague.
Flexible working
Another of the key themes of our research was flexible working – 21% of respondents cited the importance of having a culture where there was a level of flexibility. This flexibility can make or break the decision of whether or not to stay with an organisation – if a new parent employee can’t see how they can combine work with being a parent, they will look for an organisation that offers this. In March 2020, with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, a huge number of UK organisations suddenly needed to adjust – to remote working, and flexible working, for instance. Many companies came to see that it was possible for flexible working to be the norm, and it will be interesting to see if this continues post-pandemic. I have spoken to many new parent employees who have said that combining work and being a parent has been much easier since March 2020, and I would encourage leaders to think of the importance of having a flexible work culture when they readjust over the coming months. Having support for working parents at a senior level – including having senior people who work flexibly and can act as role models – can ensure that loyal employees, with years of experience, don’t look elsewhere in order to manage the juggle between work and family.
Coaching and mentoring
Finally, the impact of coaching and mentoring on returns to work and continuation for careers came out clearly in our research. Whilst only 10% of our survey respondents had received coaching or mentoring support, 83% of those who didn’t receive this support would have taken it up had it been offered to them. For the 10% who did receive additional support, the impact it had in terms of them getting up and running on their return was marked. Of those that had received coaching or mentoring support, 60% reported that they ‘felt truly back at work’ at 3 months (compared with 39% who hadn’t received this support), and 90% felt this at 6 months (compared with 68% who hadn’t received support). This showed us that investing in coaching and mentoring programmes made a real difference to how these employees felt they were performing post return from a parental break.
Key actions
In a nutshell, there are a few key actions that leaders can take that can make a big difference to retaining and engaging their new parent employees which I’ve summarised in this short list:
- update policies and processes and ensure these are clear and accessible
- invest in training for line managers
- design an onboarding pack for returners
- have a flexible work culture
- offer coaching or mentoring to returning new parent employees
If you would like to read the research report (or to discuss anything that has interested you in this blog) please email me at jane@kangaroocoaching.net.
