Industry must do more to support women returning to work

Speaking to FT Adviser, Hubble discussed the work she does as a career coach and how she collaborates with firms in the sector to improve their wellbeing strategies. 

Hubble explained there were a lot of mums who had returned to their jobs after maternity leave but were struggling because of the lack of support offered by their employers.

She said: “A lot of managers and leaders aren’t tooled up or resourced with how to manage that return effectively and it’s a huge gap. Some 85 per cent of people who have returned to work after career breaks need support but they’re missing it.

“Yes, there are companies in the sector offering great return to work schemes for people re-entering the workforce but in terms of mental and emotional support from a wellbeing perspective, especially for those going back to a specific role, more work needs to be done.”

According to Hubble, 85 per cent of mums will leave the workforce within three years of childbirth with one of the biggest reasons being a lack of support.

“When you’re a mum there are a whole host of things you need to juggle like childcare, the logistics of pick up and drop offs, sickness and that is a lot of pressure. 

“The other thing is so many mums come to me going through imposter syndrome. So there’s an emotional side to it as well.

"You don't know who you are anymore and you lose your identity. Your whole world changes overnight and you're navigating that so then when coming back to work, women just need a bit of guidance and support and figuring out what that looks like,” she added.

Talent retention

Hubble explained having wellbeing strategies in place to offer that emotional support to women would help to retain female talent.

She said: “Having the correct support mechanisms in place from a company and for them to understand, to empathise and give working mums that extra support would also help the company to retain them and not lose good talent. 

“Just because you become a mum or just because you become a parent doesn't mean that you're not ambitious anymore. It's just maybe a different style and a different type of ambition and they need help to navigate it.”

Hubble said it was also important to support women going through what she liked to call ‘return-to-work moments’.

“People go through life transitions, for example menopause. All women are going to go through menopause and a huge percentage are leaving their jobs because they're not supported through it.

“There are lots of different aspects of what I like to call return-to-work. It doesn't just have to be after an extended break or if you become a parent.

"It’s about ensuring that there's an openness, a transparency, and vulnerability between companies and their employees as humans to make sure we're feeling supported to go through those life transitions in the work environment because work and life aren’t separate entities anymore, they’re more intertwined than ever before.”

Employer proactiveness needed

To help forge more of an inclusive environment for women, Hubble said firms must recognise that the motherhood penalty accounts for 60 per cent of the gender pay gap and needed to introduce frameworks to help them. 

When it comes to employee wellbeing a lot of companies are doing things just to tick the box but they’re not living and breathing it.Hayley Hubble, Coach & Consult

She explained this could be done through introducing policies as well as training leaders to change the culture and mentality. 

“When it comes to employee wellbeing a lot of companies are doing things just to tick the box but they’re not living and breathing it.

“There needs to be policies in place and not just in place, but people need to understand them and know where to access them. Then there needs to be more transparency and openness about these policies.

"Leaders need to know about them and understand them so that when someone comes to them with a challenge or an issue or a life event, they know how to navigate that and manage those expectations and guide them in the right way,” said Hubble.

Hubble felt there wasn’t currently enough proactivity from firms to want to make these changes. 

“When I am speaking to organisations they are thinking about their return on investment in terms of staff retention and client attraction, which seem to be the key areas they want advice and guidance on. 

“When I'm speaking to people they want to make change, but they need to have really strong stats, it's about the return on investment and what's in it for them in order to persuade them to make change,” she pointed out.

Hubble also pointed out there needed to be more willingness from those in senior positions to want to implement better wellbeing strategies. 

There needs to be more coming from the top down rather than just the bottom up Hayley Hubble, Coach & Consult

She said: “A lot of leadership in financial services are of a similar demographic who aren't necessarily in touch with the day-to-day reality of what people are going through. So it’s very hard to tap into and change that mentality in the culture because if their figures are okay and they're making money they don't see the need to then invest more in wellbeing. 

“A lot of the lives of those people in very senior positions are very different to the people who are working under them so there's not necessarily that empathy or understanding. There needs to be more coming from the top down rather than just the bottom up.”

alina.khan@ft.com