What can you do to help mothers get back into the workplace?

For mothers, taking significant time off work to child-care can be both a personal gift and a workplace set back.  Needless to say, this issue does affect both men and women. But with take-up for shared parental leave incredibly low, it is women more often than not who find themselves taking long career breaks and struggling to get back into work.

Those returning to work can often feel hindered by perceived skills gaps, lack of confidence or difficulty in managing their child care alongside work demands. We take a look at a few ways you can make life easier for mothers getting back into work.  

Confidence Building

Following time away it is normal to feel that the workplace has moved on without you. New processes may have replaced the old, and old processes could be long forgotten after a year out of practice. Holding refresher courses for returning parents can ease a lack of confidence or concern about keeping up with the role. This could involve training on new programmes or software you now use, meetings with management to re-cap where the department is up to, introductions to new team members and a comprehensive hand-over from those who have covered the role in their absence.