Can stay at home Mums return to corporate work?

Hello community!! I came across this post today and it's a question I'm really interested in. I notice that we're amost 1 year on from the original post and wondered whether anyone had any recent experience that they'd be happy to share? In particular, my expectation is that the majority of returning mums are looking for part-time/flexible/hybrid/remote roles or some combination of those. Is that the case or am I mistaken? And if so, are they being offered or is it coming down to a negotiation post-offer? Appreciate any insight.

Hi Elle,

I'm happy to share with you my own experiences, though they're probably a little dated.

1. When I had my first son (who is now 11!), I returned to work on a agreed 90% pattern but was made redundant pretty abruptly after I returned. I found myself unexpectedly seeking work after a year's maternity leave and the number of part time roles at the level I was seeking (HR Manager/Head of HR) were very few. I applied to everything locally possible and was lucky in being offered a part time HR project consultant role as a consolation prize for not being selected for a permanent role. I didn't share my wish for part time working until I was offered a job as that job was full time a I was desperate enough to consider it, even though it didn't suit me or my family. There were other roles where I stated upfront I was seeking a part time pattern. I'll never know whether that affected the likelihood of being selected for interview.

2. After my second son (7), the part-time permanent role I was employed in changed during my maternity leave and by mutual agreement, I didn't return at the end of that period. This time I had just over a year out of work including maternity leave to help son number 1 settle into school. It was pretty depressing to be in the same situation four years later, having struggled to find fulfilling HR Manager/Head of HR roles with any flexibility.

I applied for a full time role at a local council which was fixed term for a year. On my application form, I stated clearly I was interested in a flexible working pattern, and the job advertisement had indicated that could be possible. My manager didn't read that bit so was pretty flummoxed when I was negotiating on that aspect! I ended up on a 9 day fortnight which didn't really suit me or my family. After the initial year was up and my role became permanent, my manager would not consider reducing my hours to 0.8 (even though my key client supported me) so I ended up moving internally to a non-HR job with more flexibility and better pay.

3. I enjoyed the challenge of consultancy work, and it was really interesting to move out of HR and into change and project management. I had the flexibility I wanted and things went well. However, after a couple of years I suffered burn out and despite being clear about what adjustments would allow me to continue to work, my manager was not prepared to support me. So, after a short period of sick leave, I resigned and was once more looking for a role. I decided to move back into HR but because it had been a few years since I'd been a generalist, I didn't quite know what level to try and slot back in so I wasted my own and a few people's time initially in applying for roles that were more junior.

I applied to various full and part time roles, generally being upfront about my flexible working requirements. I was strongly encouraged by recruitment agents to conceal my desire for flexible working until I was made a job offer but that didn't feel true to me and I tended to give them the feedback that the sort of organisations that wouldn't consider flexible working probably weren't the right cultural fit for me! Post-pandemic, hybrid working was more common so that was a factor for me too. My experience was that the truly part time or fully remote roles had a huge amount of applications. Often this meant more rejections of a many layered selection process. Those with hybrid seemed to attract a still high but more locally bound number of applicants.

With the job I am in now (have been for 2 and a bit years), I ended up having interviews for some well paid project roles which involved more travels and the one I selected which is slightly less well paid but a mile from where I live. It was advertised as either four or five days a week (I work four) so it was a clear possibility from the start. I haven't regretted it. With two primary age children, the flexibility this role offers is just what I need. I still find it hard that it took me around 10 years to find a role at a similar level to the one I was initially made redundant from, but I wasn't prepared to compromise the flexibility I wanted, particularly when my children were young.

If you are in this situation, I think there are more options for flexible and hybrid roles than there were for me when I was first seeking them 10+ years ago. Some employers will be more accommodating of part time work, and hybrid/remote seems to be a key differentiator between different employers. I preferred being honest in my applications - I think it most likely meant I was screened out for a few but I didn't want to waste everyone's time by pretending I was interested in full time when I wasn't.

Thank you so much for your insight. It really is frustrating. It feels like very little progress has been made in that time. I'm glad you now have something that works. Am I right in thinking that your current role is a project role, rather than HR? And, if I were to wonder whether the HR professional community are well positioned to influence employers' attitudes towards working patterns, would that be accurate? Thanks again for your help?

Hi Elle,

I'm glad you found it useful, it has been a frustrating time.
I'm doing an unusual role now - Director of People for a Cathedral so I'm responsible for HR and Volunteering. I do lead a lot of projects but the role is very broad with a mix of generalist, strategic and project work.

Yes, absolutely, I think we are in a key position to influence our own employers and beyond. I follow a few people on LinkedIn who have interests in this area and try and amplify useful content. I've always tried to advocate for different formats of working and in my own teams, 4 out of the 6 People people are part time (including me). I'm the only part time Senior Leader at the moment, but that may change! Somewhat unexpectedly, the Cathedral is quite forward thinking on work patterns - we have some on term time only contracts, quite a lot of part timers, a couple on fixed term contracts and some annualised hours. Before I joined, remote working was introduced and that then changed to hybrid. It's a real attractor for us as a small local employer. We have some staff whose roles are site specific so can't be flexed to hybrid for others, it's an opportunity to discuss with their manager. I think this helps in encouraging those with family or other commitments to consider working for us as the flexibility is so well established.

Wow, that is quite impressive for a small organisation. It's lovely to read that flexibility is a positive thing there. And I hope you don't mind me asking, but do you know (and can you share) the reason why remote working was changed to hybrid by any chance? It seems that there's some winding-back of remote working that was introduced during the pandemic. I read conflicting opinion about the effects of remote working, so it's helpful to hear real-life examples that highlight the issues at play. Thanks again.

Yes, it's a great part of our culture.

No problem, it pre-dates my employment there but essentially, during the pandemic, the Cathedral had to close for a time and so pivoted to remote working for those who could (many staff were furloughed). Services were streamed so that those who wished to could join remotely but a lot of the core operations had to stop due to the national restrictions. Post-pandemic, it was agreed that those whose roles could be undertaken from home (mainly admin and other teams such as Marketing, HR, Finance, IT, Learning) could be undertaken in a hybrid way with a few days on-site and a few days working from home. Some staff prefer to work fully in the office for their whole working week. There are many roles (such as Gardeners, Retail Workers, Facilities Team, Welcome Assistants, Musicians, those involved with Worship or Events, Stone Masons) whose roles can only be undertaken on site. I presume they were all furloughed during the pandemic as there would have been very little of their roles that could be carried out remotely. Since then, the hybrid pattern has continued for some roles and I can't see it changing, it works really well and staff appreciate it.

I assume the timescales of what happened were pretty typical for heritage organisations/tourist attractions. I wasn't working in an HR role during the pandemic so didn't get involved in that side of things in my employer at the time.

Yes, it's a great part of our culture.

No problem, it pre-dates my employment there but essentially, during the pandemic, the Cathedral had to close for a time and so pivoted to remote working for those who could (many staff were furloughed). Services were streamed so that those who wished to could join remotely but a lot of the core operations had to stop due to the national restrictions. Post-pandemic, it was agreed that those whose roles could be undertaken from home (mainly admin and other teams such as Marketing, HR, Finance, IT, Learning) could be undertaken in a hybrid way with a few days on-site and a few days working from home. Some staff prefer to work fully in the office for their whole working week. There are many roles (such as Gardeners, Retail Workers, Facilities Team, Welcome Assistants, Musicians, those involved with Worship or Events, Stone Masons) whose roles can only be undertaken on site. I presume they were all furloughed during the pandemic as there would have been very little of their roles that could be carried out remotely. Since then, the hybrid pattern has continued for some roles and I can't see it changing, it works really well and staff appreciate it.

I assume the timescales of what happened were pretty typical for heritage organisations/tourist attractions. I wasn't working in an HR role during the pandemic so didn't get involved in that side of things in my employer at the time.