What Employers Need to Do to Bring Working Mothers Back to Work

The struggles of daycare closures, the unpredictability of school schedules due to COVID-19 spikes, and the continued stress overwhelming working mothers are part of our current state and foreseeable future. And, with mothers accounting for 32 percent of all working women, now is the time for organizations to get serious about how to support working moms, less their talent and business goals suffer. 

In March 2020, when schools closed due to COVID-19, I became a full-time, work-from-home mom and teacher to a then sixth-grader, second-grader, and kindergartner (which posed unique challenges as a non-reader). Teachers asked for grace while my fuse got shorter with the kids. Sometimes, I’d hide upstairs and binge-watch Outlander to escape. To cope, I signed up for virtual yoga, ran our aromatherapy diffuser, and organized every cabinet in the house. 

Finding my center or some sort of balance felt unattainable. 

Three months into the global pandemic—a full-time workload and three kids schooling from home—became too much to handle. I needed to bend before I broke.

“Working moms are overwhelmed, exhausted, and completely burned out. The combination of managing a career, a household, and virtual schooling is unmanageable,” advises Nicole McNelis, M.Ed. and licensed professional counselor (LPC) specializing in maternal mental health and counseling for women, moms, and moms-to-be. 

The stress and anxiety forced me to reprioritize where and how I spend my energy. So, in July 2020, I left my more than 20-year career in talent acquisition and employer branding to care for my family and my mental health. Like many working mothers, I am part of the “she-cession” as the pandemic forced us to choose between work and family. “Overall nearly 2.4 million women have exited the workforce since last February [2020], compared with less than 1.8 million men,” reports NBC News. 

Now, as we pass the one-year mark of the U.S. shutdowns, the end of the crisis may feel like it’s in sight with schools reopening and spring sports in full gear. But the pandemic reminds us of its reality and cruelty with spikes in cases, new variants, and loved ones dying. Still, now, women are leaving the workforce in droves with approximately 275,000 women departing in January 2021. This begs the question, “why is it mainly women who make the difficult decision to leave work, compared to male coworkers?”

September 2020, my previous employer welcomed me back on a part-time schedule. I re-entered the workforce working ten hours per week and upped my hours to twenty at the start of the new year. Again working from home and what I’m referring to as “corporate office privilege.” It’s this idea that people who work in corporate functions can do their jobs anywhere, while frontline workers need to be physically present at work, whether that’s on the manufacturing, warehouse, retail, or hospital floor. Corporate office privilege allows me to continue to work safely from the comfort of home, making me part of the 18 percent of the workforce who telecommutes. 

But what about the remaining 82 percent? 

The reality is not everyone is working from home and not every job can be done from anywhere. “Too many employees are looking for mandatory nights, weekends, and holidays,” shares Ashleigh Rauch, a single mom of three young children who felt she needed to leave her employer to do what is best for her family. “I think they [employers] need to understand if children were exposed to COVID, we need to take care of them and deal with next steps in schooling or a self-quarantine. A parent shouldn’t have to worry about losing their job over this.”

As a consultant, I work with HR leaders on a near-daily basis. What I am seeing now are glimmers of hope for our economy, the job market, and women who want to get back to work. Since the beginning of 2021, there has been a noticeable increase in organizations hiring for and investing in their employer brands. What’s more, the number of recruiter roles (posted by some of the hardest-hit industries, including hospitality, travel and tourism, retail, and entertainment) is resurging. All signs point to a hiring comeback, but what remains to be seen is how companies will bring women back and support them.  

DON’T JUST SAY YOU WANT TO HIRE MORE WOMEN, SHOW US. 

COVID-19 is terrible in so many ways but also turns out to be eye-opening to many companies, forcing them to accelerate modern and forward-thinking business practices, including how to best employ working mothers. A critical and sensitive subject, it was rarely given the time it deserved for proper solutions. Now more than ever, organizations need to be part of the working mother solution, lest be part of the continued problem. 

Employers, large and small, cannot say they are female-friendly, want to hire more women, support equal rights, and commit to gender parity without fully supporting working mothers. Based on countless conversations and emails with working mothers, here are realistic recommendations to challenge conventional, pre-COVID thinking:

1. Listen to your current employees and those who left. Ask employees who are mothers and parents what they feel the company does well to support them, and what they would like to see done better or differently. Consider reaching out to working mothers who left to understand more about the experience and what the company might do to support them in coming back. When implementing changes, show their voices were heard, and thank them for their courage in sharing concerns and ideas.
2. Accept there may be gaps on resumes. Some companies promote their job opportunities as a way for working mothers to re-enter the workforce after having a gap in their resume. Johnson & Johnson’s Re-Ignite program is a good example of this. While I have heard many women say they want to “step away during this time for the sake of their kids,” they are scared to have that gap. Organizations must realize gaps are bound to happen and aren’t reason alone not to hire someone. Leaders who show empathy and understanding, and who educate hiring managers and recruiters to look beyond a motherhood or pandemic-response gap, will be among the employers who succeed in bringing women back to work.
3. Provide supportive tangible benefits.  There are many benefits employers can choose to offer not only to working moms, but to working parents. “Backup childcare and paid time off for family leave is a great start,” recommends McNelis. Beyond that, to truly differentiate their offerings, employers should consider providing: extra sick days to care for sick children and for self-care; childcare or summer camp stipends; discounts on laundry services, cleaning services, and meal preparation kits which are all time-consuming responsibilities that are hard to manage as a working mother. Any one or a combination of options offered to working mothers—guilt-free with no strings attached—would help drive engagement, show support, and level the gender playing field.  
4. Create flexible work opportunities that fit into real life. “It's really popular to share images on social media of moms on calls while taking care of their children. It's creating a larger problem that working mothers are expected to ‘do-it-all,’ shares Adrienne Betenbaugh, who recently returned to work after her second child was born 11 weeks early. “We need to recognize that it's okay for mom to separate from work to take care of her sick child and to later be able to focus on a call. Providing flexible work environments where a mother can choose what is best for her, enables this, without contributing to women being overburdened." Employers need to offer flexibility in when and where work gets done. Whether it’s reduced hours, four-day workweeks, or virtual work, attracting and retaining women will take more than simply offering the traditional nine to five work week. As long as the works get done well, added flexibility needs to be part of the conversation and solution across roles and industries.
5. Practice pay and promotional equity. “Just because a person is part-time or working under a flexible arrangement, doesn't mean they are cheap labor or less valuable,” shares Lexi Gordon, working mother of a kindergartner, toddler, and new baby. “Working mothers should be paid proportionally equal. The same goes for bonus and promotion considerations.” Working mothers are efficient in getting work done and done well—between all the crazy balls they are juggling at home. Just because time is reduced, doesn't mean they should be overlooked. Compensation needs to be fair and equal, based on performance and work, not schedule or hours. Working mothers have the ability to perform at the highest level and deserve the opportunity to receive just as much.
6. Foster a “working mom-friendly” culture. Organizations should not promote wellbeing initiatives and parent-friendly practices on their careers site, yet be okay with managers who (knowingly or unknowingly) create tension or indirect pressures. “In addition to tangible benefits, it’s also critical to be sure that the culture of the organization aligns with being “working mom-friendly,” explains McNelis. “I frequently hear about organizations that claim to have the best interests of working mothers at heart, but in reality, working moms are penalized for their role as both an employee and mother.”
7. Schedule meetings thoughtfully. As a working mother, mornings are for “is your lunch made, do you have a mask, is your Chromebook charged, it’s time to leave for school, love you, have a great day.” They are not for 7 a.m. work calls because four out of five days a week I taxi my kids to school because we chose not to have them ride the bus due to the pandemic. Where possible, try to avoid scheduling important and/or regularly scheduled meetings during times that may interfere with school schedules, such as morning drop-offs (7 - 9 a.m.) or afternoon pickups (3 - 5 p.m.). 
8. Contribute to childcare. It takes a village to raise a child. It’s time for employers to truly become part of the working mothers’ village. Child care is expensive and having a child in daycare is stressful. If they're on-site at the office, that's less stress and worry. Likewise, having a new baby and feeling the pressure to return to work after three short months is extremely stressful. As a consultant, we often hear the request for on-site daycares and better parental leave policies, such as longer periods of paid or even unpaid leave for both parents, from employees.

Many working mothers want to keep working, but the current situation makes it difficult or nearly impossible to do so. “When working mothers feel supported through the combination of tangible and accessible benefits, and the overall culture of an organization, it not only lends itself to increased productivity and a boost in morale but we also see better outcomes in terms of the mental health of working moms,” confirms McNelis. As a working mom, I hear my friends struggling and see the kids suffering. Working mothers want to contribute, do good work, progress careers forward, and provide for their family – but not at the expense of their kids. 

Turning the “she-cession” into a “shesurgence” will require today’s employers to rethink their hiring and employment experiences. There isn’t a magic switch we flip and it all goes back to the way it was. There have to be better options, for everyone, moving forward. 

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Endnote: Sending a heartfelt thank you to all of the women, quoted and behind the scenes, who made this article possible and are bringing warranted attention to this important topic.