It needs to move from one where parents are made to feel like an inconvenience due to the need to manage working hours around childcare, to one which motivates organisations to recruit and retain them, seeing parenthood as the ultimate personal opportunity it is, that upskills their colleagues in a way no training course can.
In becoming a parent we experience a period of enhanced brain neuroplasticity that sees the brain change in ways not seen since adolescence. Caring for a child has impacts on the brain that not only make us better able to care for our children, but benefits us in our wider lives. When a parent comes back from taking extended parental leave they have been through one of the most significant periods of personal development of their lives.
Read more: Flexible work gives working parents confidence to progress
Research at Rutgers Center for Women in Business has found that caregiving by men and women develops skills that are of benefit to the workplace, such as empathy, teamwork, emotional intelligence, collaboration, efficiency, persistence, prioritising, flexibility, patience and resilience. These are skills that parents will continue to develop as their children grow, and will be of huge benefit to their teams and organisations.
Read more: How organisations can support the working parent shift
So how can HR and Senior Leaders harness these enhanced skills?
1. Change the mindset
Change the mindset to focus on the enhanced skills and experience parents bring to the workplace. Sharing and talking about this within your organisation increases the chance that these new skills will be valued and nurtured. Create opportunities for parents to share their experiences and how their enhanced skills are now benefiting their work and teams.
2. Equal parental leave
Provide all parents with enhanced parental leave to maximise the developmental opportunity parenthood brings for mothers and fathers, and provide fathers the time to develop skills in the same way mothers can.
3. Support parents through parental leave
Support parents with their transition to and from parental leave through comprehensive maternity and paternity coaching with an external coaching organisation, training a pool of internal mentors, and supporting and funding employee resource groups such as a parents’ network. Supporting parents during this key transition increases the chances of retaining them after they return to work and making use of their enhanced skills.
4. Upskill your line managers
Train your line managers to have the skills and confidence to support their colleagues through parental leave. When supporting a parent in their return to work, Managers can help their colleagues reflect on the skills they have been developing on parental leave and how these can be useful when they return to the office. Managers are in the best position to help them find opportunities to use their enhanced skills within the team, on new projects or through collaborating with other departments.
5. Role model parenting out loud at senior leadership levels.
How senior leaders approach becoming a parent sets the tone for how the rest of the organisation can approach this life event. If they hide the fact that they are parents or have parental responsibilities, this creates a culture where parenting is hidden. Leaders who take parental leave, share when they have to care for a sick child and are open about the juggle of career and home life normalises this for their colleagues. This creates a culture where employees feel able to be engaged parents and benefit from the personal development opportunity this brings.
Read more: What is current best practice for working parents and carers?
When we take into account that, for the average parent in the UK, three quarters of their career happens after returning from parental leave, that’s a significant period of time where you can harness these skills to benefit your teams, stakeholders and the bottom line. But if you don’t, your competitors will.
By Frances Cushway, founder and managing director at The Maternity Coach