How can East African businesses get professional women back into the workforce after maternity?
A new survey conducted by Regus has suggested several measures that must be adopted to ensure that women professionals easily adopt and enjoy work after giving birth.
Some of the recommendations carried in this study are introducing greater flexibility, near-site crèche facilities, increased use of video-conferencing technology and more job sharing.
The responses above came mainly from East African respondents who took part in this study. These findings are part of a recently done business survey by Regus. Over 26, 000 business respondents were interviewed from more than 90 countries world over.
The survey high lights that higher participation of East African women in the workforce is vital to sustaining and driving growth.
Nonetheless, professional women are still finding that the burden of child care forces them out of employment after maternity and needs to be urgently stemmed.
Not only are returning mothers key to economic development, but at a business-by-business level, respondents reported that hiring returning mothers helps improve productivity, possibly by lowering training and hiring costs, the report highlighted.
Interestingly, more vacation days were the least popular measure selected by respondents as critical to help women get back to work after maternity, highlighting that radical changes to work habits are required rather than additional days of rest.
Key Findings and Statistics from the report.
East African workers report that critical measures to encourage women back to work after maternity are:
* Flexible working hours (97%)
* Near-site crèche facilities (92%)
* Option to work closer to home (90%)
* The option to choose video-conferencing over travel at least some of the time (88%)
* Job sharing (83%)
* 73% of respondents believe more vacation days are the solution to getting more working mothers back into employment.
* Yet 63% think that hiring returning mothers
