4 Ways to Support Working Mothers in Your Organisation

4 Ways to Support Working Mothers in Your Organisation Balancing work with parenting duties can be a serious struggle. For new mums, making the transition back to work after maternity leave can be a difficult process. To understand more about the struggles working mothers face during this time, and how businesses can best support them, HR training providers DPG have recently surveyed 1,000 UK mothers with children under 16 about their experiences returning to work. The results highlight common major problems, as well as giving insight on how they might be solved. The Problems The research highlights that difficulties returning to work after maternity leave are commonplace. 9 in 10 women (88%) face issues with their work place during this transition. Among the most significant found by the survey are: 54% struggled to balance their time between childcare and work Over half (52%) felt guilty for spending so much time away from their children One-third (33%) struggled to cover childcare costs One in ten (12%) suffered from mental health issues related to their return to work Consequences of these issues are significant, both for the mothers themselves and the businesses they work for. As a result of struggles returning to work after maternity leave, half of mums (49%) reduce their working hours, and a further one in five (19%) leave their employment altogether. This represents a high turnover of experienced staff, which could be reduced should organizations offer more support to employees. How to Help: 1. Flexible Working At times, parenting can be unpredictable. Sickness bugs, sports days, and school plays all come as part of the package, and it’s not always possible for mums and dads to plan ahead for these events or use holiday allowances to cover them. Trying to make it to all events, or having to miss out, can cause stress for working parents. Flexible working is one way to alleviate this pressure. Flexitime allows working mums to leave earlier to get to that parents’ evening on time and come in a bit earlier or work through lunch to make the time up. This allows working parents to get where they need to be, without impacting on their productivity at work. 2. Remote Working Spending time away from home and having to be in the office 9 to 5, on top of commuting time, can be a huge demand for parents with young children. If you’re able to in your business, consider assigning staff a proportion of hours they can work from home each week. This will mean staff will be onsite for all necessary meetings and contact time, but otherwise, are able to fit their work responsibilities around other demands. For example, it may be helpful for parents to work in the morning, then head home in the afternoon and complete the remainder of their hours after their child’s bedtime. Again, this allows more freedom for your workers to balance work responsibilities with seeing more of their children, which should make them feel happier in the office. 3. Increasing Paid Maternity Leave Women often feel pressure to return to work after maternity leave because of financial strains. New mums would feel more secure in taking time out and return from their leave more relaxed if they had more financial support. Almost one-third of women (30%) said this would have made the transition back to work easier for them. Currently, statutory maternity leave entitles working mums to the following: Six weeks paid 90% of their average weekly earnings 33 weeks paid either 90% of their average weekly earnings, or a maximum of £145.18, whichever is lowest Unless their contract states differently, any further maternity leave will be unpaid. With women taking an average of twelve and a half months off after having a child, women are taking between 11- and 14-weeks unpaid leave to look after their child. 4. Onsite Creches This handy workplace benefit is still not widely seen in the UK. They are worth considering, however, for the incredible convenience, they offer staff. Having a creche on-site means parents aren’t missing out on time with their kids because of their commute. It also means they are on hand if a child becomes ill. Knowing their children are nearby and reachable can be incredibly reassuring to new parents, allowing them to focus more on their work and the task at hand. The above steps could really have a significant impact on the lives of mums and dads who work for your company. Have a realistic discussion with your management team about which of these can feasibly be introduced in your organization and start planning how to do this. The initial investment should pay dividends in the increase in staff satisfaction and retention. About the author:  Sarah Aubrey is CEO of HR training provider, DPG, and has over 15 years’ experience tackling issues in the workplace.

Where Are All The Female Entrepreneurs - Classy Career Girl

Where Are All The Female Entrepreneurs In the modern gig economy, working for yourself is becoming the crème de la crème of careers. No other job quite captures the modern appetite for independence, hard-won success, and occupational passion like that of the entrepreneur’s. Today’s entrepreneurs are known for their no-nonsense attitudes, brilliant minds, and ability to look beyond what is common in our lives and see something new in the future. However, although there are many inspiring women in business, today’s entrepreneurs are also predominantly male. Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg: most young people who are starting their own businesses around a unique vision are men. A 2015 study showed 12 percent of men as self-employed in the preceding year. Among women, a little over half that number worked for themselves at 7 percent self-employment. As with many things in the world of business, there is a stark gender gap among entrepreneurs. However, while you can explain the lack of representation and pay gaps in conventional work mostly in terms of sexism within corporate institutions, tackling the gap among the self-employed calls for a different approach. Where Are All The Female Entrepreneurs? 1. Why  There Are So Few Female Entrepreneurs The reasons behind the gender gap in entrepreneurship are as many and varied as the reasons for sexism anywhere else in society. In spite of this, we can hone in on a few major points, cash these out in real-world terms, and find our way towards solutions. Perhaps one of the most visible contributors to the gender gap has to do with something completely outside of being an entrepreneur. I’m talking about the tech industry. The vast majority of modern startups center themselves around novel tech ideas in some way. Major corporations like Uber, Square, and Pinterest all started as small businesses built around a creative application of technology to people’s daily lives. These days, with huge corporations already entrenched in older domains, there is both room and opportunity in business (namely the tech industry) for creative individuals with powerful ideas to turn their visions into corporate giants. However, women are severely underrepresented in technology and practically all STEM fields. As of 2014, a mere 18 percent of computer sciences majors were women. The topic of why there are so few women in STEM has been covered at length elsewhere, so I don’t have much to say about that. What matters here is the upshot: a tech background is almost a necessity when it comes to making it as an entrepreneur these days. Thus, a dearth of women in STEM begets a dearth of women in startups. 2. How Women Could Help Obviously having a great representation of women through small businesses would be an achievement in and of itself. In addition, a look at the state of some former male-headed start-ups suggests that greater representation of women in this field is a necessity. Just take a look at Uber, the app-based taxi service. Uber’s CEO was recently forced to resign following revelations of a toxic and incredibly sexist company culture. It’s unlikely that Uber is alone in this, although they may be alone in the light of day at this moment. Startups are famous for the growing pains that go hand-in-hand with their rapid expansion. No company can go from a garage and a few servers to a metropolitan skyscraper without suffering a few awkward bumps and bruises along the way. However, when you factor in the frat culture of many young companies and the heavily skewed gender background of STEM careers in general, that’s a recipe for disaster. Greater representation of women in STEM companies means that these little bumps and bruises wont grow into anything bigger. When women watch out for women, these things don’t get a free pass, and companies like Uber shape up before reaching a disastrous state. [RELATED: Why Women Excel in Business and STEM] 3. What We Can Do There’s the old saying from Gandhi: be the change that you want to see in the world. I don’t think there’s any more relevant application of it than here. Entrepreneurship is all about having an inner drive to succeed, something that women in business have in fierce quantities. If you’d like to see more women in startups, then be the change that you want to see in the world and make it happen. Take that passion and work it into a powerful business idea that you can use to shape the industry. Learn to start a business from nothing, find like-minded women, and lead by example. Encourage young girls to go for science and technology careers and support them. Women in startups today face old-school sexism and  suppression from STEM studies. However, this shouldn’t be something that gets us down â€" this should inspire us to be pioneers. After all, changing the world is just what entrepreneurs do.

Maintaining Your Personal Brand During Illness or Injury - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Maintaining Your Personal Brand During Illness or Injury - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Until 2009, I hadn’t been to a primary care physician in I don’t know how long. I’m typically very healthy â€" exercise daily, eat right, all of that good stuff. Unfortunately, “all of that good stuff” hasn’t kept me completely out of doctors’ offices over the years. In the last decade, I’ve had a cancer scare, chronic migraines and an accident that resulted in major surgery and ultimately lead to a severe nerve disorder. The first two resulted in my personal brand being severely damaged, but I was ready the third time around. Plan ahead How creepy is it to plan for a possible long-term injury or illness? To me, it’s like picking out your funeral plot. But, creepy factor aside, it’s always best to plan for, well, everything! My cancer scare lasted a really long time. I saw doctor after doctor who couldn’t find a thing wrong with me, and yet I knew I was getting worse. In the meantime, I was letting my responsibilities and image fall by the wayside. I didn’t care about anything but finding out the truth. However, I really hurt myself in the long-run by approaching the situation that way. After the problem was found and removed, I was basically starting from scratch â€" and had a lot of explaining to a lot of people to do. At that point, I wanted nothing more than to go back to my “normal life,” but I’d burned so many bridges, that wasn’t possible. The same thing happened before I was officially diagnosed with chronic migraines. I now know I’ve had them since I was 12, but my symptoms had never been given a name or a solution. Again, the result was the same â€" a damaged reputation when all I wanted to do was start living my life again. I’d only really gotten a foothold on my personal brand again when my accident happened in November 2008. I actually didn’t know it was going to change my life forever, but I made a promise to myself that I wouldn’t shut out the world â€" maintaining my connections and continuing to build my brand as someone who helps young professionals achieve their career dreams kept me going. Build a support system I don’t know what I’d do without all the mentors in my life. I’m currently in remission, but my nerve disorder is expected to rear its ugly head approximately every 12 months for the rest of my life â€" the painful procedures they perform to keep things under control only last so long. My husband, while completely fantastic, doesn’t understand the need to build and maintain a personal brand. So I’ve built a system of great folks in the career space who I can lean on when I need to. They not only offer words of encouragement just to get through the day, but also suggestions for keeping at a minimum of a jogging pace with my brand. You guys know who you are, and I can’t thank you enough for how you’ve impacted my life thus far and how I’m sure you will continue to do so far into the future. Automate I’m not saying you should set up your Twitter account to send auto-DMs every time someone follows you â€" we all know that’s annoying and fake. But, that doesn’t mean there aren’t parts of your brand that can’t keep going without your undivided, constant attention. One of the best pieces of advice I’ve picked up while launching my business is to create a manual of everything I do just in case I’m not there to do them â€" for whatever reason. (I’m secretly hoping the reason is a much-needed vacation!) Who’s to say you can’t do the same thing for your brand? Write out everything you do on a daily/weekly/monthly basis, and have someone ready to fulfill those duties while you can’t. I hired an assistant in May 2009 when things were really bad for me. And while she can attest I didn’t have everything all nicely written out for her at that time, she knows how much of an impact she made on my life, business and brand. Simply put: Learn to delegate and don’t just disappear. Those two things will help you out tremendously when you’re ready to be back at the helm. What other tips would you recommend? Author: Heather R. Huhman is a career expert and founder president of Come Recommended, an exclusive online community connecting the best internship and entry-level job candidates with the best employers. She is also the author of #ENTRYLEVELtweet: Taking Your Career from Classroom to Cubicle (2010), national entry-level careers columnist for Examiner.com and blogs about career advice at HeatherHuhman.com.

Reasons for the Silent Treatment After a Final Job Interview

Reasons for the Silent Treatment After a Final Job Interview You have been on several job interviews and all seems to have gone well. They flew you out to the company HQ and warmly welcomed you for the final interview. You met with key decision-makers and you left the final interview with strong beliefs that you will be hired. But then something strange happens and you did not see it coming. The company goes silent. Before you let your imagination run wild as to all the possible things you could have done wrong, or start panicking, leading you to take actions that will hurt your chances, remember this simple fact: You just don’t knowuntil you know. Think of it as Schrodinger’s Job Interview: You do not know if the job is alive or dead. There are many reasons why a company will go silent after a job interview. Until you know if your chances are alive or dead, assume they went silent for one of these reasons below.Reasons for the Silent Treatment After a Final Job Interview1. They still have other candidates to interviewIf you were the only candidate, you would have had the job already. Remember there are others to be interviewedas well. Patience is required.2. They have an internal emergency to deal with delaying decision-makingAll businesses big and small know that things always seem to take longer than initially planned. You can set deadlines until the end of time, but something always comes up that delays a decision whether it be a natural disaster, sickness, weather emergency, company problems,or internal debates.3. They want to find out what other employees think of the candidatesInternally, this is a great way to make sure you build a strong team: Get feedback from all team members on the job candidates they had met. (a good reason why you should treat all people you meet with equal respect on your job interviews, from receptionist to CEO)And Now the Possible Bad News4. They were scared off during the salary negotiationEssentially, this means you just wanted too much money. Instead of getting into adebate over salary, they would rather go silent and save time because they already made up their minds.5. They are making an offer to someone elseThe silence here happens for a few reasons:In today’s connected world, it is possible for two job candidates in the same industry to know each other and communicate on LinkedIn. Therefore, it is best to keep quiet until the offer is made to the candidate they wish to hire. They simply feel no obligation to let the person know the job went to someone else.Whatever the reason may be, the best advice during a job search is to make sure the job search does not end until that day you accept a job offer. Even then, it is a good idea to keep looking long enough to see whether or not you like the job.Unfortunately, in today’s job market people change jobs so quickly that they endlessly need to keep networking. Ideally, people would love to have one job for a long time that they can stay loyal toand some manage to do this. But times and work methods change so quickly, it is a safer play to stay educated, active, and motivated about always growing your career.Whatever you do, do not panic and do something that makes your fear a self-fulfilling prophecy. For example, constantly writing the company on a daily basis to ask for status updates.

Resume Writing Recommendations

Resume Writing RecommendationsThere are many ways to make sure you get a good quality resume without using any of the following resume writing recommendations. Writing resumes is a very important part of marketing, and it is necessary that you get your best work possible out there. This article will cover the most common resume writing recommendations that people use, and why some of them are not the best ways to go about it.It is true that you should be able to find resume writing samples that can help you with your job search. However, these types of examples are often copied word for word from those resumes that they have already written. You will end up wasting your time trying to use these types of samples and you will not end up learning anything about yourself or your particular skills that can be used in your resume. What is the point of doing this if it will take away from your resume?A good resume has a balance of styles and formats that can be very helpful to your resume. It is never too late to learn something new and to do research, but there is nothing wrong with staying with the tried and true methods that have been proven to work for many other people. With this in mind, here are some resume writing recommendations to consider when you are writing your own resume.The Internet is a good resource when you want to do research. You can find resume writing samples at the websites of other people that have had success in their own careers. By taking what you read in this website and applying it to your own resume, you can improve your chances of getting the job you really want.If you have an old resume lying around that you can't seem to get rid of, consider doing some editing and making it look like a fresh resume. This process takes some time and some money. It is definitely worth it, though, because it makes your resume better and more professional looking. You can also consider using a template as well.By using a template, you will be able to use the same information that you have in your old resume, only it looks a lot better and more professional. You should not rush into this process, though. Research is very important, and it should be one of the first things you spend some time on when you are creating your resume.One way to ensure you are following a professional resume writing recommendation is to make sure your resume is organized and clean. Make sure you format it correctly and that the headers are all up-to-date. You can still find advice about how to get the best job out there, but a lot of it comes from those who have done this successfully before.It is okay to use resume writing recommendations you find online as long as you use them in the proper manner. You don't have to copy someone else's resume and then come up with something original. By making sure you follow the above suggestions, you will have a better chance of writing a great resume.

5 Links to Break Through The Job Search Barrier - CareerAlley

5 Links to Break Through The Job Search Barrier - CareerAlley We may receive compensation when you click on links to products from our partners. Maybe youve been looking for a job for some time and you are beginning to think that there are no jobs out there for you. And there is some frustration with job search sites where you feel that all of the jobs posted on the (insert a name) job board are filled or fake. I hear comments like these all of the time. There are, of course, jobs out there and the job boards would be out of business if all of the jobs were fake (or already filled). Job search can be a long and tedious process. And while qualifications and experience are the primary driving factors, being in the right place at the right time is just as important. So of course you cant be everywhere at once, but you can certainly try. One key to job search is getting other people to help you look for a job. Networking is, of course, one of the best methods (a topic for another day), but recruiters are another way for you to get other people to help you find a job. The best part is that they are free and they dont get paid unless they find people jobs. There are also some websites that help match your skills and experience with employers and jobs (take a look at the first link below). Some recruiter links (and resources to help find recruiters) follow as well. Job and Employer Matching: As mentioned above, there are websites that can help match jobs and employers to you. One that Ive looked at ispoachable.co (take notice that this is .co, not .com). It took me less than 15 minutes to sign up and add my information. It leverages your LinkedIn profile, so you really need to have this up to date (see 5 Tips for Creating a Professional LinkedIn Profile). Where they are: TheRecruiterNetwork This website provides a listing of recruiters and allows posting your profile so that they can find you. The right hand side of the page has a list of featured recruiters. Click on Job Seekers from the top of the page to link to the sign-on page. Create a free profile which will be used as a way for these firms to find you. Use the featured recruiter list to look at individual recruiters. Headhuntersdirectory This site provides an online list of headhunters and recruiters that is free to use. The main page leads with an overview of the site and a regional selection page. Select your region to continue. For the US link, the next page lists all of the states down the left hand side of the page and a graphical map view where you can select your state. Clicking your state leads to a city listing to further refine your search. Clicking on a city leads to a list of recruiters where you can click on their website link to find out more about the firms, how to apply for jobs and additional resources. Onlinerecruitersdirectory Another directory for you to search, look at the box I am a job seeker from the right hand side of the page. From here there is a wide range of choices, from Revolution in Job Search to Tips and advice. You can check jobs from the nationwide recruiters network, look for a job board or, look for a recruiter or headhunter. Selecting the look for a recruiter or headhunter links to a search engine. Select your criteria (location, type of job function, etc.) and you will be provided with a list of recruiters. You can then send your resume to these recruiters. Executive Search: Egon Zehnder International Egon Zehnder is an international firm that speicalizes in a number of fields and provides a few services in addition to recruiting (consulting and advising). From their main page, click the link for Executive Search. This page provides an overview, as well as a number of resources. Click on Your Career, followed by your country to link to a page where you can enter your information. You can also click on the map, select your region/office and get direct contact information. Specialist Recruiters: The Maxwell Group This search firm specializes in finance, accounting, banking and capital markets (with the exception of Accounting, tough industries these days). Their site is fairly simple, with company overview and links on the left hand side of the page for Candidate Information, Current Positions and Contacting Us. The Candidate Information link provides an overview of the process and a link to register. From the Current Positions Page, you can select from three categories (Finance/Accounting, Operations and Capital Markets). Clicking on any of these lists the current positions, along with salary and location. Click on Detail to see more about the position(s). The Contact Us link provides information (name, address, telephone and email) for contacting this search firm. We are always eager to hear from our readers. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or suggestions regarding CareerAlley content. Good luck in your search,Joey Google+ Job Search job title, keywords, company, location jobs by

First interview(s) - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog

First interview(s) - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog I announced yesterday that I would love to do an interview about happiness at work for your blog, and Mike MacLeod was the first to take me up on it. He asked 10 great questions and you can see the whole interview here. Update: Andrew Ferrier posts another interview here. Update update: And Erno Hannink posts his interview complete with silly picture. Uodate[3]: Can lawyers be happy at work? Read the interview by Anastasia at the Lawsagna blog. Thanks for visiting my blog. If you're new here, you should check out this list of my 10 most popular articles. And if you want more great tips and ideas you should check out our newsletter about happiness at work. It's great and it's free :-)Share this:LinkedInFacebookTwitterRedditPinterest Related