Mums At Work

"Quick wins" good for diversity, but more lateral approach needed

2012-01-30T17:13:00.000-08:00

Organisations are building some "quick wins" toward their diversity targets by boosting the numbers of senior women in traditionally female-dominated areas of business, but gender diversity experts say they need to broaden their approach in order to make real progress.

According to Emberin founder Maureen Frank, many organisations subject to the ASX gender diversity guidelines - which require companies to set targets and report on the representation of women in senior executive roles - are currently using a strategy of "Let's get some quick runs on the board".

"They're going for the quick wins to start with. And certainly if you look at some of the areas where there has traditionally been a number of senior women - HR, corporate communications, legal, even finance to some extent - those are areas where there is a very obvious talent pool of women who are senior, and who they can call upon to fill those roles.

"That's a start; it starts to set the right tone. However, if companies are really going to conquer this issue, they're going to have to start looking at putting women in operational roles.

"That's the key to it. You want women who are running profit and loss centres and you want them to start bringing the women in their organisations through into operational roles."

Karen Morley, co-founder of Gender Worx, says that the "quick wins" strategy makes sense "in some ways, because it's much easier to move women into roles in a context where there are already women - into female-dominate areas. It's just easier to do.

"There are more risks associated with moving women quickly into male-dominated areas." (See this article for more on this topic.)

But, she says, these organisations are the ones taking a compliance approach to the guidelines and might struggle to maintain the momentum needed to reach their targets.

Frank says organisations need to realise that for most, meeting targets will require a long-term focus.

"A lot of companies have put a lot of energy in, in the last 12 months, but there's still not a huge amount of progress in most. So I think it's important to recognise that the journey has just begun. And there are no quick fixes or silver bullets, but this is going to require persistent effort probably over the next five years."

Further, many will need a new mindset for hiring, she says.

"Traditionally, companies have had very rigid mindsets around the way people progress in an organisation. That's been what I describe as a masculine model - 'That guy has been in the organisation for 15 years; he's ticked all the traditional boxes, therefore he becomes the head of that department'. So I think they need to start thinking laterally, and more broadly, about how they hire and recruit into those senior management roles, and they need to recognise that subject matter expertise and experience does not necessarily make a really good senior manager."

Act now to avert a male backlash

Both experts warn that without providing a high level of education about gender diversity, organisations risk a "backlash" from their male employees.

According to Frank, there is a high degree of knowledge, at very senior levels, of the business case for gender diversity, but "middle management still feel very threatened".

"I think there's still the mentality that it's... positive discrimination against men. So there is a fairly urgent need for education of men at middle management level."

Morley agrees, saying, "It's really important that organisations carefully manage the perception that people are missing out on jobs".

"It's certainly one of the anxieties that people have. There's a concern that one of the consequences of introducing gender diversity guidelines is that talented men will find it increasingly difficult to get roles.

"There's a lot of discussion about that in terms of board positions - there are men who are saying they're board ready, but they're not able to get access to new roles. And a part of the reason is that women are being given priority for that."

Morley says that "on a statistical basis", the recent increase in the percentage of women being promoted to board positions does mean that men are not being promoted into those positions, "so... there is slightly less opportunity for men".

"But let's be clear that those appointments are still not 50:50 appointments," she stresses.

"We have to be clear that we've not had a level playing field; we've not previously had 'merit', in terms of placing people in senior positions and board positions. So for a period of time we may have to go back in a different direction, and that's just what it will take for us to get to better representation of women."

Frank says that on an individual level, she does not think that men are being discriminated against and missing out on positions and promotions.

"In my experience, although [organisations] very clearly want to see a candidate slate that has equal representation of men and women on it, they are still absolutely picking the best person for the job."

Source: hrdaily

Career Advice for Parents program introduced by the DEEWR

2012-01-14T19:40:00.000-08:00

We are proud to be part of the New Career Advice for Parents program, being run by the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations.

The program has just been introduced and is now live!

Career Advice for Parents is a free telephone service which provides professional, informed career advice by qualified Career Advisers to assist eligible parents in identifying transferrable skills, explore career options and develop a plan of action to help them achieve their employment goals.
The Career Advice service is only available via telephone. It does not include a face to face option.

Eligibility

An employment service provider can determine eligibility for the service. A parent is to be registered with an employment service provider, if they are not registered already they can find a provider by using the search tool:

Find a provider

Career Advisers offer two distinct but related streams of service, Career Planning and Résumé Appraisal.

Career Planning

A Career Adviser can help with a range of activities such as:

identifying transferable skills
researching industries and occupations
improve understanding of job search strategies in today’s labour market
identify education and training options
developing a plan to achieve employment goals.

To get the most out of a Career Planning session, eligible parents should do some of the activities in My Guide before speaking to a Career Adviser. My Guide is a personalised career exploration service that records interests, skills and experience, and assists in developing a career profile. My Guide includes My Career Plan which helps set and achieve career goals.
To access My Guide, go to My Guide and sign up to My Guide. My Career Plan can be emailed to the Career Adviser ahead of a career advice session to CareerAdvice@deewr.gov.au.

You'll find an overview of the program here.

Source: http://www.deewr.gov.au/Employment/Programs/CareerAdviceforParents/Pages/default.aspx

12 Ways to Support Your Working Parents in 2012 - Practical Tips and Ideas!

2012-01-09T18:44:00.000-08:00

1. ‘Career After Kids’ Seminar – 2.5hr seminar to help your parents return to work and manage work life balance.

With reputable career coaches your presenters, this seminar is designed exclusively for mums and dads needing assistance to:

· Plan and prepare to re-enter the workplace

· Review their career and explore flexible work options

· Create work life happiness and manage their career as a working parent

Going back to work after full time parenting can be daunting, even when you have a job you love! Support the parents in your organisation to return to work and balance career and family with ‘Career After Kids’.

2. Start a Stay-in-Touch Program – let mums@work develop and run it for you with our Stay-in-Touch Program.

To ensure your employees experience a smooth transition to and from parental leave, it’s vital to offer a ‘stay-in-touch’ service which allows you to continually communicate with employees at home. mums@work is making it easier for you to stay connected to your parents on leave and retain talent with our ‘stay-in-touch’ program. We can help your business create a parental leave program and better still manage the program for you, making it easier for managers and employees to transition to and from parental leave.

3. Offer maternity leave and return to work coaching support –see our Coaching Gift Certificates!

It’s no longer enough to offer paid maternity leave if you want to be successful in retaining quality talent. Make the transition of having a family and going back to work a successful one for both your organisation and your employees. Make return to work coaching a part of your organisation’s family friendly initiatives. Provide your parents with access to a working parent career coach to assist them in:

· Preparing for parental leave

· Explore and implement a viable flexible work arrangement

· Discuss and navigate the return to work process and transition from parenthood back to work

· Consider future career path options within the organisation post parenthood

· Improve work and family balance

4. Create a Working Parents Toolkit.

The mums@work Working Parents Toolkit provides companies with all the information and resources you need to successfully manage your working parents. It is designed to specifically support:

· Expectant parents

· Employees on parental leave

· Working parents

The Toolkit makes the transition to parenthood and return to work that much easier with valuable insight, legal requirements and advice from experts in the fields of career management, human resources and childcare, as well as real-world working parents.

5. Implement a ‘Manage Your Own Career’ workshop for parents balancing work and family.

Help your working parents take control of their own career and empower them to take initiative in all stages of their career through having a baby, returning to work and managing work life balance. Offer advice for surviving and thriving as a working parent, how to keep your career on track and creating work life happiness.

6. Audit your family friendly and flexible work practices –survey and find out what your working parents need!

Hold discussion groups to give your employees a forum to provide feedback.

7. Offer a ‘Preparing for Parental Leave Package’ to expectant mums and dads that include a Coaching Session and copy of ‘Towards Parenthood’ Guide.

About the ‘Towards Parenthood publication’ – This guidebook aims to assist parents manage the complex demands of parenting; strengthen the couple relationship and the relationship between parents and infants. Skills in coping, problem-solving, enhancing self-esteem, assertive communication, bonding with your baby and understanding your baby’s cues are presented.

Upon completion of this service, your parents will be prepared for parental leave; have a plan for how they will stay in touch whilst on leave and, feel supported as they begin their transition into parenthood!

8. Create a Flexible Work Policy and Toolkit – see our handy guide for managers and employees.

The Flexible Work Proposal Toolkit is a simple and convenient business case tool that enables employees and managers to research, negotiate and implement a flexible work arrangement.

This Toolkit is a must for organisations who want to retain valued, skilled and experienced employee (not just parents). You can brand this toolkit as your own and your existing flexibility content can be integrated to suit your organisation’s needs.

9. Create a Job Design Guide for Managers and Employees – ask about our Job Design Toolkit. Empower your employees and managers on effective job design to create more efficient and flexible ways of working.

10. Start a job share and flexible work register to encourage connection between employees working flexibly to share stories and advice.

Job sharing can help employees achieve a balance between work and other activities, including family responsibilities, availability of a wider range of skills and experience within the job, peak period coverage – it may be possible for both partners to work during very busy times, continuity of coverage, staff retention, reduced staff turnover, attracting new staff, improved staff morale, lower absenteeism, and increased productivity. Registers can be a useful tool where interested employees can indicate their preferred hours. Organisations can then match job-share partners who have complementary hours, skills and other relevant factors.

11. Create a recruitment strategy to design flexible roles and attract and retain key talent – talk to our recruitment manager for more info.

mums@work offers a simple recruitment service to introduce and connect mums and dads to jobs with family friendly, flexible employers across a range of industries and professions. Best of all there is NO costly agency placement fee involved. It’s simple, flexible and affordable.

12. Launch a ‘working parents’ group in your workplace – let mums@work develop and run it for you.

Being a working parent has its challenges but working mums and dads can thrive with support. Coming together with people in a similar situation and discussing highlights, challenges and strategies can be of enormous benefit and offer your working parents the encouragement and support that will help them be successful at work and at home.

Contact mailto:info@mumsatwork.com.au

www.mumsatwork.com.au

Dads with Babies Are Tired in the Workplace

2011-12-31T19:54:00.000-08:00

It's time to start thinking about Dads also. In these times, Dads are becoming more engaged in their children's lives, often experiencing similar fatigue to that of their partners. After all, they sleep in the same house! Here's some stats we found:

Because of interrupted sleep, 75% of working fathers with 12-week-old babies report fatigue at least some of the time, substantially more than the general population, of which 22% to 48% reports fatigue, according to Gary Mellor of Southern Cross University and Winsome St. John of Griffith University, both in Australia. Because of possible workplace-safety issues, employers should give serious attention to the fatigue experienced by male employees during early fatherhood, the researchers say.

Source: HBR.org Daily Stat

Women Rising to the Challenge

2011-12-12T23:37:00.000-08:00

University of Queensland (UQ) graduate and academic, Dr Kate O'Brien and UQ graduate (and Associate Professor at Monash University) Associate Professor Karen Hapgood are raising awareness of the universal issues facing professionals, particularly females, who work part-time.

Although the numbers of women in science and engineering courses and postgraduate studies have increased markedly in recent decades, women tend to leave these professions at greater rates than men, a phenomenon often referred to as the "leaky pipe."

Dr O'Brien and Associate Professor Hapgood believe removing the barriers to part-time work and career interruptions are vital for addressing this problem.

As a lecturer within UQ's School of Chemical Engineering, Dr O'Brien has recognised a need for more family friendly practices within the workplace, so that women (and men) who work part-time or take time off to raise their families can still remain engaged with their profession.

"Although the university sector is commonly perceived as a very flexible work environment, like many other professions the paradigm is full-time, continuous employment, Dr O'Brien said.

"Those who do work part-time generally do so in isolation, with few role models."
Formerly a male dominated career path, engineering has seen a marked increase in recent years in the number of female enrolments.

In 2011, the number of female students enrolled in UQ's Bachelor of Engineering stood at 19%. UQ's percentages are even higher in specific engineering disciplines.

As a top specialisation for enrolments of female students, Chemical Engineering and related specialisations stands at 40%, meanwhile Environmental Engineering is approximately 60%.

While there is a lot written about trying to get more women in science and engineering, there is very little written about working part-time, a key factor to retaining women in these professions.

In order to address this, Dr O'Brien and Associate Professor Hapgood wrote the article 'Part-time balance', which was published in the journal, Nature. "It takes a lot of courage to work part-time within a full-time environment and encourages those doing so to keep finding ways to make the system work for them, all the while recognising the obstacles they face," Dr O'Brien said. "While focussed on academia, the article will have relevance for those working part-time in many other professions.

"It is much easier to work part-time when you are well established in your field. However in professions with long training times, like academia, it's difficult for women to become well established before they have children."

For women who want to re-enter the workforce in a part-time position, Dr O'Brien advises them to be strategic in how they undertake this unusual career path. "Although challenging, it is possible to pursue a part-time career in scientific research while devoting time and creative energy to raising children," Dr O'Brien said. "Choose a role that lets you maintain and build your skills and define your success on your own terms."

Source: Get Media

The 2011 Top Earning Jobs for Women

2011-11-20T23:20:00.000-08:00

For the third consecutive year Forbes has compiled its annual list of the best-paying jobs for women, putting the spotlight on the occupations where women can, and do, earn the most - and HR managers came in at number 10.
The list was compiled using US data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and based on the median weekly earnings of full-time workers in 2010. Forbes discovered that the technology and health care sectors were the top earning industries.
It was noted that women still earn an average of 81.2% as much as men and remain concentrated in unskilled sectors, such as administrative assistants, cashiers and retail workers.
Francine Blau, a professor of labor economics at Cornell University, said she believes the gender pay gap may be higher among doctors and chief executives due to factors like specialty type, self-employment, industry and firm size.
She commented that while these occupations feature a wider range of pay, if men earn more of the outlying, mega salaries, it could bring the male median up.
Blau cited continued discrimination as a factor in the pay divide, and told Forbes, “Not only are women less likely to make it to those upper ranges [of a profession] because of promotion gaps, when they do get there they are less likely to be paid fairly.”
The top 10 earning jobs for women in 2011 were:
(Values represented in US$)
No. 10: Human Resources Managers

Median weekly earnings: $1,170
Approximate median yearly earnings: $60,500
Women as percentage of the profession: 71%
Earnings as percentage of men's earnings: 80%
Last year's position: dropped off

No. 9: Computer Programmers

Median weekly earnings: $1,177
Approximate median yearly earnings: $61,000
Women as percentage of the profession: 22%
Earnings as percentage of men's earnings: 95%
Last year's position: No. 7

No. 8: Speech-Language Pathologists

Median weekly earnings: $1,184
Approximate median yearly earnings: $61,500
Women as percentage of the profession: 97%
Earnings as percentage of men's earnings: unavailable
Last year's position: dropped off

No. 7: Physical Therapists

Median weekly earnings: $1,208
Approximate median yearly earnings: $63,000
Women as percentage of the profession: 62%
Earnings as percentage of men's earnings: unavailable
Last year's position: new this year

No. 6: Computer and Information Systems Managers

Median weekly earnings: $1,415
Approximate median yearly earnings: $73,500
Women as percentage of the profession: 30%
Earnings as percentage of men's earnings: 82%
Last year's position: No. 4

No. 5: Computer Software Engineers

Median weekly earnings: $1,445
Approximate median yearly earnings: $75,000
Women as percentage of the profession: 21%
Earnings as percentage of men's earnings: 91%
Last year's position: No. 5

No. 4: Lawyers

Median weekly earnings: $1,461
Approximate median yearly earnings: $76,000
Women as percentage of the profession: 35%
Earnings as percentage of men's earnings: 77%
Last year's position: No. 3

No. 3: Chief Executives

Median weekly earnings: $1,598
Approximate median yearly earnings: $83,000
Women as percentage of the profession: 26%
Earnings as percentage of men's earnings: 72%
Last year's position: No. 1

No. 2: Pharmacists

Median weekly earnings: $1,605
Approximate median yearly earnings: $83,500
Women as percentage of the profession: 48%
Earnings as percentage of men's earnings: 83%
Last year's position: No. 2

No. 1: Physicians and Surgeons

Median weekly earnings: $1,618
Approximate median yearly earnings: $84,000
Women as percentage of the profession: 31%
Earnings as percentage of men's earnings: 71%
Last year's position: No. 6

Source: hcmag.com

The Diversity Dilemma

2011-11-18T00:10:00.000-08:00

Gender imbalances are still plaguing Australian businesses.
HC mag interview Naomi Simson from Red Balloon, David Bowsher from BBC Australia, Rowan Arndt from NAB and Abby O'Neal from the Melbourne Business School.

As seen on hcamag.com

Encouraging Participation in Playgroups after Returning to Work

2011-11-16T20:05:00.000-08:00

Often Playgroups will fold when one or both parents return to work. Whether there is financial stress and mums and dads need to work, the reality is, at some point, they will return to work. How do you keep Playgroups going and providing a platform for the children to interact in a healthy environment after returning to work? Here are some suggestions that might help:

1. One thing our mother’s group did was put together a contact list, with everyone’s work schedules captured so when organising events and catch ups everyone could be accommodated. It’s important to consider everyone in the group and do your best to accommodate. We started running two catch up days a week instead of one so if a mum missed the Tuesday group because she was working, she could come along to the Friday group.

2. You could start a ‘working parents group’ instead of a ‘playgroup’ if everyone has gone back to work. This could include movie nights, Sunday brunches with kids, book clubs (for both children and adults). Weekends are a nice time for families to get together and give the kids a chance to play with their friends and engage in activities.

3. Start an email newsletter to keep in touch. This would be particularly helpful for those that haven’t been able to be accommodated into a playgroup since returning to work. It’s a way to make them feel included in what’s going on and welcome if and when their situation changes.

4. Another option is to be creative with the location of playgroup. Hold it at a shopping centre, someone’s home, community centre or a park.

5. Splitting playgroups into smaller groups at different times could also work. Allocating two timeslots - or more if a larger group - will make each playgroup smaller to begin with but will allow openings for new families and allow intimate interaction for a while with the few families that attend. Sometimes it’s nice to interact within a smaller group, which often encourages the children to play with different friends.

www.mumsatwork.com.au

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE EOWA WINNERS!

2011-11-10T22:24:00.000-08:00

The EOWA (Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency) held its Business Achievement Awards recognising organisations that are achieving in the areas of diversity and supporting the advancement of women in the workplace.

Congratulations to EOWA 2011 Business Achievement Finalists and Winners announced Wednesday by EOWA Director Helen Conway and the Minister for the Status of Women, the Hon Kate Ellis who celebrated with ‘the best of the best’ organisations showcasing their efforts in advancing women in the workplace. Key themes that were acknowledged and lauded across the field included promoting gender diversity, support offered to parents returning to work and creating flexible work practices.

The Education Sector romped home with the awards this year with the University of WA, Australian Catholic University and Catholic Education Office – Adelaide picking up 3 of the 6 awards and the Catholic Education Office – Diocese of Wollongong was also a Finalist. Mums@work would like to acknowledge all the finalists and winners of the 2011 Awards.

A special congratulations to mums@work clients and supporters; Catholic Education Office – Diocese of Wollongong, Westpac Banking Corporation and Henry Davis York.

We hope to spread the word about the great work these organisations are championing and acknowledge the hard work and dedication they have put into to make a difference to the lives of working parents.

2011 EOWA Business Achievement Awards

Summary of Finalists

Leading CEO for the Advancement of Women

Sponsored by Australian Industry Group

Ralph Norris (Commonwealth Bank of Australia)

Deborah Waterhouse (GlaxoSmithKline Australia Pty Ltd)

Karen Spiller (St Aidan’s Anglican Girls’ School)

Alan Robson (The University of Western Australia) WINNER

Gail Kelly (Westpac Banking Corporation)

Diversity Leader for the Advancement of Women

Sponsored by Commonwealth Bank of Australia

Helen O’Brien (Catholic Education Office – Adelaide)

Kerry Thomas (L’Oreal Australia Pty Ltd)

Philip Jones (Maddocks)

Sally Macindoe (Norton Rose Australia) WINNER

Katie-Jeyn Romeyn (St Barbara Limited)

Leading Organisation for the Advancement of Women (<800 employees)

Sponsored by IBM Australia

Amgen Australia Pty Ltd

ASX Limited

Catholic Education Office – Adelaide - WINNER

Henry Davis York

ITC Limited

Leading Organisation for the Advancement of Women (>800 employees)

Australian Catholic University Limited - WINNER

Corporate Express Australia Pty Limited

National Australia Bank Limited

Stockland Development Pty Ltd

Westpac Banking Corporation

Outstanding EEO Practice for the Advancement of Women in a Non-Traditional Area or Role

Sponsored by ExxonMobil Australia

Downer EDI Ltd

National Australia Bank Limited - WINNER

Rio Tinto Iron Ore

St Barbara Limited

James L. Williams Pty Ltd

The Minister's Award for Outstanding EEO Initiative/Result for the Advancement of Women

Catholic Education Office – Diocese of Wollongong

CSL Limited - WINNER

Hayman Island Great Barrier Reef

Maddocks

The University of Sydney

For more info on the EOWA, visit www.eowa.gov.au

Million Dollar Mums a Myth?

2011-11-07T15:04:00.000-08:00

Costs of raising a family, including childcare has been a hot topic of late and is a real issue families need to think about, given these financial times. Recent figures have shown that the foregone income for a family with three children (lost through one parent taking time off to raise the family), is over a million dollars.

But it’s not all doom and gloom. In Chanel 10’s program THE PROJECT, Emma Walsh, Director of mum@work says mums don’t need to give up their careers to raise a family. However, she acknowledges it's a real challenge and to make it work, it is a matter of getting the right support, planning in advance and communicating effectively.

“The real concern is childcare costs. Some parents can find themselves paying out as much as $4000 a month pre-tax; and with a $7000 cap on the Federal Government’s 50% child care rebate, some parents find themselves going backwards fast. Not only is this de-motivating, it’s unsustainable. To avoid this, mums AND dads need to do the sums, plan ahead and ‘think smarter’ about how they can return to work by negotiating better flexible work arrangements with employers. It’s not always easy, but it can be done,” assures Emma Walsh.

It is worth noting that Australia is well behind other OECD countries in the work flexibility debate. According to Walsh, employers need to be more lateral thinking with their workplace practices, rethink job design and be more adaptive and open to using technology better to deliver more productive outcomes that create a win/win for all. “They risk losing valuable talent if they don’t adapt. Whilst mums and dads should create a plan for how they’d like to work, they should also consider the business impact and propose some solutions to how the job could be made more flexible – it’s about focusing on what can be done flexibly rather than entirely focusing on the negative. Too many parents - when negotiating flexible work arrangements - are ill-prepared. They should seek out support to plan for the conversation with their employer if they feel a lack of confidence. When making ‘flexibility’ work the responsibility doesn’t fall entirely on one or the other,” says Walsh.

Statistics show that working dads in this generation want to spend more time with their children and are also experiencing the need for different working conditions. When asked about ‘sharing’ the parenting role with fathers, Walsh acknowledged that there are a lot of dads now stepping up and taking on some or all of the primary caring role, but Australian workplace cultures have been slow to adjust to this fact and more needs to be done to encourage organizations to support working dads with the juggle.

Walsh believes, “For a lot of mums, it’s about taking the leap and asking for help. A lot of us want to be the ones doing everything; the pick-up, the drop off, pleasing the boss, doing the shopping and the housework and we have to realise we can’t do everything ourselves because we’re not super-human. We need to discuss and plan with our manager how to work flexibly and share the load with our partners, friends and family, where possible.”

This means effective communication is critically important between employers and mums & dads for the family unit to be able to function well and cope with the many and varied demands of juggling raising children with work.

View the full interview on THE PROJECT (Friday’s episode - 4^th November – segment ‘super mums’)

If you’d like support in your return to work or as a representative from an employer’s perspective, want to know more about how to implement Family Friendly solutions into your organization, contact mums@work.
See our Working Parents Toolkit

Career Development a shared responsibility

2011-11-03T02:37:00.000-07:00

A common fear for parents when they return to work is that they may be sidelined for promotion or marginalized, especially if they choose to work part time. Your fears might be real or perceived; the only way to find out is to ask. Yes, ask.

If you are focused on the next career step and promotion (or not as the case may be), be upfront, so your manager knows your intentions and aspirations rather than leaving them to guess or assume. Be proactive and review your career plan; discuss options with your manager, partner and other relevant people to support your continued learning and development.

It’s also important to back your self - the reality is if you don’t have confidence in your own capability or can’t articulate your career intentions then it’s harder for your manager and others to back and support you.

In other words, no one can give you confidence or develop your career for you, you need to nurture and develop it (leaning on others around you for input and support as required). It’s about harnessing your strengths and drawing on your experiences so you can put your best foot forward whether it’s about negotiating a pay rise, the next promotion, or flexible work arrangements. If you undersell yourself and your capability, you not only do yourself a disservice, you effectively permit other people to stereotype you or discriminate against you. Your level of job satisfaction is likely to take a nose dive.

Organisations Found 'Career After Kids' seminars and Stay-in-touch Coaching empowered their working parents

2011-11-03T01:36:00.000-07:00

2011 has seen mums@work help many parents return to work successfully through the Career After Kids (CAK) seminars and our Stay-In-Touch coaching service. Encouragingly, many more organisations signed up their working parents to attend the quarterly seminars in 2011 demonstrating that the drive to better support working parents continues to be topical and relevant since the introduction of paid parental leave.

Director of mums@work, Emma Walsh says that “organisations are increasingly recognising that paid parental leave alone isn’t enough to make returning parents feel supported and equipped as they tackle the challenges of work and raising family. Rather it’s the chance to connect with other working parents and having access to coaching, while on leave and once returned, to discuss ways to manage the work life juggle, that makes all the difference.”

All the parents who attended CAK seminars this year left with a sense of empowerment, a return to work plan and ideas about how to achieve their successful return to work.

Organisations have already started booking their working parents in for next year's 'Career After Kids' Seminars. Tuesday 21 February 2012 is the first one scheduled for Sydney for next year. Contact Elysha to reserve up to 5 places for your organisation now, to avoid disappointment, as places are booking up fast.

What do Women Want?

2011-10-18T19:26:00.000-07:00

Men seek money and progression, women want culture and flexibility. Fred Van der Tang, CEO of Randstad, said in the face of the Australian skills shortage, the results of this Randstad survey should push Australian companies to assess their ability to attract talent.

Men and women are from different worlds when it comes to job-hunting, new research has revealed. A survey of 7,000 Australians found male jobseekers look for money and career progression, while women look for a strong workplace culture, flexibility, convenience and development opportunities.

“Our employer branding research demonstrates the need for a measured approach to talent attraction,” said Randstad CEO Fred van der Tang. “It is important for employers to recognise that men and women often have very different requirements and it is wise to focus on applying this knowledge through the entire hiring process—from preparing the job description and writing the job ad to conducting the final interview.”

Read more...

The Gender Diversity Journey - Glass Ceiling to Glass Cliff?

2011-10-12T16:19:00.000-07:00

mums@work are big advocates of gender diversity and having women in senior roles in the workplace as we have seen the value to women and families, but most of all businesses. Our biggest value-add to employers is helping them to 'know' what to do to encourage women and those with families in the workplace, and how to do it. We can build the strategies you need to retain your valuable employees through the many life changes, women in particular, experience.

HCMAG reported recently that although women make up 52% of the population of Australia, 46% of the workforce, and in recent years, 56% of university graduates, women hold only 2% of CEO and 10.7% of senior management positions in ASX200 companies. Perhaps more disturbingly, according to research by Mercer, despite growing interest in workforce diversity among organisations in Australia and New Zealand, only 1 in 4 (26%) have a clearly defined strategy to attract and retain women long enough to reach senior leadership positions.

Qantas CEO, Alan Joyce commented in a recent article by HR Daily that HR alone can't be responsible for increasing gender diversity in organisations, but it should drive the first phase of the journey.

Launching MCC in Sydney yesterday, convenor and Sex Discrimination Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick said that one reason many initiatives to progress gender equality have not delivered is that "they focus solely on engaging and changing women - from the way women network to the way women lead. Too many organisations look to women alone to change the organisational practices that maintain the status quo."

"Without the avid support of men - who currently dominate the leadership group in most large businesses and control most of the financial and other resources - substantial progress is unlikely. Creating change therefore requires men to take the message of gender equality to other men. It requires men to get on board, to take action and to encourage their peers to do likewise."

Megan Dalla-Camina, Director of Strategy for IBM Australia and New Zealand says Australia has lagged behind the rest of the world for too long in most aspects of gender equity, whether that be paid parental leave, numbers of female employees/managers/executives, and women on boards. While there are some marginal improvements, much more needs to be done.

"For Australia, this is an economic imperative, especially in light of the ageing workforce and skills shortages," she said.

Of course, not every woman desires a job at the top or has the skills to pull it off, so it's about identifying the right people for senior leadership roles and ensuring they get to where they are needed in an organisation.

Both articles go on to outline steps in detail of what organisations can do to begin the journey to gender diversity. The HCMAG article in particular elaborates on what women in leadership, or those who pertain to leadership roles in the future, need to be doing to be successful in their chosen career path.

Read more on HCMAG's article...
Read more on HR Daily's article...

Leading Business Women call for childcare tax deduction

2011-10-02T19:15:00.000-07:00

Did you know? Childcare remains the second biggest expense after the mortgage for Australian families.

Leading business women and academics plan to advise the upcoming Tax Summit that childcare is the biggest and most directly related cost to earning income and should be eligible for a tax rebate.

Rosemary Howard, Executive Director and Conjoint Professor at AGSM said the cost of childcare is prohibitive and it affects not only low-income families but well-paid women in executive roles. “The lack of financial support for working families, in the form of childcare incentives, is an impediment to women’s participation in the workforce, particularly when it comes to advancing women into leadership roles and at board level,” she said.

Rosamund Christie, program director for the Women in Leadership program at AGSM agreed. Christie said “Tax-deductibility of childcare ought to be a right. Our economy depends on a fully functioning workforce and – however it gets that – it should be supported,.” she said.

Additionally, Judith MacCormick, a post-doctoral research fellow at the Australian School of Business, said that Australian is using an out-dated business structure, and this is the underlying roadblock toprohibiting governmental tax breaks.

Read the full story...

Questions from mums & dads returning to work: Childcare

2011-09-29T02:49:00.000-07:00

Q. What advice do you have for parents looking for childcare? I've heard it's extremely hard to "get in". How do you secure a place at the centre you want?

A.

Visiting and talking to the carers will be your best chance of finding the perfect place for your child. If possible try to drop into the centre or Family Day care home outside of your appointment time so that you can see how things “really” work and try to visit at a couple of different times of the day. Don’t be afraid to ask questions, you’re entrusting these people with your baby.

There are more options out there than just day care centres. The most common types of care available in Australia are:

· Private arrangements

· Family day care

· Centre based child care or long day care

· Occasional care

· Pre-school

· Nannies, au-pairs, babysitters

· In home care

Planning is the key to a successful placement and you should start this planning well in advance of you needing the care.

Here are a few points to consider when thinking about each option:

· Do you want individual care for your baby?

· Will the carer be able to meet my child’s individual needs?

· Is cost a factor in your decision?

· What skills does the carer possess? Eg. First ad certificate, qualifications in child care.

· What sort of interactions will my child have with the carer?

Women are not filtering up: Business leaders

2011-09-29T02:39:00.000-07:00

The Diversity Council of Australia (DCA) hosted its first annual diversity debate last week, with the topic, ‘Quotas: friend or foe of business?’ hotly debated by high profile business leaders.

At the end of the debate the room of industry heavyweights, which included representatives from business giants such as IBM and PricewaterhouseCoopers, voted that quotas, (not just targets) for women on boards should be mandated by the federal government.

Advertising executive and lecturer, Jane Caro, said companies with a greater proportion of women on their executive and at board level perform better. Caro said while Australian women were amongst the best educated in the world, they ranked somewhere near 50th in the world for workforce participation.

'Mindless Bias' holds women in check

2011-09-29T02:23:00.000-07:00

The report, commissioned by the Committee for Economic Development of Australia, urges companies to look ''below the surface'' at ''irrational'' bias against women, arguing not only that they are excluded from leadership roles but are also ''held to account for being women''.

According to the government's latest census of women in leadership, last year females made up just 8.4 per cent of directors and 8 per cent of executive managers in ASX200 companies.

The report calls for companies to adopt a range of reforms, including making their workplaces more flexible and setting targets for gender diversity.

Read what Kate Ellis, Minister for Status of Women, says...

Paid Dad Leave from 1 January 2013

2011-09-28T01:46:00.000-07:00

On 1 January 2013, the Paid Parental Leave scheme will be extended to give extra support to new parents with two weeks Dad and Partner Pay.

A dedicated payment for dads under the Paid Parental Leave scheme will encourage fathers to take some time off after the birth of a child, and help ensure that paternity leave is seen as a normal part of work and family life.

The Government recognises that the involvement of fathers in children's lives has many positive benefits for children including improved social and emotional development.

Find out more...

2011 'Dream Employers' Revealed

2011-09-21T19:36:00.000-07:00

CEO of Insync Surveys James Garriock said that theoretically employees should be the biggest advocates of the organisations they work for, because they can help win new customers and attract new talent – yet employers are wasting these opportunities. If organisations harness the word-of-mouth power of their passionately engaged employees, the bottom line impact can be potent.

The second annual survey canvassed the opinions of more than 7,000 Australians, and as the title suggests aims to uncover both specific organisations as well as areas which the workforce considers ‘dream’ working conditions.

The research showed that just 40% of all employees are satisfied with their job, 45% are planning to look for another role within the next 12 months and just one third (33%) were willing to recommend their employer.

Heading the list for the second time in a row was Google, followed by Self-employment, Virgin Group, Qantas and Apple. The desire for people to work for themselves appears to be increasingly strong, with many dreaming about the perks of saying goodbye to structured work environments.
Read more...

How common is it for mums to feel guilt?

2011-09-07T20:25:00.000-07:00

How common is it for mums to feel guilt?

This is one of the many questions we have been asked from putting your kids into childcare to asking colleagues to pick up the slack at work.

Here's how I would advise women to overcome this guilt.

Mothers guilt is the most common feeling experienced by mothers, especially those returning to work! Mothers guilt is a part of becoming a mum and is experienced by all mums at some stage. But do not fear. You are not alone. We meet a lot of mums who are anxious about returning to work and are unsure of how to go about selecting the right childcare for their child/ren.

We find with the right knowledge and support, working mums can make wise decisions and work out a plan that suits them and their family. With some ideas about how to make working flexibly work for them and their employer with the tools to negotiate with their employer, often mums can reduce the guilt associated with colleagues having to pick up the slack.

So, ask for help, share the load with other mums, friends and family and know that there will almost always be an imbalance and that's ok. We are not superhuman. Everyday is a new day and at times the demands of work and life (particularly parenting) will collide and one will take preference of the other and vice versa; that's life. It's ensuring overall you maintain a happy, healthy equilibrium and if not, isolate what's getting in the way and deal with it.

Cost of Childcare to rise, employees left holding the bag

2011-09-05T01:43:00.000-07:00

We at mums@work thought this information on the latest childcare cost changes might be helpful to you.

The federal government has announced plans to cap childcare subsidies. The government has said families paying for 10 hours of childcare, four days a week will be hit by the cap. The cuts have reportedly been made in order to provide additional early education teachers in childcare centres, and the minister for childcare, Kate Ellis said the costs will only amount to an extra $8.67 a week by 2014-15, per child in full-time care.

“There are absolutely no cuts to childcare funding; in fact there has been a 72% increase in the amount of funds available to Australian parents to help them meet the cost of childcare,” Minister for Childcare, Kate Ellis said.

Read more...

Communications Minister says send staff home to work!

2011-08-23T18:55:00.000-07:00

SEND STAFF HOME TO WORK!
Businesses must change their attitudes about people working from home and use the internet to connect employees through "telework", the Minister for Broadband and Communications Stephen Conroy has announced.
The federal minister said Australia is lagging behind other developed countries in harnessing the internet for business and needs to catch up. Australian statistics are indeed at odds compared to other nations, with the ABS recording that 6% of employees from Australia have a degree of telework arrangements with their employer. Read how this compares with other countries...

Workplace skill shortages - is your organisation being caught short?

2011-08-09T20:46:00.000-07:00

The latest L.E.A.D. Survey pinpoints the extent of the skills shortage problem – around two-thirds of organisational leaders, managers and employees can identify skills shortages in their own workplaces. That's two in every three workplaces operating with a workforce that does not have the right mix of skills to function effectively!
Disturbingly, beyond the expected shortage in technical skills related to specific industries and sectors, two of the top six areas of skills shortage relate to leadership and management – two areas that are often under-resourced in terms of ongoing learning and development…and two areas that are often considered of secondary importance in the hunt for skilled personnel. Read more...

Making Work/Life Flexibility Work

2011-07-17T01:07:00.000-07:00

A recent survey by the Flex+Strategy Group on work/life flexibility revealed:

Eleven percent of respondents said that their use of work-life flexibility increased and 76 percent said it stayed the same during the recession.
Sixty-six percent believe employee health, morale and productivity suffer as a result of having no work-life flexibility.
Those who worried about making less money due to improved work-life flexibility decreased from 45 percent in 2006 to 21 percent this year.

Are your employees seeking work-life flexibility? While having flexibility in when, where and how you work is increasingly becoming the norm at companies of all sizes, a new study, the Work+Life Fit Reality Check, reveals there are still some roadblocks in the way.
Read more...

Paid Parental Leave - 1 July 2011, what Employers need to know

2011-07-07T22:16:00.000-07:00

As of 1 July 2011, employers will now be responsible for the administration of paid parental leave payments to employees under the Paid Parental Leave Act 2010.

You must provide Parental Leave Pay to an eligible employee who:

has a child born or adopted from 1 July 2011
has worked for you for at least 12 months prior to the expected date of birth or adoption
will be your employee for their Paid Parental Leave period
is an Australian-based employee, and
is expected to receive at least eight weeks of Parental Leave Pay.

More information...

Understanding why women decide not to return to work

2011-06-29T18:26:00.000-07:00

A UK study and report conducted by an executive search agency and employment law firm in April 2007 revealed that organisations continue to struggle to retain top female talent despite 39 weeks statutory maternity pay, additional maternity leave benefits and extended worker’s rights in applying for flexible working arrangements, (introduced under the UK’s Work and Families Act.) organisations continue to struggle to retain top female talent. It seems that employers need to do more than just comply with regulatory requirements to entice women on maternity leave back to work.

These findings send and important message to organisations that to simply offer paid parental leave will not be enough to secure mums and dads to return to work following parental leave; a real concern for businesses already suffering from general labour shortages.

What must organisations do to attract parents back to work and keep them? The 2007 Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Community (HREOC) report on work life balance suggests that ‘flexibility in the workplace’ is the fundamental component in enabling workers to meet the ever increasing demands of work and family life.

Where should employers focus their efforts to best support the needs of their employees, without compromising business productivity?
Rather than trying to guess what improvements need to be made, mums@work suggest that employers go direct to the source. Ask mums and dads what assistance is most beneficial to them first and implement flexible work and parental leave policies after.

Mums@work Director, Emma Walsh states that “company’s can fail to implement feasible flexible work solutions, and risk losing its parental workforce unless they have a deeper understanding of the common issues working parents actually face, not only when they return to their job but on an ongoing basis as they juggle the demands of work and raising a family”.

For organisations to understand the needs of its working parents, employers must be prepared to openly discuss and negotiate practical return to work options that can are realistic for both parties.

This is not always easy given we live and work in an ever changing environment; what might be agreeable today, won’t be suitable tomorrow. Organisations are constantly evolving to adapt to the diversifying needs of their consumers and clients. Walsh suggests that “employers need to recognise and respond to its employees as clients and work together to continually find agreeable working solutions, otherwise they risk losing irreplaceable, valuable talent”.

As parents struggle to meet the rising costs of child care, hold down two jobs (the one at work and at home) organisations need to be prepared not only to offer paid incentives to return to work but also proactively assist employees in developing a practical return to work plan.

Book our Stay-in-touch service now to give your working parents the tools they need to return to work.

Workaholics now in pursuit of leisure - feature in Sydney Morning Herald

2011-06-29T05:20:00.000-07:00

CATRIONA POLLARD worked herself sick. Until this year, 12-hour days and working weekends were the norm for the 42-year-old, who runs her own public relations firm. Managing staff, running a small business and meeting constant deadlines took its toll.

''The most significant thing I did was change my attitude towards work,'' she says. ''I still work long hours, but I also make time to nurture myself," says Pollard.

''Today both parents are walking out the door to work in the morning, there is no one staying home to care for family members and run the household. What we need to address that is good public policy and social systems and significant change in workplaces.''

The need for changes across the board is recognised by Emma Walsh, who set up mums@work about four years ago, a service providing return-to-work guidance for parents.

Read the whole article...

Parents Talking Career Choices to their Children!

2011-06-19T22:49:00.000-07:00

Parents Talking Career Choices is a brochure that offers strategies for parents and carers to discuss the options available for further study and employment after school with their teenage children. It includes practical advice on how to help young people explore the wide range of job pathways and where to go for further information.
Read more...

Stay-at-home mothers to get back to work to prevent a labour shortage

2011-06-08T17:33:00.000-07:00

"EU tells stay-at-home mothers to get back to work to prevent a labour shortage".

Housewives are being urged by the European Commission to go back to work the UK Daily Mail reports. In the UK around 12.6 million women work, 40 percent of them part time. Around two-thirds of working-age women with dependent children are in employment. Brussels says it wants stay-at-home mothers in Germany, Austria and Holland to take up jobs to avoid a looming labour shortage. Read more

3 skills your working parents and their managers must develop

2011-06-02T03:07:00.000-07:00

Want to support your working parents to thrive at work? 3 skills your working parents and their managers must develop: Resilient, Adaptive and Flexible Thinking.

Working parents need 3 core skills to ‘thrive’ at work and at home Adaptability, Flexibility and Resilience. We’ve all heard the expression “Got a job to do? Give it to a busy person [aka: mum].” But just how much can one busy ‘hands on’ mum or dad handle before the juggling balls begin to fall and bounce all over the place? How is your corporate culture contributing to the success or failure of your working parents’ ability to respond to the ever changing needs of their family and job?

Organisations who strive to help their people achieve their maximum potential ‘get it.’ It means providing employees with the necessary tools, support and training to be Adaptive and Flexible and Resilient to cope with the ups and downs of life being a ‘worker’ and a ‘parent’. Here’s some tips to help your organisation build resilience, adaptability and flexibility amongst your working parents:

1. Find out how many parents work in your organisation (include ‘carers’ who have responsibility for others). Survey them: find out what their needs are, what they are limited by and what would make a difference?

2. Get a parental leave process and checklist in place - support employees to prepare in advance for parental leave and their return to work rather than sanctioning a ‘winging it’ approach.

3. Create a flexible work policy that has a ‘how to’ process for managers and employees which provides details on how to plan, negotiate and implement a flexible work arrangement that works for all. See our ‘Flexible Work Toolkit’

4. Build resilience by offering coaching and other training support to your working parents. See our coaching service and think about starting a ‘working parents group’ or create a Carers network.

5. Sponsor training that supports parents to develop their ‘Career After Kids ’ and keep the talent in your organisation and avoid ‘brain drain.’

6. Drive a performance culture that values flexible and adaptive thinking – clients expect it, staff want it and managers need the ‘know-how’ and encouragement to deliver it. Being adaptive is how organisations can stay ahead of the pack and this means being flexible in relation to how, when and where work is delivered and by whom. For working parents, time is always of the essence and many will strive to find more efficient and effective ways to get their job done in order to make sure they’re home in time to pick up the kids. So let them! What manager doesn’t want a more time efficient and effective employee?

7. Encourage co-operation and understanding of working parents circumstances between teams and managers. After all, every employee may find themselves in a similar situation one day where they require care or to care for another. HR play a key role in championing this co-operative spirit as they are often the gateway between employee and manager when return to work arrangements are negotiated.

8. Provide access to tools and experts to help support the return to work transition for employees and managers. See our Working Parents Toolkit and Stay in Touch Service.

Is it time to do a career audit?

2011-06-01T20:59:00.000-07:00

Is it time you did a career audit and really thought about your future job options; especially now that kids are on the scene?

Some of the common pitfalls parents fall into when it comes to making employment choices (or decisions about when is the ‘right’ time to go back to work after maternity leave) is not reviewing their career options and being clear on what it is they are aiming to negotiate. It’s not uncommon to find parents busily formatting their outdated resume and giving it a spring clean, without consideration for what skills and experience they want to promote nor which jobs they will applying for. If this sounds like ‘you’ it’s time to do a career audit!

· Make a list of what you’ve done in the past and enjoyed and would like to continue doing in your next job. This list can contain tasks and skills you are good at and enjoyed doing. Likewise, what you least enjoyed or just don’t want to focus on in the future.

· Imagine your next job – is it with a small employer or large? What industry would you prefer? How do you imagine spending your day at work – what would you be doing? Who would you be working with and in what type of working arrangement?

· Start creating your short list – write your own job description. Give it a title, salary and preferred location and essential skills and experience you’d like to use.

· Re-examine your values – what will be most important to you in your new job; will it be the flexibility offered, the stability, the teamwork, the ability to progress? Equally what wouldn’t you accept or compromise on?

· Finally, once you’ve got your short-list – start creating a winning resume that sells all the experience and skills you want to use in your next job.

· Update your career objective and profile pages on your resume and online job networking sites etc.

· Need help to get started on your career audit? Contact mums@work at info@mumsatwork.com.au.

Working mothers thrive on flexibility - mums@work and Westpac in the news

2011-06-01T19:24:00.000-07:00

Working mothers thrive on flexibility - a Westpac case study

Rachel Slade is the mother of three boys aged six, four and two. She has worked at Westpac for the past 12 years and is at present head of group diversity and flexibility at the Westpac Group. "I'm in a senior executive role and my career progression hasn't been slowed down by choosing to work part-time," she says.

Equal opportunity may be taking a step backwards, says a global survey of businesses, including 214 from Australia. The Working Mothers Study by Regus reveals a significant number of Australian organisations are not planning to recruit working mothers in the next 2 years, amid concerns they are not as flexible or committed to their work, and that their skills will be out of date on their return to work.

Emma Walsh, Director of mums@work states: "The average maternity leave Australians take is somewhere between six to nine months, and over 65 per cent of families have two parents working. The fact is, many parents need and want to work. In fact, we have clients who actively target parents for their commitment, compared with [gen Y], often regarded [as] less reliable," she says.

Read more...

'Best Employers 2011' list revealed - who are they?

2011-05-31T00:37:00.000-07:00

The results of its 2011 Best Employers in Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) survey, announced this morning, saw 11 organisations receive the accreditation of ‘Best Employer’ – who are they? A special congratulations to mums@work supporters Millward Brown and Johnson & Johnson Medical. Read more

Family life a tough job for working dads

2011-05-23T02:31:00.000-07:00

THE squeeze is on for fathers, caught between longer working hours and the expectation they spend more time with their young children than their dads did with them.

That work pressure on fathers is distorting women's preferred working lives, as mothers are forced to either scale back hours or work full-time while continuing to do most of the caring and housework, making them the most time-pressured group in the nation.

A new study by the Australian Institute of Family Studies notes "the amount of time fathers with preschool children spent in paid work increased by 5.7 hours per week between 1997 and 2006".

Read more...

The Catholic Education Office Implements Working Parents Toolkit

2011-04-28T05:52:00.000-07:00

The Catholic Education Office (CEO), Diocese of Wollongong have realised the need to encourage and support parents on their parental journey and introduced a Working Parents Toolkit for CEO schools and CEO office staff. The toolkit, launched by the CEO, Diocese of Wollongong’s Head of Human Resource Service, Carolyn Hadley, is a practical guide to parental leave and returning to work and is a ‘developing sustainable workplaces’ initiative of the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Committee.

A commercial Toolkit produced by mums@work was purchased by the CEO to use as a foundation document. The development of the CEO Toolkit involved a significant consultation process with representatives from each employee group (CEO office staff, Principals, teachers and school support officers), the Independent Education Union and a number of focus groups. The focus groups were particularly significant as the feedback provided, ensured the Toolkit would be relevant and practical for future users.

Pauline Chrostowski, a focus group participant and part time job share teacher at St Paul’s Catholic Primary School in Albion Park was invited to the launch to share her experience on how flexible work arrangements can be successful for the individual and the school. In the spirit of supporting parents in the workplace, Pauline’s two daughters, four year old Maya and two year old Ellie, also attended the launch.

Pauline said that it was an honour to talk about something that she felt so passionate about. “At the heart of this document are families and the successful transition back into working life. The Toolkit, like its namesake, is practical. It is a step by step guide. It is easy to read and most importantly real life. Working parents are a reality and the integration back into the workforce can be successful. The proof is here today. The Working Parents Toolkit is about real people and definitely a worthwhile read. I commend the Catholic Education Office on this initiative.”

Carolyn Hadley presented the Director of Schools, Peter Turner and the Principals with a copy of the Toolkit. Peter Turner recommended the toolkit, saying “The family remains at the heart of Catholic schooling. I trust that these new measures will be mutually beneficial to working parents and their employers alike.” Principals were also provided with promotional brochures and posters to take back to their schools.

Carolyn advised that the Working Parents Toolkit is a ‘living’ document that will have the capacity to incorporate future suggestions and changing circumstances.

For the future: Staying in Touch Seminars have been arranged to provide an opportunity for parents (and expectant parents) to attend a briefing by the Human Resource Services Team about the Working Parents Toolkit and relevant policies.

Is Australia a 'un-family friendly' nation?

2011-03-10T17:53:00.000-08:00

Is Australia a 'un-family friendly' nation? What do you think?

Despite Government initiatives and all sides of Parliament claiming to be working hard for a better deal for working families, I can't help but stop and ask myself are we by nature a 'family friendly' nation? And if we're not, what implications does that have for all Australians?.

I think we can agrue that there's plenty of data to suggest that Australia isn't the family friendly nation it perhaps likes to think it is.

What makes Australia un-family friendly and what should we do about it?
Let's talk some facts...

Approximately 65% of Australian households have two parents working and 41% of all employed people care for a child or another adult. In comes the cost of child care. Australian families today face rising child care costs and how this is best funded and controlled by Government is it seems, endlessly hotly debated by all sides of Politics. And while we sit back and debate the best idea to alleviate the burden on families, up go the care costs. This year my family child care costs are more than our mortgage. Is is time we looked into tax deductable child care?

2. According to some research, Australians work longer hours than any other OECD country (other than Korea). Australia has the fastest growing working hours in the OECD (31% of Australian’s work more than 48 hrs a week). And approximately a third of Australians don’t use their annual leave. How can we be working smarter not harder as a nation?

3. Corporate Australia is relied upon far too heavily to create pockets of family friendly environments for their own organisations which is supposed to address the individual's 'work life balance' issues. But is that really realistic and what should we being doing as individuals to create and make our own lives more family friendly? This requires us as individiduals to stand up and decide what is really important to us and what can I do control and do differently to ensure that my family needs are not unfairly compromised? Fear not, Government and Corporate Australia has a role to play too. It needs to equip us with effective policies and tools necessary to support families self determine and self manage their own work life balance solutions more effectively.

What could Australia be doing to become a more family friendly nation?

Dads@Work – new service helping dads balance work and family

2011-03-07T03:33:00.000-08:00

Increasingly men want to be active fathers but the demands of the workplace for executives are higher than ever. Parenthood is a time of great change and this can create stress that can affect business performance.

A recent study has identified that for fathers in dual career families with young children:

•65% would refuse a job or promotion if it had a negative impact on their family life.
•25% had actually made a decision on this basis.
The challenge for businesses and executives is to identify ways to support the both business needs and personal wellbeing.

Executive Dad is a coaching program aimed at Leaders who are balancing business and family responsibilities. The program identifies the areas of business and family life that require attention providing the space and time to create plans that will enhance personal and professional wellbeing and effectiveness.

Coupled with the Executive Dad program is a series of lunch and learn workshops on topics of interest to fathers in the workplace including the transition to fatherhood, work-life balance strategies and personality & parenting. Find out more.

Intention to hire parents declines but value & ability sky high

2011-02-20T03:49:00.000-08:00

"Always look for the positive and play to your strengths", I often find myself saying to return to work parents getting back into the paid employment game. But for many parents, it's hard to go into interviews brimming with confidence when you hear that your chances of being hired have dimished from a year ago 44% to 36% as reported by the Regus Working Mothers Study (2011).

It's the usual culprits of fear of losing the employee because they leave to have another child after the training investment has been made (30%) and the need for flexible work arrangements that continue to be the key issues employers still haven't found the answers to. Almost a third (32%) of Australian companies are concerned about employing part-time returning mothers because they may not be able to offer the flexibility and commitment of other employees.

But there's some good news; the majority of businesses now value returning mothers, with 72% globally and 77% nationally, declaring they believe companies that ignore part-time returning mothers are missing out on a significant and valuable part of the employment pool. In addition, fully 56% regard working mums as offering skills that are difficult to find in the current market; and 57% declare that they value returning mothers because they offer experience and skills without demanding top salaries. In Australia, the skills and experience working mothers bring to the workplace are particularly valued (63%).

If Australia's greatest economic challenge of the decade is the lack of skilled labour (according to the Gillard Government) then businesses might not have any choice but to hire skilled parents and finds ways to make the employment relationship work; and it might just be easier than employers think such as the introduction of realistic flexible work policies and 'how to guide'for managers and employees - see our list of practical family friendly workplace initiatives. Businesses that bother to invest in family friendly workplace initiatives are likely to have their pick of the best talent - both parents and parents of the future.

Source Regus Working Mothers Study as reported inHuman Capital Magazine Feb 2011. Full Article.

Paternity Leave should be made mandatory?

2011-02-20T02:57:00.000-08:00

Human Capital this month reported new research from Singapore that outlines the case for mandatory paternity leave. Given all the recent social movement and government support for paid parental leave in Australia, is it actually time to address the often undebated issue of 'paternity leave'?

My husband recently enquired about taking paid leave to be the primary carer of our 3rd child born just prior to the introduction paid parental leave and was knocked back by his employer because their workplace only offered paid maternity leave and fathers weren't eligible!

According to the HC article, the majority of parents in Singapore believe paternity leave should be made compulsory. According to a survey by the Association of Women for Action and Research (AWARE) and Ngee Ann Polytechnic, 91% of respondents believed paternity should be made law.

Half of the parents said their employers already offered paid paternity leave, and of these the bulk (59%) gets between one and three days of such leave. Of the fathers who have a paternity leave option, three quarters took the leave.

AWARE says there are many reasons for Singapore’s low birth rate, but two important factors in trying to reverse the trend are better support for parenting responsibilities and policies that promote gender equality. The association cites studies that show a direct correlation, in developed nations, between the level of gender equality in a society and its total fertility rate (TFR).

Singapore’s current parenting leave policies – four months for new mothers and none for new fathers – reinforce gender stereotypes of women as caregivers and men as providers. These policies entrench gender inequality.

Specifically, AWARE has called for five policy changes:

· Make paid paternity leave of two weeks mandatory, with the cost shared between the employer and the state

· Convert the 4th month of maternity leave into ‘parental leave’ to be taken by either parent, with the state sharing the cost with the employer when the father takes this leave

· Offer a ‘parenting present’ of $4,000 to couples where the father takes the 4th month of parental leave – A significant number of the parents (57%) said they would welcome having the option of transferring parenting leave from mother to father.

· Convert the currently mandated 6 days of paid childcare leave into dependent’s leave, with ‘dependents’ including older children and parents

· Extend to unwed parents the same parenting leave benefits enjoyed by married parents – an overwhelming 91% said unwed parents deserve the same benefits as their married counterparts.

AWARE says it will forward its proposals to the relevant authorities for their consideration. Read full article.

Support for Paid Parental Leave set to continue

2011-01-27T03:19:00.000-08:00

This week the HR Daily reported that the introduction of the Federal Government's Paid Parental Leave scheme which commences this month is prompting more organisations to look at introducing paid parental leave for employees in addition to the government entitlements, according to a new survey from Mercer.

Under the government scheme, primary carers for newborn or adopted children will be eligible for up to 18 weeks of paid leave at the national minimum wage of $570 a week, funded by the Federal Government.

Mercer's Paid Parental Leave Survey of 284 organisations found that 72% of organisations surveyed already offer a paid parental leave entitlement for the primary carer, with the median entitlement being 12 weeks at full pay.

Mercer's survey also found that some industries are using more generous schemes to create a total reward package that employees can value. The industry with the highest number of weeks of paid parental leave is education and research, offering 23 weeks at the median. This is nine weeks more than the next highest industries which include energy and utilities, healthcare and federal, state and local government. Read more.

What parents need to know about paid parental leave

2011-01-16T19:48:00.000-08:00

Here's a simple information pack containing everything your employee needs to know about the introduction of paid parental leave is a guide published by FamilyAssist.gov.au. Use it to communicate to employees about their paid parental leave entitlements. What parents need to know.

Paid Parental Leave – what will you do?

2011-01-10T00:33:00.000-08:00

Haven’t decided how to respond to the government’s new paid parental leave scheme and how to communicate the entitlements and changes to staff? Here is a 5 point plan to develop your parental leave policy response:

1. Make yourself familiar with the new paid parental leave scheme

2. Review your parental leave policy and update it as appropriate – soon. The new governmental policy applied as of the 1st January 2011. Mums@work can review and write your policy for you – contact us on 02 9967 8377 or email info@mumsatwork.com.au

3. Consider how your organisation’s current parental leave scheme will compliment the new government scheme and what additional benefits you can offer and promote to employees as part of your attraction and retention initiatives. See ideas on creating a working parents program or contact us for more info.

4. Develop a list of common questions and answers that you think employees and manager ought to know.

5. Make contact with all your employees to provide details of what parents will be entitled to, how to apply for parental leave and what the return to work process involves.

Is it time to review your parental leave policies and entitlements?

2010-11-23T03:02:00.000-08:00

Now has never been a better time to review your organisation's policies and procedures to ensure your parental leave and flexible work entitlements remain competitive as the Government's paid parental scheme begins.

Employers will need to examine their parental leave processes, employment contracts and administration procedures to ensure there is a smooth transition for the employee and the correct entitlements are paid. Read more.

What should your organisation be reviewing and considering?

- Do you have an up to date parental leave policy that explains the new Government paid parental leave entitlements and how it works with your organisation's existing entitlments?
- Do you provide employees exiting and returning from parental leave with a 'pack' of information and checklist which supports them during the transition phases?
- Do you have a flexible work policy and application process which allows employees and manager to plan, negotiate and implement flexible work arrangements?
- Do you offer returning parents with training or coaching services to make the transition phase smoother?
- Do you share and promote your employees return to work and flexible work success stories in your business?

Find out more about what you can be doing to update your parental leave offerings at www.mumsatwork.com.au and ask us about our:
Working Parents Toolkit
Flexible Work Proposal Toolkit

Europe leads the way in Paid Parental Leave yet again

2010-11-01T20:48:00.000-07:00

Mothers in Europe have reason to cheer, according to Human Capital Magazine [20-week stop work order for mothers]. The European Union is looking to extend maternity leave from the current minimum of 14 weeks to 20 weeks on full pay.

But not every country in the EU is supportive of the increase - UK conservative MEP Marina Yannakoudakis called it “well-intentioned but completely out-of-step with reality and warned that it would “lead to further indirect discrimination against women in the workplace”.

The director general of BusinessEurope, Philippe de Buck, agreed, saying the proposal threatened to “increase the complexity of hiring women”.

One proponent of the measure, Danish MEP Britta Thomsen, however, said the measure would encourage women to have more children – at a time of when an ageing population and low birth rates plague Europe.

Employers - do you know what your employees are entitled to from the 1st Jan 2011?

Parents - make sure you're aware of your entitlments to paid parental leave - see mums@work Parental Leave FAQs and answers.

Contact mums@work free 'Return to Work' Advisory Service for more information on 02 9967 8377 or email info@mumsatwork.com.au

Retain your talented mums & dads - on any budget

2010-10-18T04:45:00.000-07:00

ANZ recently announced a major new initiative to attract and retain top female talent by providing a childcare allowance of $4,000 for working parents.

Emma Walsh, Director of mums@work is delighted to see an Australian company moving closer towards the UK model, where many companies offer vouchers to subsidise the cost of childcare.

‘Australian employers need to step up to the standard set by companies overseas. Affordability of childcare is one of the key barriers our clients encounter when returning to a workplace.’

ANZ is an example of a large company realising the barriers to returning to work and coming up with a practical and attractive solution. While not all companies are in a position to offer financial incentives on the scale of those offered by ANZ, small businesses need not feel limited by their budget.

According to Emma, small to medium businesses should not underestimate their edge when it comes to negotiating a great package for working parents. ‘There are loads of solutions which smaller companies can use to attract parents.

‘Consider job shares, allowing flexible shifts, return to work coaching, offering the option of purchasing extra annual leave or creating a family room for children to visit after school.’

‘Lifestyle’ benefits can be just as enticing to parents as financial incentives. But for all companies, large or small, rather than trying to guess what will work for parents, Emma suggests that employers go direct to the source. ‘Ask mums and dads what they need first and design policies based on that feedback.’

Of course, while creative programmes will help retain and attract working parents, the case for family friendly flexible work initiatives is not just a 'working mum' issue. Employees of all ages seek improved flexible working conditions. Some people may need to structure work around caring for an aged person or person with a disability. Many retiring baby boomers wish to ‘wind down’ or ‘phase out’ of the workforce and Generation Y, the future workforce, vote work/life balance as a ‘must have’.

For more insights on offering flexible work solutions as a small business, click here.

Prepare NOW for Paid Parental leave questions!

2010-10-11T02:29:00.000-07:00

With expectant parents already able to file claims with the Family Assistance Office, employers need to know how to answer employees' questions about the imminent paid parental scheme, say Lander and Rogers employment lawyers read more.

Mums@work is already experiencing an increase in calls and emails from employed parents-to-be anxious to know about their parental entitlements so we've created a list of Parental Leave & Returning to Work FAQs on our site.

Contact us to find out more about how you can support your parents@work.
We have toolkits, training and coaching that can help you retain your working parents.

Contact us on 02 9967 8377 or email info@mumsatwork.com.au

Event: Career After Kids - support your parents return to work and thrive!

2010-10-07T20:59:00.000-07:00

How is your organisation supporting its working parents? Invite and Enrol parents in your organisation to Career After Kids!

‘Career After Kids’ is a 2.5 hr seminar designed to support employees who are returning to work from parental leave and for those who have recently returned who are looking for tips and tools to better manage work and family. We provide a ‘return to work toolkit’ and your employees are able to meet with other parents in similar situations and discuss ways to manage and enjoy being a working parent!

Want to know more? Contact Emma Walsh on 02 9967 8377.
Limited spaces available. Next Seminar runs Wednesday, 17th November 2010 | 10am – 12.30pm.

Stop the 'brain drain' and prepare employees for parental leave - what parents want and employers are offering

2010-09-21T19:40:00.000-07:00

Stop the 'brain drain' and prepare employees for parental leave - recent survey reports parents want to work!

A new survey shows parents would rather return to the workplace sooner than take 24 months parental leave.

CareerMums recently conducted a survey on workplace challenges confronting working parents. The survey attracted 335 respondents and covered topics such as recently introduced employment law, key barriers to returning to work and childcare.

When asked if they would prefer to use the full 24 months of parental leave or return to work sooner, 46% of parents said they would prefer to return to work earlier and access flexible work arrangements. However the key barriers that parents continue to face when considering a return to work are limited access to flexible roles (72%), the excessive cost of childcare (68%), and a limited number of childcare places (35%), reports the CareerMums survey. Survey results.

Early preparation is a vital aspect of retaining parents as employees. Historically, employers have focused their attention on providing employee benefits such as financial incentives, however, these benefits are often not provided until after the parental leave has commenced or once parents have already returned to work.

mums@work works with a number of employers who are taking a more progressive approach to staff retention. These employers are discussing flexible work strategies before the parent takes leave. Preparing your staff for parental leave checklist.

During the parental leave absence, these employers are also working hard to help the employee stay connected to the organisation, making returning to work a smoother transition for both employee and manager.

Belinda Abbott, Diversity Consultant at Westpac, recognises the importance of early preparation in retaining valuable staff; “ Westpac has launched a whole new series of parental support toolkits and training seminars aimed at helping expectant parents plan for leave and for those who have returned to work to feel more supported on an ongoing basis. Westpac also has a number of flexible work practices, including part-time and job-share, available to all employees. We also recently announced we would be Australia's first major corporation to pay superannuation on unpaid parental leave for all permanent employees. This is an industry-leading initiative that will help us reverse the Australia-wide retirement savings gap experienced by employees, particularly those who take unpaid parental leave"

Organisations such as Mallesons Stephen Jaques are also developing parent forums focussed specifically on helping employees who are returning from parental leave manage their 'new' life as working parents and ensuring they have access to the additional ongoing support that is available to enable work life balance.

If you would like to discuss how your business can maximise staff retention, call Emma Walsh, Director of mums@work on 02 9967 8377.

A mum's return to work story to inspire others

2010-09-20T19:03:00.000-07:00

Here's a wonderful story from a mum we recently supported back to work that provides inspiration to other mums who are thinking of taking the plunge...

Aleksha's story
I cannot tell you how nervous I was when I had my first phone interview with the CIO for my new job that I recently started. After the interview, I felt that I could have said so much more and so many things better but I kept everything crossed and prayed that I had got the job. Later that evening I heard from mums@work that I was successful and had to start later that week. Panic struck again...was I ready???

I arrived at 8am and met the CIO who seemed really nice. She took me around the various floors and introduced me to so many people.
When I finally sat at my desk, I kept thinking...am I Ready, will I be okay?

But I was surprised how the day rolled on. I must admit in the first week, there were times I would think I used to know this and at other times, things came back to me in a flash. In the last two and a half weeks, I have gone through this cycle a few times now.

I am really enjoying being back at work and I don’t seem to mind the early starts (5.00 am) to get things organised at home and then start work at 7.30am before finishing at 2.00pm to pick my girls up on time from school.

It’s amazing how the family has adapted to the change, it's so seamless. Life is busier and things have to be even more organised. (I swear I thought it was already organised but obviously there was room for improvement).

To all the fantastic mums who are thinking of returning back to work.....Go for it. You can do it !!!

You will truly surprise yourself. After the 100 million things we juggle with children and the endless lists of things to remember, working is not too hard even after a break. And the fact that the brain cells are being used for other things does so much good for you as a person.

And a little secret.....No one except you knows how nervous you are...so let it be a MUM secret. And may the forces unite as there is nothing a Mum cannot accomplish.

I hope my story inspires other working mums.

Do recruiters help or hinder mums career options and choices?

2010-09-20T04:03:00.000-07:00

The Sunday Telegraph's article published last weekend Maternity leave will kill your career, recruitment companies warn women"is a yet again a sobering reminder that working mums and mums-to-be still battle overt discrimination not just from potential employers, but now it seems, sadly from recruitment agencies too. The Sunday Telegraph's article reports that "Head- hunting companies say women should forgo maternity leave if they want their careers to flourish".

Let's do some myth busting:
Fact: Working mums are just as 'intellectually capable' as any other employee
Fact: Working mums are resourceful, productive and multi-talented
Fact: There have been more part time roles created in the Australian marketplace in the last 2 years than full time roles
Fact: There are more mums returning to work than ever before and the Australian economy needs them
Fact: The new 'right to request' flexible work arrangements requires employers to think differently about accommodating return to work mums and dads

Recruiters are often in a unique position of influence and power when it comes to facilitating and negotiating career discussions between candidates and employers. It begs the question, just what are recruiters doing or not doing when representing working mums for new job opportunities? Are they in fact reinforcing or condoning blatant career discrimination against mums who are looking for, dare I say it, some type of work life balance?
Surely the best fit, most suitable candidate (irrespective of their parent status) should rightfully be represented and selected for the job?

Give us your thoughts; are recruiters helping or hindering your job search?

Will the Government Paid Parental Leave Scheme replace employer funded schemes?

2010-09-13T20:01:00.000-07:00

Does your organisation have a plan to review its approach to paid parental leave (PPL) once the Government's national scheme comes into effective January 2011? Better think twice.

It appears that the current proposed PPL scheme which won the support of the Senate pre Election omitted any mention of an employer's ability to use the Government's PPL scheme to offset their own existing PPL scheme. But this doesn't mean employers are simply off the hook if they have inbedded PPL entitlements into their standard offering to employees either through negotiated Enterprise Bargaining Agreements or via their internal HR policies.

Don't assume the Government's paid parental leave scheme will offset your organisation's own scheme reports HR Daily. "Employers won't necessarily be able to offset their existing paid parental leave programs with the government's new scheme", says workplace relations lawyer Mick Moy. See Article.

Want to know more about your Paid Parental Leave options and obligations for your organisation, contact mums@work on info@mumsatwork.com.au or go to www.mumsatwork.com.au.

Paid Parental Leave a crucial retention tool

2010-08-19T05:20:00.000-07:00

Human Capital Magazine reports today "As the paid parental leave policy debate heats up in the final stage of the Federal election campaign, Hewitt Associates has found 71% of Australian corporate organisations are already offering some form of paid parental leave.

"According to the Hewitt Paid Parental Leave Pulse Survey, conducted in July-August 2010, the majority of corporations recognise the long-term value of offering paid parental leave to primary carers; to support and retain loyal employees, as well as attracting them back to work after leave. However, some are not yet sure how to address this issue." Read more

Mums@work advises clients that it's not just as simple as implementing a paid parental leave scheme to ensure talented staff are retained.

Employers need to support the employee transitioning to and from parental leave by providing a series of initiatives like introducing a simple process to negotiate a viable flexible work arrangement, allowing a gradual return to work over a period of a month and offering return to work toolkits and coaching. For client case studies read on.

Top-line findings on paid parental leave status in corporate sector

71% of corporate organisations offer paid parental leave to the primary carer; 36% are given 12 or more weeks
59% of corporates offer a secondary carer paid parental leave; 37% receive at least a week of paid parental leave
57% of corporates are undecided what changes they will make to paid parental leave.
89% of corporates that offer paid parental leave make no attempt to recover paid funds if the carer does not return to work within the agreed timeframe
* (2008) HRPulse Research Report, Australian Human Resources Institute (AHRI)

Men helping more at home is the key to gender equality?

2010-08-12T05:46:00.000-07:00

In the Western world, motherhood remains the barrier to gender equality. Until they have children, young women now earn nearly the same as men and climb the career ladder at a similar pace. With the babies often come career breaks, part-time work and a rushed two-shift existence that means sacrificing informal networks like the after hours beer-and-bonding experience often crucial at promotion time.

The only thing that can level the playing field at work is a level playing field at home. And that requires a major shift in public policy and corporate culture...reports the New York Times...more

No means NO - sexual harassment in the workplace

2010-08-12T03:59:00.000-07:00

While the media lapped up the salacious details regarding the resignation of David Jones' CEO Mark McInnes for sexual misconduct, the incident shone a much needed spotlight on harassment in the workplace and opened up countless talking points around office water coolers. For example, if McInnes had been extorting money out of female employees in return for promotion and other advantages, he probably wouldn't have just been sacked - he'd be in jail. However, because of McInnes' reputation as a 'ladies man' playing the field, it was just accepted as a normal part of corporate life...more

25% of mums say they are not working because they can't afford child care

2010-08-07T21:22:00.000-07:00

25% of mums say they can't afford to work because of cost of child care a new study reports. What is this loss of talent in the Australian workforce costing our economy and what impact is it having on mums and their families?

Childcare is a problem for 40% of families who took part in latest federal government funded study making the child care issue an election decider says the Sun Herald...read on

There's no harm in being a working mum research reveals

2010-08-01T18:30:00.000-07:00

There's no harm in being a working mum research reveals. The Sun Herald reports that "mums can return to work within a year of giving birth without harming their babies' development, a landmark US report shows". Full Article.

Personally I believe there's a few critical factors that mums need in place in order to successfully manage being a 'working mum'.

1. The ability to return to a job, occupation and workplace that they enjoy and get personal fulfilment from - let's face it no mum wants to leave their child(ren) in the care of another for a job they loathe.

2. Access to affordable, quality child care weather that be a grandparent, private nanny, family day care or long day care.

3. Access to flexible work arrangements which allows mums to better balance the needs and demands of work and family as required.

Have your say; what do you think?

mums@work launches new services

2010-08-01T00:28:00.000-07:00

We’re delighted to announce that we are expanding our services to you. Since 2007, we have been Australia’s leading provider of return to work guidance, family friendly programs and flexible work tools for mums, dads and employers. We’ve listened to employers and parents and to continue to meet your needs mums@work now offers:

•NEW RECRUITMENT SERVICE: Employers with vacancies to fill and parents looking for new opportunities can now take advantage of our recruitment service. It’s simple, flexible and affordable. Parents register for free as a job seeker. For businesses, there is NO costly agency placement fee involved – find out more.

•FREE JOB GUIDANCE HOTLINE: We have also launched our job guidance hotline. Parents can contact a career expert who will answer their return to work questions for free. Register now for a free resume appraisal and return to work tips.

•RTW TRAINING | “CAREER AFTER KIDS”: Gain confidence, refresh skills and review career options with mums@work training and coaching services. Next ”Career After Kids” 2.5 hr RTW seminar runs 25th August – enrol now. Employers: support working parents transition to and from parental leave and retain top talent with a RTW Coach find out more

For all the information you need on these services and so much more, check out our new website. You’ll find a wealth of information, useful tools and handy tips. Think of www.mumsatwork.com.au as your ‘one stop shop’ for all your return to work needs.

'Mums' taxation makes returning to work punishing...

2010-07-30T15:38:00.000-07:00

According to the SMH and University of Sydney Professor Patricia Apps, tax rates on mothers who go back to work on low and moderate incomes are punishing, when you consider how much tax they have to pay and how much of the family tax benefit they lose.

As the paper noted: "On average, a married mother who decides to go out to work will lose around a third of her income in taxes and reduced [family tax benefits]." more

Pregnancy discrimination a pre-natal headache for employers

2010-07-22T04:52:00.000-07:00

Employers can expect an increase in the number of complaints about discrimination against pregnant employees as women become more aware of their rights.

The Fair Work Ombudsman has recently launched a national campaign to inform women of their rights at work when pregnant and when returning to work after having a child. Read more

Employers beware - pregnancy discrimination costs

2010-07-07T03:47:00.000-07:00

Employers beware - pregnancy discrimination can no longer go unanswered and be ignored. The Sydney Morning Herald today reported the first discrimination case brought under the new national workplace laws. The case involves a pregnant employee who was told by her employer that her pregnancy was an "inconvenience" for which their would be "consequences" read full article

Parents concerned about discrimination in the workplace relating to caring responsibilities, pregnancy, employment contracts etc can contact the Fair Work Australia on 1300 799 675 or the Human Rights and Equal Employment Commission on (02) 9284 9600.

Employers can find out more about their obligations can see the Fair Work Australia site www.fwa.gov.au and www.mumsatwork.com.au for training and other initiatives to ensure your workplace is family friendly.

Superannuation for mums & dads on parental leave

2010-06-30T02:27:00.001-07:00

We may still be celebrating the Federal Government's announcement of paid parental leave but what about the Superannuation mums miss out on when on taking maternity leave. On average women have one third as much superannuation savings upon retirement as men. Westpac has become Australia's first bank and private company to agree to pay staff on parental leave Superannuation in the first 12 months in addition to 13 weeks paid parental leave.

Hopefully this will encourage other rivals and friendly friendly businesses to do the same.

Read about what Westpac is doing Bank forks out to set super lead on parental leave

SYDNEY MORNING HEREALD
PAUL BIBBY June 30, 2010

As a Sydney mother, Tracy Higgisson, sat and talked about the ground-breaking parental leave policy announced by Westpac yesterday, a friend chimed in from the background.

''It's not fair,'' her friend said. ''Why can't I get that?''

One brief interjection says much about the bank's decision and its likely impact on the industrial landscape.

Westpac announced yesterday that it would continue to pay superannuation to staff who chose to take unpaid parental leave when they had a child, for up to a year.

This is on top of the 13 weeks' paid maternity leave that the bank already offers to staff, including those such as Ms Higgisson, who work for BT, RAMS and St George.

The policy will cost the bank up to $5 million a year. By retirement, the bank's superannuation bonus should become a $72,000 nest egg for an employee on an average salary who takes two periods of parental leave.

Westpac is the first private company to take a stab at one of the glaring inequities in the Australian superannuation system: women on average have one-third as much superannuation upon retirement as men.

The director of the Centre for Work and Life at the University of South Australia, Barbara Pocock, said: ''This effectively sends the message that Westpac is the employer of choice for prime-aged [working] women and it puts them a step ahead in the war for talent.

''There is certainly some pressure on the other banks now. Many women will pay attention to it and some women in other companies and other industries will be asking 'Why doesn't everyone get that?'''

With a 17-month-old and another due in August, super is not Ms Higgisson's priority, but she will benefit from the system and can see the significance.

''I'm having my babies in quick succession - I will have been out of the workforce for two of the past four years - if you think about, 9 per cent of the salary for two years is quite a lot. You hope that when you retire you're still with your partner, but there's always a possibility that you're not.

''If that happens, then the amount of superannuation becomes pretty essential to your life. I think anything an employer does to help parents out during a difficult time is a really good thing.''

Such sentiments were echoed by many yesterday.

It was a far cry from the howls of derision aimed at Westpac late last year when it elected to raise interest rates well above the mark set by the Reserve Bank, and then explained the move with a banana smoothie analogy.

The general manager of AMR Interactive, Oliver Freedman, said: ''There's no doubt they would have wanted to improve their corporate reputation from that point, and I think [this] definitely will. One of the key components of reputation is perception of workplace environment. If you're seen as treating employees well it's likely to be received positively.

''We did a survey earlier this year which had them ranked 48th of 60 companies for corporate reputation. I'd be expecting them to improve from there.''

a parental leave?

How do you manage school hours and work?

2010-06-21T22:20:00.000-07:00

Great question; aaahhh the dilemma of 9-3 school hours! Like me if you're a working mum sending your kids off to school in the next year or two you're probably starting to think 'yikes - I've only just got child care working well how on earth am I going to manage working around school hours?'

Don't panic, here's a few useful tips that might help:

1. Think outside the square and be prepared to be flexible and explore a multitude of options rather than putting all your eggs into one solution - plan B is important!

2. After school care is going to be an important part of the support network you’ll need in place when your child starts school but it's popular and often over-subscribed so if you know the school your child is likely to attend, call in advance and see if there's a waiting list application you can put your name on.

3. Explore with your employer(both parents) if it’s an option to leave or finish early from work one or two days a week so you can share the pick up and drop off together. I know people who have negotiated shorter working days and work from home to help their kids settle into the first term and year of school.

4. Ask for help - can family help out one or two days a week with the pick up and drop off two days per week?

5. Look into employing a mother’s helper/babysitter to do the drop off and/or after school care – this this way the carer can help the kids with homework and prepare meals too!

6. Do you know other parents with kids starting school the same year who you could share the pick up and drop off duties with?

I hope this provides some food for thought and that you're able to select a few options that will work for your family. The trick is to get creative and be flexible!

mums@work team

What's the best career option for mums?

2010-06-21T02:22:00.000-07:00

What's the best career option after you have a baby - full-time, part-time or no work at all? To work or not to work - that IS the question? Every working mum has the nagging question at some stage of their return to work journey 'is this working and is this worth it?'

Rebecca Gibney and other mums on juggling work after baby talk to Jacinta Tyan, Sunday Life Magazine read more...

Paid Parental Leave - what does it mean?

2010-06-17T15:12:00.000-07:00

Thankfully access to paid parental leave is finally a right for ALL Australian working parents, effective 1 January 2010.

But just what does this mean for employers and parents? Who is eligible? What are they entitled to and how will it work? What about working women currently pregnant due before January 2011, what will they be eligible for? What about the baby bonus?

The Federal Government is yet to publish the updated Paid Parental Leave scheme details in answer to these questions on its DEEWR and Fair Work Australia websites, however, employers and parents will find its published interim Booklet - Australia's Paid Parental Leave Scheme - offers some useful informations and answers to common questions.

Parents and Employers can find out more about parental leave entitlements and returning to work via mums@work helpline:

Website: www.mumsatwork.com.au
Phone: 02 9967 8377
Email: info@mumsatwork.com.au

How to write a flexible work proposal

2010-01-26T03:20:00.000-08:00

How to write a flexible work proposal

Step 1
Ask your employer if policies exist around flexible work arrangements in your workplace. If so, confirm what process will need to be followed to request a flexible work arrangement.

Step 2
Let your manager know that you would like to explore flexible work arrangements that may be available to you, and explain that you will submitting a proposal that outlines your ideas.

Step 3
Review your core job tasks and responsibilities. Consider how your job could be redesigned to accommodate a flexible work arrangement. Propose at least two alternate flexible work arrangements you think would be feasible. Identify and outline the benefits of the flexible work solutions you are proposing and how you will address any potential downsides. If appropriate at this stage, ask your manager for input and ideas. Keeping your manager in the loop makes it an inclusive process. Remember, negotiating flexibility means that both parties will need to compromise.

Step 4
Once you have considered all your options, formalise your plan in writing and submit it to your manager. See negotiating with employers tips.

Step 5
Arrange a meeting with your manager to discuss your Flexible Work Proposal and negotiate what will be feasible. Consider agreeing to a trial arrangement and evaluate how it will work for you and your employer.

Types of questions you need to ask and address in your proposal
• Days/Hours you would like to work and the location
• Detail how you envisage the flexible work arrangement working
• How your current job tasks and responsibilities will be impacted
• The benefits that will be achieved by working flexibility
• How the downsides can be minimised
• What support and technology will be required to make it work

For help and more info contact mums@work 02 9967 8377 or info@mumsatwork.com.au

Career After Kids Seminar - Sydney 24th Feb 2010

2010-01-05T19:45:00.000-08:00

'Career After Kids' seminar is exclusive to parents returning to work, seeking career guidance or improved work life happiness.

• 2.5hr practical seminar run by career experts
• Speak to a career coach about your situation
• Re-evaluate your job options
• Create the work-life change you seek
• Free Return to Work Toolkit
• Learn how to plan an negotiate a flexible work arrangement

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2010 New 'Right to Request' Flexible Work may backfire on mums?

2010-01-02T23:32:00.000-08:00

Tell us what you think? Do you think the new 'right to request' a flexible work arrangement as part of the 2010 National Employment Standards will have a negative or positive effect for mums when negotiating their return to work?

Only 4 days old, the new 'right to request' flexible work legislation; although largely heralded by supporters as a breakthrough for working parents, is already attracting controversy. The SMH today reported that the new right to request flexibility may 'backfire' rather than benefit working parents caring for under school age children or with a disability. Full Article.

The UK has had similar legislation in place since 2002; find out more about the UK experience and learning.

Job Description of a Mum

2010-01-01T21:09:00.000-08:00

Position: Mother, Mum, Mama, Mummy, Ma
Long term, team players needed, for challenging permanent work in an,often chaotic environment. Candidates must possess excellent communication and organizational skills and be willing to work variable hours, which will include evenings and weekends and frequent 24 hour shifts on call. Some overnight travel required, including trips to primitive camping sites on rainy weekends and endless sports tournaments in far away cities. Travel expenses not reimbursed. Extensive courier duties also required.

Responsibilities: The rest of your life. Must be willing to be hated, at least temporarily, until someone needs $5. Must be willing to bite tongue repeatedly. Also, must possess the physical stamina of a pack mule and be able to go from zero to 60 mph in three seconds flat in case, this time, the screams from the backyard are not someone just crying wolf.
Must be willing to face stimulating technical challenges, such as small gadget repair, mysteriously sluggish toilets and stuck zippers. Must screen phone calls, maintain calendars and coordinate production of multiple homework projects.
Must have ability to plan and organise social gatherings for clients of all ages and mental outlooks.
Must be willing to be indispensable one minute, an embarrassment the next. Must handle assembly and product safety testing of a half million cheap, plastic toys, and battery operated devices. Must always hope for the best but be prepared for the worst. Must assume final, complete accountability for the quality of the end product. Responsibilities also include floor maintenance and janitorial work throughout the facility. Read more.

5 Steps to Find a Flexible Job

2010-01-01T20:34:00.000-08:00

Step 1: Review your career aspirations and flexibility requirements using our 'Return to Work Toolkit'. What do you want to do and what type of flexibility will you need? Write down what your skills are; what are you good at and do you enjoy doing? Consider your flexibility needs, jot down at least two flexible work options you’d be prepared to trial eg: 3 days a week 9-5 or 5 days a week 10-2 etc. Create a short-list and research the most suitable and attractive job ads that fit your criteria via online job boards such as www.careermums.com.au and via recruitment agencies and newspapers and then evaluate the skills that employers are looking for. Register with mums@work and access a career consultant to discuss your career add flexible work options – ask about our career coaching, training and recruitment service.

Step 2: Know your return to work ‘right to request’ a flexible work arrangement entitlements. They include:
• Parental leave: Employees will have the ability to request a second 12 months of unpaid leave, so 24 months in total. Currently it is only 12 months.
• Right to request flexibility: An employee who is a parent of or has responsibility for a child under school age can request flexible working hours. An employer may refuse on 'reasonable business grounds'. The request and refusal must be in writing and provide reasons.

Step 3: Prepare to negotiate with your current employer if you are planning to return after parental leave by writing a flexible work proposal. Alternatively, if you’re looking to start something new or prepare for job hunting by reviewing our handy job hunting tips and update your resume using our resume services. If you would like a free appraisal of your resume, send it to info@mumsatwork.com.au. When updating your resume, think about the activities you have been doing whilst raising your children and record these on your resume as ‘unpaid or volunteer work’. For example, raising money for a school fete or charity involves promotion, event management, negotiation, communication, marketing business development, and marketing skills. Job description of a mum.

Step 4: Find family friendly employers. Who are they? Is there one close to you? See our where to look guide. The Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency (EOWA) promotes women-friendly organisations with equal opportunity programs that recognise and advance their female workforce. Similarly, the National Work and Family Awards recognise private, public and community sector organisations with outstanding flexible working arrangements that meet the needs of the business and its employees. Visit either www.eowa.gov.au or www.workplace.gov.au for a list of family friendly and flexible employers in your state. Apply direct if you'd like to work work for one of these employers. We recommend KPMG, Johnson & Johnson Medical, Malleson Stephen Jaques as progressive workplaces supporting parents.

Step 5: Connect to flexible work providers and social networks. Ensure that you register your name and details with mums@work so we can connect you with family friendly jobs and other job channels to ensure you have broad coverage. Job boards and Agencies that we know and recommend are:

Careermums – www.careermums.com.au
Nine2Three – www.nine2three.com.au
Priorities – www.priorities.com.au
Seed Recruitment – www.seedrecruitment.com.au

Finally don’t forget to tell people in your family and friends network that you are returning to work and to look out for suitable opportunities – the best jobs are often sourced via people we know. Another great idea is to join online social media and networking sites such as www.linkedin.com and www.linkme.com.au. These channels allow you to register your professional details online for potential employers to access and make contact with you.

Find out more via our free job guidance hotline at www.mumsatwork.com.au

Australia and the 'right to request' flexibility

2009-11-05T04:06:00.000-08:00

Leading up to the introduction of the National Employment Standards (January 2010) and its flexible work provisions; what can Australia do to embrace the ‘right to request’ flexibility for the benefit of all? Introducing the right to request flexibility in your organisation:

Ensure your organisation has an up-to-date flexible work policy that is clearly documented and communicated to all employees
Make flexibility the ‘norm’ and an entitlement for all employees, not just working parents. This avoids conflict issues between other employee groups and means everyone has a equal opportunity to access flexibility
Educate employees on the type and range of flexible work arrangements that are feasible for your organisation to accommodate and avoid confusion about what’s possible and what’s not
Make available a flexible work proposal ‘template’ or ‘form’ which provides clear instructions to employees and managers on how to plan, negotiate and implement a flexible work arrangement
Be willing to trial a flexible work arrangement before refusing an employee’s request eg: for 3 months
Train managers on the benefits of flexible work; what they can do to overcome barriers and successfully implement a flexible work arrangement
Publicise good examples of flexible work arrangements that are working in your organisation

See www.mumsatwork.com.au for more information.

Female bank workers leave due to unfriendly work practices: study

2009-10-06T04:25:00.000-07:00

Melbourne University today released its findings into a study on the turnover of female bank workers. According to the University's press release it's findings report that unfriendly work - family practices along with managment changes and mergers, are the key reasons behind the womens' departures. This seems to challenge the notion that professional women 'opt out' of their career to focus purely on motherhood as the most likely reason for leaving the study claims. For more on the study findings go to http://newsroom.melbourne.edu/news/n-155.

How family friendly is your organisation and what might it be costing your organisation in attrition? There are many ways to introduce easy and affordable family firendly, flexible work initiatives into workplaces such as allowing people staggered start and finish times, allowing work from home access, re-orientating and providing mentoring to parents returning from parental leave, salary sacrificing pay for more annual leave and the list continues. Take our test 'how family friendly is your organisation' at www.mumsatwork.com.au

Career After Kids Seminar - Nov 4th or 11th Sydney

2009-10-04T20:29:00.001-07:00

Are you a parent planning to return to work or make a career change?

"Career After Kids" is a 2.5 hr seminar designed exclusively for parents being held in Sydney in November 09. Run by career experts who are also working parents; the seminar tackles the challenges many parents face when re-entering the workplace.

Parents receive:
Free Return To Work Toolkit and Job Matching Survey
Essential practical return to work tips
Helpful job hunting tips including resume and interview guidance.

To find out more or enrol go to www.mumsatwork.com.au

A flexible future at last?

2009-10-04T19:57:00.000-07:00

Going back to work after parental leave is just about to get easier. If you're about to negotiate your return to work with your employer there are some industrial relations changes under the new Fair Work Australia Act that advocate your right to request a flexible work option, effective Jan 1, 2010. Under the new Act parents with children under the age of 6 are able to formally request a flexible work arrangement which can include options such as part time reduced hours or job share or even the opportunity to extend their parental leave up to 24 months.

Not sure what you're entitled to or how to negotiate with you're employer? Here's some tips;
1. Ask for a copy of your employers parental leave or flexible work policy to check what your entitlements are. Find out if you're covered by an Award or call www.mumsatwork.com.au free job guidance hotline 02 9967 8377.

2. Prepare for your conversation with your manager in advance, consider two or three flexible work options you can offer your employer and be prepared to answer detail questions of how the arrangement could work for everyone including your team.

3. Plan the conversation in advance giving your manager some detail about what you'd like to discuss so there's an agenda for the meeting. Preferably have the meeting in person.

4. Agree on the key areas you think you can make the arrangement you are proposing work and be prepared to make compromises in things you can't absolutely agree on.

5. Agree to a trial basis of 3-6 months to see how the flexible work options works for both on you and reality and agree to meet regularly to review it and make any adjustments.

What more info on this topic, you'll find it on www.mumsatwork.com.au