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

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in the next 2 years, amid concerns they are not as flexible or committed to their work, and that their skills will be out of date on their return to work.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.

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