Press Release
Study reveals concerns over career impact of parental leave and flexible working for women in professional services
24 Sep 2024
New research from leading financial and business adviser Grant Thornton UK LLP shows that many women working in professional services feel taking parental leave and working flexibly has had a negative impact on career progression. The report also outlines recommendations for employers looking to embed flexibility and support the progression of women in their organisations.
The Mid-Career Momentum research, which is based on findings from an anonymous poll*, explores the experiences of 600 women who have been working in the professional services sector for between 10-20 years. It found that over half (54%) of those who had taken parental leave and a third (31%) of those with a flexible working arrangement believe it has had a negative impact on their career progression. Those at senior manager level were the most likely to feel this way, with 40% of women in senior manager roles saying flexible working blocked their progression (+5pp higher than average) and 72% saying family leave had a negative impact (+18pp higher than average).
Flexible working and career breaks are high agenda issues for professional women, especially those in the middle of their working years. Of the 600 mid-career women working in professional services surveyed, 40% had a flexible working pattern (meaning any variation on full time – e.g. flexible or compressed hours, hybrid working, part-time or job shares) and only 23% had never taken a career break of any kind. The majority of those who had taken leave had done so for caring responsibilities – only 4% had taken time off for a sabbatical.
Whilst most respondents (72%) felt that their employer’s policies on flexible working were clear, nearly a quarter of respondents (24%) did not feel that different working patterns were promoted and encouraged. 66% of respondents said that they want to progress to more senior positions, but many (25%) felt that there was no opportunity to progress with their current employer.
Employers’ policies on progression lacked clarity in comparison to other workplace policies, with respondents saying guidelines relating to promotion are not clear (37%) or effective (35%), and the policies relating to fair allocation of work opportunities are not clear (32%) or effective (31%).
Women were most unclear about the effectiveness of their employers’ policies relating to menopause and to job shares. In fact, only two of the 600 respondents to the survey had a job share arrangement in place.
Jenn Barnett, Head of Equity, Inclusion and Diversity at Grant Thornton UK LLP, says that professional services firms must work closely together to remove barriers and create better opportunities for experienced women to progress into senior roles:
“We know that in our firm, and in the wider industry, the representation of women starts to decline from senior manager upwards. This research shows that taking career breaks for parental leave, or working flexibly to balance work and personal life, are still experienced by professional women as damaging to their overall progression. This is something that needs to change, so that we can retain and progress more talented women into Director and Partner roles, a step that typically occurs around mid-career. It’s impossible to enable equity in the workplace, if businesses are not trying to create equity in the home; in terms of care giving benefits, time off and encouraging shared responsibility.
“At Grant Thornton, we are constantly working to improve equity and opportunity for all our people. To support this, we have created a culture whereby everyone is trusted to work when, how and where they choose, to meet individual, team and client needs.
“Formal flexible working is available to all employees from day one, including reduced, compressed or annualised hours including term-time only working, job sharing, and formal home-working. Last year we also extended our paid paternity leave from two weeks to six weeks, building on our commitment to create an inclusive, supportive culture that encourages all new parents to take leave and play an active role in family life.”
Jane Van Zyl is CEO of Working Families, the UK's national charity for working parents and carers. She says:
“The findings of this research reflect the most systemic of barriers that women face in career progression - that we still live in a patriarchy, where men predominantly hold the most senior positions. Those in positions of influence tend to promote and support those who work in the same way as them and whilst no one gets to the top of an organisation without working incredibly hard and making sacrifices, if those at the top have never worked flexibly, never taken time off and expect others to do the same, it is unlikely that different ways of working hard will be recognised and rewarded. For this to change, established views and systems need to be unpicked so that there is more diversity in the most senior positions - and this will take time.”
Ends
*Research conducted by Censuswide on behalf of Grant Thornton UK LLP in 2024
