Working parents face a whole host of challenges when it comes to managing their careers around busy family life.
With the need to attract and retain talent greater than ever, could firms showing greater empathy for staff with family care responsibilities gain an edge?
Leading law firm for business, Muckle LLP certainly think so. Initiatives such as Return… the Muckle Way, a structured training programme to help anyone (not just women) looking to return to work after a break of 12 months and its flexible and agile working offering has seen it attract some of the best regional talent in the last few years.
It is widely accepted that women shoulder a lot of responsibility in raising their families, which negatively impacts their careers.
That Works For Me’s Work After Babies report found that although 98 per cent of mothers want to work, 85 per cent leave the full-time workforce within three years of having children, while 19 per cent stop working altogether.
In this article, Muckle highlights the juxtaposing stories of two women at different stages of their legal careers at Muckle LLP.
Ailsa’s story: re-entering the workforce
Ailsa Charlton, solicitor in Muckle’s dispute resolution team, has first-hand experience of the challenges that returning to work can bring after becoming a first-time parent in 2021 and returning to Muckle after her maternity leave in 2022.
“The transition between motherhood and returning to work can be a rollercoaster journey. Although I love my job, my priorities since becoming a mother have obviously shifted, and there’s a lot of juggling between my work and personal life.
“Another challenge has been re-discovering my confidence after returning to work after such a substantial break.”
Ailsa credits the working culture at Muckle for helping her adjust to her new life as a working parent.
She says: “Muckle values everyone’s parental responsibilities and has supported me from day one, from getting in touch immediately when having my baby to utilising keeping in touch days to help ease me back into work.
“Muckle has recently introduced two initiatives to help parental returners to work, a support group and a mentoring scheme, both of which I am proud to be part of.
“It is so important for new parents to have a support network where everyone can share their feelings and experiences. Whatever your issue, there is always someone to talk to who understands how you’re feeling. You are never alone!”
Susan’s story: balancing motherhood and a career
It is sometimes helpful to remind ourselves about how far we’ve come. For Susan Howe, equity partner and head of Muckle’s dispute resolution team, having the flexibility to balance motherhood and a career is a very different concept from the one she experienced.
She says: “What was the norm on many issues back in the 1980s/1990s would be unheard of today. Even talking about parental responsibilities in the workplace was entirely unacceptable and there was very little flexibility for women who had children.
“Most women simply accepted that if they chose to become mothers, they could forget about any career progression for years, possibly forever. Sadly, I have seen so many excellent women fall by the wayside because of the difficulties in balancing the requirements of motherhood and a career. What a waste of talent!”
On a more positive note, Susan is pleased that the working landscape is changing for the better. She says: “The change is extraordinary, and it’s all for good. Life is very different now for working mothers, which is exactly as it should be.
“I am very proud of the equality and diversity culture that we work hard to have here at Muckle. It’s a real joy to see so many focussed, articulate, intelligent women around me contributing to this business at every level.”
Working parents at Muckle
Hear from some of our working parents, who give a candid overview of parenthood’s highs and lows, and the supportive culture at Muckle that has helped (and continues to help) them along the way.
