Working mom boom on the horizon as American businesses re-focus hiring practices

U.S. businesses intend to hire more part-time working mothers than their international counterparts.

Hiring part-time mothers helps businesses leverage the best talent as economic recovery continues.

A recent global study of over 11,000 corporations across 15 countries commissioned by Regus (www.regus.com), the global provider of innovative workspace solutions, found that 44 percent of companies worldwide plan to hire more mothers for part-time jobs over the next two years. The study found that among U.S. firms, 46 percent reported plans to recruit more mothers into their workplaces over the next two years.

U.S. Survey Results At-A-Glance

• 46 percent of U.S. businesses reported they will recruit more part-time working mothers.
• 47 percent of larger companies (more than 1,000 employees) expect to recruit more part-time mothers in their workplaces.
• 39 percent of smaller firms expect to see more part-time workers, less than any other size bracket.
• Media and Marketing businesses have the greatest level of hiring expectations at 51 percent.
• Manufacturing and Production businesses have the lowest level of hiring expectations at 41 percent.

The findings indicate that the American work culture overall is eager to support the balance between work and family responsibilities.

“As businesses worldwide take tentative steps toward recovery, we are starting to see the emergence of shifting workplace strategies,” said Guillermo Rotman, chief executive officer of the Regus Group Americas. “Businesses have learned that adhering to a rigid 9-to-5, 5-days-a-week mentality with no room for flexibility can mean sacrificing talented workers – and in a time when companies are focusing on cutting costs and maximizing profitability, firms can’t afford to operate without the best and brightest talent available.”

While America’s hiring practices registered positively on the global scale, the nation still faces numerous challenges in making the workplace suitably flexible for working mothers. The Society for Human Resource Management found that only 35 percent of American companies offer health insurance for part-time employees, just 16 percent of businesses offer job-sharing, and only 11 percent offer stress reduction programs.

“While we have seen that companies intend to take on more mothers as part of their strategy to combat the financial downturn, there is much work to be done in making the transition from maternity leave back to the workforce as smooth as possible,” said Rotman. “Allowing mothers to take advantage of workplace flexibility demonstrates an understanding of the challenges that they face and paves the way for them to be more productive and less stressed at work.”

According to Rotman, one of the most significant factors in improving employees’ work-life balance is offering the flexibility to work remotely, either in whole or in part. Flexible workplace solutions are now available that allow corporations to offer those mothers returning to the workforce the ability to work full or part-time from home, along with a whole host of other workplace possibilities. By taking advantage of such measures, businesses worldwide will be better positioned to attract and retain the most talented personnel to their working environments.

U.S. Survey Results

The overview of American companies’ hiring intentions varied from sector to sector in Regus’ survey. The Media & Marketing industry has the greatest level of hiring expectations (51%), versus only 41 percent of the Manufacturing & Production field. The latter figure reflects the sector’s historically male-dominated make-up.

On the global level, company size seems to have little impact on a firm’s intentions to take on more returning mothers in 2010 and 2011. In firms consisting of 1,000 employees or more, 47 percent expect to bring on more part-time mothers in their workplaces, whereas 44 percent of firms with 1-250 employees figure to hire more part-time mothers. Mid-size firms (250-999 employees) expect to see the fewest amount of returning part-time mothers than any other size bracket at 39 percent.

American businesses expecting to hire more returning mothers over the next two years by sector
All Sectors Average 47%
Media & Marketing 51%
Healthcare & Medicine 50%
Consultancy & Services 49%
Banking, Finance, & Insurance 46%
Retail 46%
ICT 44%
Manufacturing & Production 41%

Global Viewpoint
Businesses expecting to hire more returning mothers over the next two years

Global Average 44%
India 64%
Australia 55%
Mexico 54%
S Africa 51%
China 50%
Germany 48%
USA 46%
Canada 41%
Spain 38%
UK 38%
France 33%
Belux (Fr) 28%
ND 24%

Methodology

The Regus Business Tracker surveyed over 11,000 business respondents from 13 countries from the Regus global contacts database during August and September 2009. The Regus global contacts database of over 1 million business-people worldwide is highly representative of senior managers and owners in service businesses across the globe. In this research project, respondents were asked about their hiring intentions with regards to new mothers returning to part-time work over the next two years. The survey was managed and administered by the independent organisation, MarketingUK.

Source: Regus