Working Mothers Are Now Target Employees For the Large Corporates As Well As The Typical Christmas Retail Positions

Posted on November 17, 2009
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Large corporate companies such as KPMG and Morgan Stanley are now looking for women who left their careers to have a family and who are now considering re joining the workforce. These potential employees are considered ideal as their skills and knowledge are valued and flexible working becomes easier to provide.

Historically women who left their job to have a family had little choice when they decided to return to employment as flexibility of hours to tie in with nursery and school times was very hard to deal with. Often women would work evenings in a retail setting or more recently in some sort of call centre, operating in a customer care environment, as these roles were the main ones with flexibility. Opportunities were also obtainable in the “party selling” type roles with the likes of Avon and Tupperware. Again these were attractive to returning mums as they provided a high degree of flexibility and the capability to Work From Home.

There has always been a call for extra retail cover, especially in the lead up to Christmas and this again has been an area where women returning to work after having children have found opportunities, particularly over the last 20 years as late night shopping and Sunday shopping has become the custom. But even with respectable employers such as the ones named so far the flexible roles on offer until recently have not been career type ones. They have been simply a way of adding further income to the family bank account and have given women with a fairly static role.

With the development of technology and the advent of the Internet Business all this is now shifting. We see the large companies such as Barclays and Morgan Stanley actually making a definite effort to employ mothers back into the workplace and not only that, but the roles on offer are at a much higher level than those seen before.

This type of development is due in part to the advent of broadband, giving very quick download speeds to the majority of the country which in turn has allowed remote working to become an opportunity. The opportunity to work from home or at a satellite office near to home rather than travel into the city is a big benefit for a lot of women with child care to take into account. Local school runs can still be dealt with and the travelling distance to an office is cut out altogether meaning that the daily time spent “at work” is totally constructive and there is more time for family life.

Another facet of the changing business picture that has provided opportunities for mothers to return to work in high flying jobs is the expansion of many internet businesses. These usually operate without a definite physical base and the majority of staff are able to work from home on Online Jobs using all the online technologies available and being developed.

It is therefore evident why the larger organizations are tapping into this rich seam of talent, as it provides them with the opportunity to get hold of individuals with a high skill level who need no more than some refresher training to be fully operational. It will be interesting to see if some of the SME’s start to appreciate this potential too and take advantage when the job vacancy numbers rise following the countries pull away from recession.