How might the new Labour Government impact female retention?

Our research report Why Women Leave indicates that some of the key factors influencing whether women will stay with their current employer are flexibility (from both a time and location perspective), childcare, the availability and/or extent of special leave, and the amount of work.

With this in mind, how might the new UK Labour Government’s plans (assuming these are implemented and enforced) impact the future of female retention in the workplace?

Flexibility

Labour’s manifesto highlighted an intention to making flexible working the default from day one for all workers except where this is “not reasonably feasible,” although at the time of writing the definition of “not reasonably feasible” had yet to be released. If this was to mean that employers would have to permit a worker’s request for flexible working (except where it is not reasonably feasible to do so), this represents a significant change and potentially make work/life balance for many working women easier. According to the Fawcett Society, only a third of working mothers have access to the flexible working arrangements they need. There are currently eight statutory grounds available to employers for turning down a request.

Childcare

With one in ten working mothers leaving their jobs, two fifths turning down a promotion due to childcare pressures and 85% struggling to find a job that accommodates their childcare needs, any changes to support working women in this area could have a significant impact.

Labour has promised over “three thousand new nursery classes across England to open up access to childcare hours for families… to deliver enhanced entitlements saving thousands of pounds a year to working families… and support three quarters of a million more parents re-enter the labour market… and to provide free breakfast clubs in every primary school in Britain.” Again the details of these, their timescales and whether or not they can be funded and delivered remain to be seen.

Special Leave

The government has promised a review of the ‘parental leave system’ within the first twelve months, which is assumed to cover maternity, paternity and shared parental leave.

Under planned new legislation, it will be unlawful for employers to dismiss new mothers (with certain exceptions, which as of writing have not yet been disclosed) before six months after returning from maternity leave. This may reduce a lot of stress and anxiety around Maternity Leave and job security, prompting many expectant new mothers to just quit.

There are also plans to introduce for all workers, the right to bereavement leave for people experiencing the ‘loss of a loved one.’ One might assume or hope this includes miscarriage which causes physical and emotional trauma to more than 150,000 working women in the UK each year.  

Given that almost half a million women in the UK are classed as “sandwich carers” (caring for both children and elderly relatives shouldering 40% more of this burden than male counterparts, Labour’s plan to review the new right to carer’s leave could be viewed as welcome. There is also a consideration of whether to introduce paid leave. Currently the right is only to unpaid leave.

Amount of work

Labour has announced its intention to introduce “The Right to Switch Off.” Following models introduced in Ireland and Belgium, employers will be encouraged to have conversations with employees to agree contract terms or bespoke workplace policies which protect “downtime” and give employees the opportunity to switch off from work. European models have been introduced as codes of best practice and as yet there are no details of how this could be made into legislation or enforced in the UK. Of course a right to switch off at the end of a working day has little bearing on how much work someone is tasked with achieving or given responsibility for as part of their role. That will be more impacted by effective management practices and staffing levels.

Other factors that might impact female retention and progression

These are other manifesto promises made by Labour with the intention of supporting women in the workplace, although our research suggests that these are less important factors (to women) than the ones listed above.

Make Work Pay

The Labour manifesto declared they will ‘Make Work Pay’ by bringing in a raft of changes designed to encourage people back into the workforce and/or keep them there. These include some of the policies listed above and additionally: ensuring the National Minimum Wage reflects the cost of living and is something that workers could actually live on. Of course what constitutes “enough” will vary wildly from individual to individual. Banning “exploitative zero hours contracts and ensuring everyone has the right to have a contract that reflects the number of hours they regularly work, based on a 12-week reference period,” would impact a proportion of working women.

Menopause Action Plans

According to the CIPD, around one in six people (17%) have considered leaving work due to a lack of support in relation to their menopause symptoms, and a further 6% have left work.

Labour’s proposed Menopause Action Plans would require employers with more than 250 employees to implement Menopause Action Plans designed to “provide necessary support for menopausal women to continue their careers comfortably”. 

Closing the Gender Pay Gap

It is currently estimated to take 45 years to close the gender pay gap. Labour plans to move the dial by mandating large firms to publish action plans on closing their gender pay gaps, gender pay gap reporting rules to be extend to outsourced workers to avoid manipulation of figures, implementation of the socioeconomic duty in the Equality Act 2010 for public authorities and preservation of EU law principles on equal pay. Labour also plans to introduce disability and ethnicity gender pay gap reporting covering the intersectionality of the issue.

From theory to practice

As with every new government, what is promised and what gets delivered are two very different things and with every government seemingly facing an increasingly large budget deficit, one area’s financial gain may be another area’s loss. Given the interconnectedness of our financial, political and social fabric, it remains to be seen whether Labour’s promised support for female retention and career progression amounts to more than just good intentions. No doubt, as more details are released, time will tell.

It is also worth saying that organisations do not have to wait for legislation to be enforced to choose policies and practices that benefit their retention and progression of female talent. If your organisation would like support or advice in this regard, please get in touch.