Mums Returning to Work at Variohm

Earlier in October, the Northampton Chronicle and Echo released an article titled "Most Northampton Firms not planning to increase numbers of returning mums".

As we currently have two mums-to-be working at Variohm, one new mum on maternity leave and mum recently returned to work we have found this a topical story in the office.

The article discussed the fact that only 13 percent of businesses in Northampton are planning on hiring more returning mothers than they did last year despite the fact that 77 percent of businesses claimed to value the experience and skills of returning mothers.

These skills include reliability and excellent time management and that returning mothers are less likely to change job which will save organisations cost of recruitment and training new staff.

Expectant Mums at Variohm

Emma and Alison are both expecting babies and are both planning on coming back to work after their maternity leave. As this is a first child for both of them, they are both opting to come back to work part time.

Here at Variohm, we offer flexible working but the system needs to work both ways, agreed hours must work from a business point of view as well as a personal point of view. We have been negotiating with Emma and Alison to ensure that we have office cover for processing tasks.

Alison says “It never occurred to me not to come back to work; we need two incomes to support ourselves – and soon our family. Variohm have been flexible with my request for cutting down my hours after having the baby. They have supported me throughout my time with them so far with training and qualifications to improve my job role and there are already plans in place for the support and training to continue.”

Emma says “When I got pregnant I was very worried about how and when I would be able to return to work following having a baby. My concerns increased when I found out that my colleague Alison in the same department was also pregnant and due 5 weeks after me. However, after many conversations with Cathy and Alison we came to an arrangement that suited all of us and meant that I could return to work on a flexible working request.

There was no way I could consider not returning to work.”

New Mums returning to work

This time last year Gillian left us for six months to have her baby. She returned to work in May 2015 and has been working part time since then. She has slotted straight back into the office environment.

Gillian says; “I returned back to work after being off on maternity leave for 6 months. Not going back to work was not an option for me for financial reasons. Variohm was very accommodating with my request for flexible working hours and I was able to change my hours from full time to 4h a day. Now I can support my family financially and still spend enough time with my son. I really appreciate Variohm’s flexibility and am very grateful.”

We also have a member of our accounts department on maternity leave; we’re expecting her back in the New Year. We have been using this opportunity to give our apprentices more office experience and her maternity leave has been covered by Nathan and Jordan from engineering.

Cathy Donoghue, our Operations manager says “As a business we can’t afford to lose our experienced staff and the skills they possess.  Flexible working doesn’t mean that returning mums can select their own hours; it means that as a business we engage with them to find a work pattern which works for them and us.  Retaining our staff makes sense, it’s costly in terms of time and money to replace team members and it affects our ability to provide a great service to our customers.”

As a company we value all of our staff members. We find it positive when our mums return to work as we save money on training and recruitment - plus it’s lovely to keep the familiar faces in our Variohm family.

You can see the article from the Northampton Chronical and Echo here http://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/news/local/most-northampton-firms-not-planning-to-increase-numbers-of-returning-mums-1-7014354#comments-area