The hidden cost of losing women after maternity leave - the real business case
When a woman leaves after maternity leave, it can cost a UK business anywhere from £30,000 to twice her salary to replace her, and most of those losses can be prevented with the right return to work support.
When I went back to work after both of my children, I was still me. Still experienced. Still capable. Still ambitious. What had changed was my capacity and headspace, and honestly, I really needed the people around me to understand that!
I think about that a lot when I look at the numbers. This fact is crazy - up to 74,000 women a year in the UK lose their job for getting pregnant or taking maternity leave. That's roughly one woman every 7 minutes. And it's going up. In 2016 the figure was 54,000. (how are we in 2026 still letting this happen?!)
We talk a lot about what this means for the women, and we absolutely should. I also want to look at what it means for the business, because every one of those women leaves a gap behind her.
How much does it cost when a woman leaves after maternity leave?
The Equality and Human Rights Commission worked out that pushing new mums out of work costs UK businesses around £280 million a year. That's recruiting and training someone new, redundancy pay, and all the productivity that gets lost along the way.
For one person, replacing someone earning £25k or more costs over £30,000 on average. Most of that is the time it takes someone new to find their feet, which is around 28 weeks.
For a manager, it's a lot more. Gallup found that replacing a leader or manager costs around 200% of their salary. So if a manager on £50k comes back from maternity leave and hands her notice in six months later, that could be around £100k.
And then there's everything you can't put a price on. The relationships she's built. The clients who trust her. The way she just knows how things work.
Gallup also found that 42% of people who leave say their manager or organisation could have done something to keep them. I find that one really hard to read, because so much of this could have been avoided.
Where we lose women: middle management
I've been reading the latest FTSE Women Leaders Review, and there's real progress at the top. Women now make up 43% of FTSE 350 boards, which I love to see - I mean its amazing right!!
Then you look a level down, women make up 36% of executive committees and the people reporting into them. Only 8% of FTSE 350 CEOs are women.
So women are dropping away in the layers below the board, in the years when lots of us are having children. McKinsey found that for every 100 men promoted to manager, only 81 women are. These are the women who could be running your business in five or ten years.
McKinsey also found that companies with the most gender diverse leadership teams are 39% more likely to outperform financially. So when we lose women around maternity leave, we lose future leaders, and we lose the results they would have brought with them.
It absolutly bafels me that we are still having these conversations!! Women are amazing and the facts and figures show are a HUGE benefit to having in organisations, we need to do more to keep them!!
What the best employers are already doing
Some of the biggest companies in the world have already done these sums, and they put real money and thought into the return to work.
Google increased paid maternity leave from 12 to 18 weeks, and the number of new mums leaving the company halved.
Salesforce eases people back in with a four day week for the first four weeks, and gives everyone free coaching.
Apple gives new parents a four week grace period when they come back. They get full pay, work part time hours and plan their week with their manager.
EY in the UK brought in maternity coaching, and retention of women coming back from leave went up to 95%. Before that, up to 20% of them left within two years.
Closer to home, Bright Horizons found that coaching usually increases the number of people coming back from parental leave by 12 to 14%. For a business with 40 people on leave, that's 5 or 6 more people staying, and well over £150k saved on recruitment every year (say what?!).
None of this is complicated, and that's what I love about it. It's about planning the return as carefully as the leave, and making sure both the woman and her manager feel supported.
How can employers keep women after maternity leave?
You really don't need a Silicon Valley budget to make a difference here.
Plan the return as carefully as the leave. Have a proper conversation about what the first few weeks back will look like, and think about whether a phased return could work.
Support the manager. Most managers really want to get this right, they just haven't been shown how. A bit of guidance on what to say and what to look out for makes such a difference.
Offer coaching around the return. It gives women the time and space to rebuild their confidence, set boundaries and settle back in, and they're far more likely to stay.
Keep an eye on the numbers. How many women come back, and how many are still with you a year or two later?
Women coming back from maternity leave are some of the most capable, experienced people in your business. Their capacity has changed. With the right support at the right time, they stay, they grow, and they become the leaders you've been hoping for.
If this is something you're thinking about, I'd love to have a chat.
Sources
FAQ's:
Why do women leave work after maternity leave?
Often it’s a mix of a return that wasn’t planned, a manager who doesn’t know how to support them, and a loss of confidence. Up to 74,000 women a year in the UK lose their job for getting pregnant or taking maternity leave.
What is maternity coaching?
Maternity coaching supports women before, during and after maternity leave. It helps them rebuild confidence, set boundaries and settle back into work, and it helps their manager support them well.
Does parental transition coaching improve retention?
Yes. When EY brought in maternity coaching, retention of women coming back from leave rose to 95%. Bright Horizons found coaching typically raises return rates by 12 to 14 percentage points.
What is a phased return to work after maternity leave?
A phased return means coming back on reduced hours or days for the first few weeks. Salesforce, for example, offers a four day week for the first four weeks back.
