Women in Bristol who work part-time need career progression boost

Businesses would benefit from exploring new ways to support parents across Bristol who work part-time in order to encourage career progression, a leadership coach has said.

Females account for almost three-quarters of the UK’s part-time workforce, with many missing out on career opportunities and being overlooked for promotion based on the hours they work.

Now Kirstene Hair, director of Empower Coaching – which helps firms improve the development of females in senior roles – has set out some options businesses in the city could introduce.

She said changes would not only benefit women and their families, but also boost the productivity and diversity of businesses themselves.

Those include flexibility around compressed hours, prioritising professional development, and for job-sharing to become normalised in senior roles.

Evolving the culture towards equal parenting in the workplace is also key. Firms who put more emphasis on shared parental responsibilities, enabling fathers to be more involved in the early stages of their child’s life beyond two weeks of paternity leave, reap the benefits.

And there are recommendations for government too, including reducing the cost of pre-school childcare and increasing the availability of initiatives such as breakfast clubs.

Hair, a former Member of Parliament, works with businesses and female founders across the UK to support women into leadership positions.

But she said a number of challenges are routinely put in front of women, especially those working part-time.

That includes being handed urgent work at the end of the last day of a working week, repeatedly feeling like they have to catch up on days off, performance review targets not being adequately adjusted for the reduced working week, professional development is often de-prioritised, or they do not have the time to attend conferences and networking events, critical to career progression.

Kirstene Hair, director of Empower Coaching, said: “We know that far more women in Bristol work part-time hours than men because of our culture where there is still an unequal balance of household and caring responsibilities and, with insufficient affordable childcare options, full-time work may not be an option.

“But working part-time should not be a barrier to career progression, either in terms of development or being appointed to leadership roles.

“I hear from so many talented women, especially those returning to work after having children, about the challenges they face, and it’s clear that structures and policies that reinforce gender inequality still exist.

“It’s still possible for them to succeed professionally, but the odds are often stacked against them.

“For women who choose part-time work, these working patterns are less likely to lead to the personal development and promotional opportunities that their full-time counterparts enjoy.

“My clients are more often than not on full-time contracts, while the part-time talent pool can be overlooked as they are assumed to be ‘less ambitious’ yet this stigma writes off many future female leaders. This feels like a missed opportunity for businesses and government must do more too.

“In a jobs market where culture is king, a working environment that supports working parents should be a priority for any business with government working alongside to assist with the levers they hold, enabling the UK to take great strides towards gender equality in the workplace.

“For women, having a career and having a family shouldn’t be mutually exclusive and these changes would have limitless benefits for the economy in the UK too.”