According to Indian respondents to a Regus survey interviewing over 26,000 business people, by introducing greater flexibility, near-site crèche facilities, increased use of video-conferencing technology, more vacation and job sharing, more and more women will join work earlier post pregnancy.
Given that authorities agree that higher participation of women in the workforce is vital to sustaining and driving growth, the tide of professional women still finding that the burden of child care forces them out of employment after maternity needs urgently to be stemmed.
Not only are returning mothers key to economic development, but at a business-by-business level, respondents reported that hiring returning mothers helps improve productivity, possibly by lowering training and hiring costs.
This result confirms previous Regus research revealing that 56 per cent of businesses globally value part-time returning mothers because they offer skills and experience which are difficult to find in the current market and 72 per cent believe that companies that ignore part-time returning mothers are missing out on a significant and valuable part of the employment pool.
Interestingly, more vacation days were significantly less popular than flexibility, highlighting that radical changes to work habits are required rather than additional days of rest. Many companies are following this survey and want to improve condition of their women workers.