By Denise Heavey
FOR many women in Jersey, the phrase “returning to work” after maternity leave is misleading. It suggests a simple resumption of duties, a seamless step back into familiar routines. The transition after having a child is anything but simple. It takes place alongside physical recovery, disrupted sleep, childcare arrangements and a profound shift in identity and priorities. It is not a return so much as a reconfiguration of work and life.
Yet many workplaces continue to behave as though nothing fundamental has changed. Expectations around availability, productivity and career momentum often remain anchored in outdated assumptions about linear, uninterrupted periods of employment. This disconnect does not just affect individual women; it has structural implications for Jersey’s workforce participation, gender equality and long-term economic resilience.
These issues were explored in a recent webinar hosted by Mentorhood in collaboration with Jersey Finance, led by Jane van Zyl, chief executive of Working Families UK. Drawing on research including a report called The Future of Working Motherhood 2026, the discussion highlighted how poorly designed maternity transitions undermine diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), gender pay equity and workforce sustainability.
Transition, not return
The Future of Working Motherhood 2026 report, based on nearly 500 responses from professional women, reframes post-childbirth attrition as a design problem, not a motivation problem. Women are not leaving because they lack ambition; they are leaving because work has not been designed around a predictable life transition.
The report’s key findings include:
- 97.5% of working mothers say they would stay longer in roles that meaningfully supported them through maternity leave and re-entry.
- 40% leave their job after having a baby when that support is insufficient.
- Most departures occur within the first year back, exposing systemic rather than individual failures.
- Only 22% of organisations have formal re-entry plans.
- 78% of respondents believe motherhood has made them better leaders.
Jersey’s workforce reality
Jersey’s labour market appears strong on paper. Around 81% of working-age residents were employed when the 2021 Census was taken, with low unemployment compared to the UK. However, work-life balance, childcare availability and flexibility remain persistent concerns, particularly for women.
Women are more likely to reduce hours, move into part-time roles or step back from progression following maternity leave. This is rarely a reflection of preference alone; it is often the only workable response to inflexible roles and limited childcare.
The economic consequences are tangible. When experienced women disengage, organisations lose skills, institutional knowledge and leadership potential. At an economy-wide level, this constrains labour supply and weakens talent pipelines, a particular risk for Jersey’s finance, legal and professional services sectors.
Challenging the myth of permanent part-time work
A persistent and damaging assumption is that mothers will permanently step back from full-time work. This belief influences promotion decisions, role design and access to development opportunities, often before a woman has even returned from maternity leave.
Evidence shows that a high proportion of parents do return to full-time roles as children grow older and childcare arrangements stabilise. What many mothers need is temporary flexibility, not a permanent reduction in responsibility or ambition.
When organisations prematurely divert women into lower-progression roles, they create a self-fulfilling prophecy. Career paths narrow during what is often a transitional phase, blocking women who intend and are able to re-engage fully later on.
For Jersey’s small labour market, this matters. Employers who design roles with elasticity, recognising that participation may ebb and flow, are better placed to retain experienced women and protect future leadership pipelines. Flexibility, in this context, is not a concession but a strategic investment.
Gender pay gaps and the motherhood penalty
Gender pay gaps are not abstract statistics; they are built from everyday workplace decisions. In Jersey, with wider disparities in sectors such as financial services and information and communication.
These gaps reflect how work is structured around parenthood. When women are more likely to reduce hours, decline progression opportunities or move into lower-growth roles after maternity leave, the cumulative impact over a career is significant: fewer promotions, lower lifetime earnings and reduced representation at senior levels.
International research consistently identifies a “motherhood penalty”, where women experience reduced employment and earnings following childbirth. Without intentional redesign, this penalty becomes embedded in organisational systems, undermining pay equity despite formal commitments to fairness.
DEI at a turning point
For organisations serious about DEI, maternity transitions are a defining test. Parenthood is not an exception; it is a predictable life event. Treating maternity return as “business as usual” risks undoing progress on inclusion and equality.
The Future of Working Motherhood research shows that flexible work design is often more valuable to mothers than pay increases. Paid leave matters, but it is only part of the solution. Sustainable inclusion requires flexibility in hours, location and workload, supported by cultures that normalise, rather than stigmatise these arrangements.
For Jersey employers, this means moving beyond policy statements to practical action: structured re-entry plans, outcome-based performance measures, and managers trained to lead transitions with empathy and foresight.
Childcare and participation
Childcare availability and cost further compound these challenges. Research consistently shows that Jersey families struggle to access affordable, reliable care. When childcare fails, mothers are most often the ones who adjust their working lives, with long-term consequences for earnings and progression.
Addressing childcare is therefore not only a social issue, but a workforce and economic imperative.
Designing work that works
Evidence points to clear strategies:
- Structured, phased re-entry after maternity leave.
- Outcome-focused roles rather than rigid hours.
- Manager training to support transitions effectively.
- Flexibility and job shares as a default, not an exception.
- Data-driven accountability on retention and progression.
The message from the Mentorhood-Jersey-Finance discussion was clear: retaining talent requires design, not goodwill alone. Designing work around predictable caregiving transitions is not just humane, it is smart economics. The opportunity for Jersey is to lead by building a workforce where careers and caregiving are compatible, sustainable and genuinely equitable for all.
Denise Heavey is a recruitment specialist, mediator in training, and former business leader who champions family wellbeing and mental health. Having led businesses and stepped back to raise her family, she understands both commercial pressures and the hidden strain on carers. She is co-founder of Mentorhood, which aims to empower parents through specialist-led workshops and help businesses build family-friendly policies.
