Working mothers are struggling to find a balance between their careers and family, a choice that is leading many to leave their jobs entirely.
In an effort to keep women at work, more companies are now offering flexible work hours and access to
Big four accounting firm PwC is trying a new approach: giving working mothers the liberty to leave while maintaining their job security. The firm’s sabbatical program gives employees a six-month leave of absence at 20% their regular pay without losing full access to their benefits.
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“There was a lot of variation to what our people were telling us about their circumstances,” says DeAnne Aussem, leadership development and well-being leader at PwC. “So we said ‘How can we make space for people to do what they need to do without having to worry about retaining their benefits?’”
The sabbatical program has been in place since 2020. The program was established to support families and caregivers who needed time to balance their home life without having to leave the workforce.. The program also provides this population with a number of digital upskilling programs to ease the transition back into full-time work. This has become even more critical during the pandemic.
“Working parents are now full-time homeschool teachers and caregivers for elderly family members,” Aussem says. “Given the current environment we’ve been operating for the last year we knew we needed to expand on some of our existing offerings and evolve them.”
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Companies should be fostering an environment that encourages employees to ask for what they need, Aussem says. Flexibility is a top priority for both PwC and their workforce.
“We’ve had flexibility as a mindset for a very long time,” Aussem says. “The sabbatical was just a manifestation of that flexibility our people were already asking for.”
The chance to step away without the fear of financial instability is more than just a retention strategy for their female employee base, according to Aussem. It’s an investment in their well-being.
“My biggest concern is losing amazing female talent from the workplace altogether for a period of time that could have a ripple effect into the future,” she says. “I don’t want to lose the leadership capabilities that so many strong leaders possess that are hugely beneficial to others around them simply because we couldn’t make work, work for them.”
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Among PwC’s menu of benefits are year-round flexibility, mental health support and emergency child care reimbursement. As circumstances continue to change, however, so will their offerings, according to Aussem.
“It’s not one size fits all,” she says. “It’s important to emphasize listening to the needs of your people. You can think you’re designing a great solution but if at the end of the day someone looks and says ‘That’s not going to work for me’ what have you really accomplished?”
