Dive Brief:
- Having a flexible schedule is the most important workplace policy when it comes to determining whether mothers will continue to be employed full-time following the birth or adoption of a child, according to a study led by Sacred Heart University management professor Jeanine Andreassi and published in the peer-reviewed journal Administrative Sciences.
- However, working mothers who both needed and used flexible working policies “were significantly more likely to remain employed full-time,” per the report. That means organizations need to create workplace cultures where employees feel supported enough to use the benefits they’re given, per the findings.
- The research questions the belief that what working mothers want most is remote work. In fact, the study found that location flexibility “ranked near the bottom of retention predictors,” accounting for less than 6%” of the variance in mothers’ decisions to remain in their roles. Meanwhile, schedule flexibility accounted for nearly 30%.
Dive Insight:
The study surveyed 213 working mothers in the U.S. who either stayed in or left their full-time jobs after becoming parents, and the results may help employers develop more data-driven policies when it comes to recruiting and retaining workers, notably working mothers.
“Our findings suggest that giving working mothers greater control over when they work may be even more important than giving them flexibility over where they work,” Andreassi said.
The support of senior leadership is critical to making any flexible work policy function, the study said, noting that employees who felt supported by management were more likely to use their flexibility benefits, thereby increasing retention.
“Simply offering flexibility policies isn’t enough,” Andreassi said. “When senior leaders visibly model and support work-life balance, working mothers are more likely to use the flexibility they need, and more likely to stay.”
Andreassi added that employers need to think beyond policies and endeavor to create a workplace culture that encourages employees to use flexibility benefits without worrying about negative career consequences.
“Organizations have invested heavily in workplace flexibility over the past several years, but our research suggests that when flexibility is offered can matter more than where flexibility is offered,” Andreassi said. “Employers who want to retain talented working mothers should prioritize giving people greater control over their schedules and ensure leaders actively support employees in using those benefits.”
The demands of parenthood may be only part of the issue, according to a 2025 report from Motherly and the University of Phoenix Career Institute. That study found that half of mothers in what’s known as the “sandwich generation,” meaning people who have both children and adult dependents, said they’ve had to leave a job because of their caregiving responsibilities. Another two-thirds of women with dual caregiving obligations said their employers didn’t offer sufficient benefits to help them with adult caregiving responsibilities, and 68% said that about child care.
Meanwhile, an August report from resume consulting firm Zety found that 22% of Generation X workers said they spent more than 16 hours per week on caregiving duties, with 37% of respondents identifying as members of the sandwich generation. Another 44% of Gen X caregivers said it was challenging to stay focused and productive at work as a result.
