Society, including mothers, colleagues, and supervisors at the workplace, often considers maternity leave as a natural, but problematic period regarding career. Especially in Hungary, where women generally take a 2-year break as stay-at-home moms, which can be a total of 8-10 years with 3 or more children. These women face several difficulties after they have decided to return to work: being considered less competent in the professional world, less commitment to the organisation, handling reintegration and logistic problems, managing little children and a household, redefining herself as a working mother etc. They often feel that the break and having children are large disadvantages in the world of work.
But what if being a stay-at-home mom, raising little children during maternity leave, improves a lot of work-related, meaningful skills? What if we focused on the advantages of employing a mother with young children and utilised their special skillset and life experience?
Ágnes Csenge Fehér
I am convinced that if we changed our mindset about maternity leave, considering it as a valuable period of career too, both mothers and employers could benefit a lot. Supporting this idea, I have planned research among Hungarian working mothers with little children. I aimed to:
- 1) Show what skillset characteristics of returning working mothers
- 2) What is the level of their psychological and social capital
- 3) And what they did during maternity leave to be prepared for work
For this purpose, I chose a mixed methodology. After a survey, mothers get free access to FLIGBY serious game, which provides a safe and enjoyable space to show their skills.
By being involved in the scenarios, mothers can experience flow, get a few hours of me-time and be able to think about their own strengths. The skill profile made by FLIGBY and questions related to motherhood, work and maternity leave are discussed in an in-depth interview at the end of the research.
One of the main benefits of participating in this research is that mothers can take part in a FLIGBY training and be aware of their strengths, which could support their confidence as well.
Apart from the benefits provided for returning mothers, I proposed to call the attention of companies and policymakers to the several efforts taken by mothers during maternity leave and the advantages of employing these women. I would like to strengthen them to recognize working mothers are valuable workforce.
Authored by:
Ágnes Csenge Fehér, PhD candidate at Corvinus University of Budapest
agnes.feher@stud.uni-corvinus.hu
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