The UK is in financial meltdown. As well as a spiralling cost of living crisis, Britain is expected to be the only major industrialised country to see its economy shrink this year. We are also experiencing a chronic shortage of workers, and 81% of UK businesses are struggling to recruit. Yet there is more than £700 billion in economic output being lost because of inequitable political choices. This Mother’s Day, diversity and inclusion consultancy Watch This Sp_ce are calling on the Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, to level the playing field for mothers so they can reclaim their careers and potentially rescue their country’s finances.
2.4 million women in the UK want to work, but aren’t able to because of exorbitant, and steadily rising, childcare costs. Enabling these women to go back into employment would generate approximately £32 billion for the economy. Then there are the 1.7 million women who would like to work more hours, but aren’t able to, again because of childcare costs. They would contribute a further £23 billion if the system allowed them to pursue their careers in the way they want to.
Watch This Sp_ce Co Creator, Allegra Chapman, said: “These are deliberate political choices. Research shows that every $1 invested in childcare generates up to $2.80 for the economy. If Jeremy Hunt is serious about addressing the UK’s cost of living crisis and worker shortage, Mother’s Day is the ideal time and place to start. But politicians are choosing not to treat childcare as the necessary infrastructure we know it is because of moral judgements about what they feel a mother should be. It’s discriminatory, and doesn’t make financial sense. We need decisions driven by economics not personal ideals.”
It isn’t just women in employment facing financial conundrums. Female-led start-ups receive just 2.3% of venture capital funding, and are likely to get less support in all areas, even though they deliver 28% higher returns. Of the women who do return to work after maternity leave, 1 in 10 do so in a self-employed capacity, largely because this offers them the flexibility to manage the demands of childcare and family life. If the UK government were to provide the support necessary to boost female entrepreneurship, this could be worth a further £60 billion for the UK economy.
If you’ve been counting, you’ll know that we’re now up to £115 billion that mothers would have provided for our economy if the government enabled them to do so. However, the biggest issue is the lack of equality between men and women in the British workforce. Women currently have 71% of the economy opportunity men have, and the gender pay gap has risen to 15.4%. If these gaps were closed, there could be an additional £600 billion contributed to the economy. That’s enough to clear a third of our national debt.
By the way, when mothers work more, it seems children actually do better. Children of working mothers tend to be high achievers at school, and they have less depression and anxiety – generating future economic output and saving the state money in healthcare costs.
Watch This Sp_ce Co-Creator Mo Kanjilal said: “If the government won’t invest in an equitable system, businesses will need to take matters into their own hands. Organisations can do so much to support mothers to work, from creating truly flexible working practices, to providing adequately paid leave for all parents and even providing on-site childcare. The companies that choose to address these issues will reap the rewards in increased productivity, the retention of skilled and experienced staff, and a more diverse workforce – workplaces that embrace diversity and inclusion are 33% more profitable than their competitors.”
43% of mothers have considered leaving their jobs because of childcare costs, putting us in a more precarious position when it comes to the current exodus from the workforce and creating financial challenges for businesses. It costs an average of £7,947 to recruit and train a new employee, but when you take into account lost productivity while one employee leaves and another gets up to speed, businesses lose more than £10,000 every time an employee quits.
It doesn’t just make financial sense for the Chancellor to invest in mothers, then; employers across the UK would do well to mark this Mother’s Day by looking at how they can create more family-friendly policies to attract and retain more female staff with children. Not only will they stand to save thousands on recruitment costs, increase their productivity and engagement, improve their results and increase their profitability, they might just succeed where the Chancellor has so far failed to save the UK economy.
