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Large corporate companies such as KPMG and Morgan Stanley are now looking for women who left their careers to have a family and who are now considering re joining the workforce. These potential employees are considered perfect as their skills and knowledge are prized and flexible working becomes easier to provide.

Historically women who left employment to have children had little choice when they decided to return to employment as flexibility of hours to fit in with nursery and school times was very difficult to provide. Often women would work evenings in a retail situation or more recently in some form of call centre, operating in a customer care environment, as these positions were the main ones with flexibility. Opportunities were also available in the “party selling” type roles with the likes of Avon and Tupperware. Again these were attractive to returning mums as they permitted a high degree of flexibility and the ability to Work From Home.

There has always been a requirement for extra retail cover, particularly in the lead up to Christmas and this again has been a place where women returning to work after having a child have found opportunities, especially over the last 20 years as late night shopping and Sunday shopping has become the norm. But even with decent employers such as the ones named so far the flexible positions on offer until recently have not been career type ones. They have been simply a way of adding further income to the family bank account and have offered women with a fairly static role.

With the enhancement of technology and the dawn of the Internet Business all this is now shifting. We see the large organizations such as Barclays and Morgan Stanley actually making a conscious effort to recruit mothers back into the workplace and not only that, but the positions on offer are at a much higher level than those vacant before.

This form of development is due in part to the coming of broadband, providing very quick download speeds to most of the country which in turn has allowed remote working to become an opportunity. The opportunity to work from home or at a satellite office near to home instead of travel into the city is a big advantage for a lot of women with child care to take into account. Local school runs can still be dealt with and the travelling distance to an office is cut out altogether meaning that the daily time spent “at work” is completely constructive and there is more time for family life.

Another feature of the changing business scene that has given opportunities for mothers to return to work in high flying jobs is the expansion of many internet businesses. These usually operate without a definite physical base and the majority of employees are able to work from home on Online Jobs using all the online technologies available and being developed.

It is therefore obvious why the larger organizations are tapping into this rich seam of talent, as it gives them with the opportunity to get hold of individuals with a high skill level who need no more than some refresher training to be fully operational. It will be interesting to see if some of the SME’s start to recognise this potential too and take advantage when the job vacancy numbers swell following the countries pull away from recession.

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Filed under: Business and Management