B2B Markeplace

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 budding employees are considered perfect as their skills and knowledge are appreciated and flexible working becomes easier to offer.

Historically women who left their job to have children had little choice when they decided to return to the workplace as flexibility of hours to work 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 kind of call centre, operating in a customer care environment, as these jobs were the main ones with an element of 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 offered a high degree of flexibility and the ability to Work From Home.

There has always been a need for extra retail cover, especially in the lead up to Christmas and this again has been a sector where women returning to work after having children have found opportunities, particularly over the last 20 years as late night shopping and Sunday shopping has become the custom. But even with respectable employers such as the ones named so far the flexible jobs 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 provided women with a fairly static role.

With the enhancement of technology and the advent of the Internet Business all this is now altering. We see the large businesses such as Barclays and Morgan Stanley actually making a definite effort to employ mothers back into the workplace and not only that, but the jobs on offer are at a much higher level than those seen before.

This form of development is due in part to the arrival of broadband, providing very quick download speeds to most of the country which in turn has allowed remote working to become a possibility. The opportunity to work from home or at a satellite office close to home rather than travel into the city is a big plus for a lot of women with child care to consider. Local school runs can still be dealt with and the travelling time to an office is cut out altogether meaning that the actual time spent “at work” is entirely constructive and there is more time for family life.

Another aspect of the changing business scene that has offered opportunities for mothers to return to work in high flying jobs is the progression of many internet businesses. These generally operate without a definite physical base and the majority of workers 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 aptitude, as it offers 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 functional. It will be interesting to see if some of the SME’s start to understand this potential too and take advantage when the job vacancy numbers swell following the countries pull away from recession.