Failure to support staff with kids is costing NHS millions

Working parents tell us, their children are the most important thing in their lives, yet they constantly feel guilty when work, which is also important to them, makes it difficult to be present at home.

Working parents in the NHS need:

• Role models in leadership who visibly prioritise family life,
• Inclusive, safe environments to discuss both their unique challenges and unique skills developed while raising children,
• Flexibility, without stigma, in scheduling and working location.

Most NHS trusts overlook working parents, missing out on a huge opportunity to retain and develop them by supporting them to combine ambitious careers with raising the children they love.

‘It makes financial sense to support working parents’

When you have multiple priorities competing for time and budget, providing the flexibility and support working parents need makes financial sense, because attrition is expensive.

One report estimated the annual cost to the NHS of NOT addressing nurse retention issues to be £21.7bn. When 89 per cent of nurses are women (Nursing and Midwifery Council, 2023), and four in five women have children by age 45 (The Office for National Statistics, 2022), the potential cost savings made by supporting working parents is stark.

When people can balance work and home life, they are more likely to stay in their roles long-term, meaning lower recruitment and onboarding costs for trusts.

When staff feel supported, they are more focused and motivated while on the job, ultimately leading to more efficient patient care.

‘Supporting working parents is not yet a priority for most NHS trusts - but progress is happening’

While many trusts have not yet realised the opportunity that lies in supporting working parents, a number are strategically prioritising this demographic.

By implementing family-friendly policies, they are able to attract and retain high-quality staff.

King’s College Hospital in London offers the Leaders Plus Fellowship to help working parents in leadership roles balance their work and family commitments.

When people can balance work and home life, they are more likely to stay in their roles long-term, meaning lower recruitment and onboarding costs for trusts

Other trusts like Alder Hey Children’s Hospital and Sheffield Teaching Hospitals have introduced self-rostering, allowing staff more flexibility and control over their schedules, making it much easier to balance family priorities.

Some trusts provide on-site daycares and after-school clubs for employees’ children at an affordable rate.

Milton Keynes Hospital Trust offers family Sunday lunches to staff. This, and similar gestures, say to working parents: “you are valued”

How to make working parents a strategic priority

Here is how to begin supporting working parents and carers, based on conversations we’ve had with thousands of working parents, and trusts already prioritising these changes

Collect data

Quantify:

• How many staff leave after having children?
• How many staff and women get stuck on the career ladder after having children?
• How many parents get promoted compared to those without caring responsibilities?
• How many flexible working requests are received, and how many are rejected?
• If you have a staff satisfaction survey, how satisfied are your working parents compared to the overall workforce?

Analyse the data by department and specialism. Look for patterns and insights to shape your strategy.

Review your policies

• Audit your policies, checking for gaps, eg, do you have a maternity leave and parental leave policy, but not an infertility and menopause policy?
• Create a “policies needed” list and learn from the best.

Discuss your data with the board and create a Flexibility Ally group of senior leaders to role model “flexible norm”

• School social events are important milestones for parents, but also a huge source of guilt if they cannot attend.
• Make it routine for leaders to step in and cover your team’s roles temporarily to help them be present when it matters to them, and encourage your leaders to role model flexibility in their own way of working.

Train for inclusive line management, and hold leaders accountable to acting like one

• It is critical that all staff feel comfortable talking about their situation and asking for help when they need it, and that support is consistent across individual leaders and departments.

Offer true flexibility, without stigma, and be as generous as you can with leave and support

• Increase availability of part-time roles, job shares, flexi-time or compressed hours, at all levels of seniority, and challenge outdated attitudes that these options are “less than”.
• Communicate formally (through an education campaign) and informally (through parent networks etc) that these models are possible, focusing on practical management of patient impact.
• Understand that flexible needs change over time, or at milestones in a parents’ life such as when their children start school.
• Provide inclusive parental leave options, but also normalise taking time off when children are sick by providing emergency leave.
• Consider phased work arrangements during the return from parental leave or when the child starts primary school.
• Remember, offering generous leave and support on reintegrating to the workforce is much cheaper than people leaving and paying for bank staff.
• “Remember, not every working parent needs or wants the same thing, what may be invaluable to one person may not be helpful to another.”

Continuously refine

• Once initiatives are in place, continuously seek feedback. Be willing to try new things and make changes. Working parents will see through performative gestures, so ongoing refinement and responsiveness is critical.