By Cheryl Guest – Part of the Women in Technology Series
There is a moment, familiar to thousands of women across the UK, that is quietly devastating in its ordinariness. You have spent years building a career. You have led teams, hit targets, solved problems, navigated boardrooms. Then you take time out to have children, not because you have given up on your career, but because you are doing something extraordinary, and when you try to step back in, the door is barely ajar. This is the reality of hiring mums returning to work in the UK today, and it is a problem employers can no longer afford to ignore.
“I know that moment personally, because I have lived it.”
In my intro blog in this series, I mentioned briefly that before joining Unique IQ, like many mums returning to work, I had been seeking a part-time role and was repeatedly turned down. I want to revisit that experience here, because I think it deserves more than a passing mention. Despite everything I had built in my career, the experience, the results, the drive, I kept hearing variations of the same message when it came to hiring mums returning to work: we only hire full-time. It did not matter what I could deliver. What mattered, apparently, was whether I could be present for a prescribed number of hours each day.
It was one of the most professionally demoralising experiences of my working life. And it should not have been.
“It did not matter what I could deliver. What mattered, apparently, was whether I could fit a prescribed number of hours.”
The hidden cost of overlooking returning mums
The figures are stark. New data from the Office for National Statistics shows that five years after their first child, women’s monthly earnings are down by 42%, with average losses across that five-year period amounting to around £65,000. Employment falls sharply too, with mothers up to 15 percentage points less likely to be in paid work 18 months after childbirth. A separate University of Essex study found that one in five women lose out on professional careers entirely because of motherhood, often stepping into lower-skilled roles rather than returning at the level they left.
The so-called “motherhood penalty” is real, persistent and well-documented. Women lose earning power, seniority and confidence, not because their capabilities have diminished, but because the working world has failed to flex.
This is not just a personal loss for the women involved. It is a commercial loss for every organisation that lets that talent walk away without a second thought.
What returning mums actually bring to the table
Here is what I think gets missed in these conversations: a woman returning to work after time out raising children is not a liability to be managed. She is, in many ways, one of the most commercially well-equipped people you will ever hire.
Think about what raising children actually requires. You are managing competing priorities under pressure, often with limited resources and no road map. You are negotiating, influencing and communicating with people at every level of emotional state. You are resilient, resourceful and deeply motivated, because you have something meaningful driving you.
Now think about what makes an exceptional salesperson, a great relationship manager, a strong business development professional. The overlap is not coincidental.
“A woman returning to work after raising children is not a liability to be managed. She is one of the most commercially well-equipped people you will ever hire.”
Returning mums bring:
- Maturity and perspective. They have lived through something that sharpens your priorities fast. They are not easily rattled, and they know what matters.
- Genuine empathy. They understand people. In a sector like care, where relationships are everything, that is not a soft skill, it is the skill.
- Loyalty. Give someone a real chance when the rest of the market has turned its back, and you earn a level of commitment and gratitude that money alone cannot buy.
- Determination. Re-entering a world that has not exactly rolled out the welcome mat takes confidence and persistence. The women who do it anyway are exactly the kind of people you want representing your business.
What good employers do differently when hiring mums returning to work
The organisations that get this right are not doing anything complicated. They are simply willing to see the whole person, not just the gap on the CV.
They offer genuine flexibility, and I mean genuine, not the kind that is technically offered but culturally frowned upon. They are willing to define a role around outcomes rather than hours. They invest in onboarding that acknowledges someone may need to rebuild confidence and update certain skills. And crucially, they create an environment where returning does not feel like starting again.
“Define the role around outcomes, not hours, and you will be amazed who walks through the door.”
At Unique IQ, I experienced exactly that. I was given the opportunity to prove myself on my own terms. My contribution was measured by what I delivered, not by how many hours I was visible in an office. That environment gave me the foundation to grow quickly into the COO role I hold today.
What strikes me, looking back, is how little it actually took from the organisation. A bit of flexibility. An open mind. A willingness to look beyond the traditional template of what a hire looks like. The return on that small investment has been, I hope, considerable.
A note to women considering their return to work
If you are thinking about stepping back into work and feeling the weight of self-doubt that so many of us carry in that moment, I want to say this plainly: you have not lost anything. You have gained more than you realise.
The skills you have built, the resilience you have developed, the perspective you now hold, these are assets. Do not let a few outdated hiring processes convince you otherwise. Seek out organisations that genuinely value what you bring. They do exist.
And if anyone tells you that ambition and motherhood are incompatible, well, I handed in my notice the week someone said that to me. Best decision I ever made.
“You have not lost anything. You have gained more than you realise.”
Walking the talk at Unique IQ
I have always believed that the best way to advocate for something is to actually do it. When it comes to hiring mums returning to work, flexibility is not an afterthought at Unique IQ. It is built into how we think about roles from the outset. We are genuinely open to part-time arrangements, and we actively encourage applications from women who are returning to work after a career break.
“The best hire you have ever made might just be someone the rest of the market has been overlooking.”
We are not looking for people who fit a traditional mould. We are looking for people with the right drive, the right values and the right instinct for what we do. Whether that comes packaged in full-time hours or not is, frankly, beside the point.
If you are considering your return and wondering whether there is a place for you, I would encourage you to reach out. The best hire you have ever made might just be someone the rest of the market has been overlooking.
Find out more about careers at Unique IQ.
To read more of Cheryl’s Women in Technology blogs, visit the series page.
About the Author
Cheryl Guest is the Chief Operating Officer at Unique IQ, an award-winning provider of home care management software. With over a decade of leadership experience in technology and operations, Cheryl is passionate about empowering women in tech, driving innovation in social care, and creating cultures that value purpose as much as performance.