workingmums

Despite the post-Covid move to more flexible working, many mums are struggling to get the flexibility they need, with 56% either considering or planning to go self employed to get more flexibility and some doing more than one job for the same reasons. 47% are looking to change sectors to get greater flexibility or to progress their careers, according to workingmums.co.uk’s annual survey.

For mums re-entering the job market after a career break, unpaid internships can pose a significant barrier. Many mothers face the challenge of re-establishing their careers, often after years spent focusing on childcare and family responsibilities. While an internship might seem like an ideal way to gain new skills or refresh existing ones, the financial burden of undertaking an unpaid role can be prohibitive.

Is the campaign for greater gender equality at work drifting a little and is now the time to refocus our minds? According to analysis of The Times Top 50 Employers for Gender Equality – the listing of employers who are taking action on gender equality – the last year has seen a greater focus on general Equality, Diversity and Inclusion policies rather than gender and not as much innovation.

More than 50% of the public support the UK government implementing restrictions on employers contacting staff outside of working hours, with only 17% opposed, according to a a survey by think tank Autonomy. The survey is part of a report by the think tank which seeks to flesh out how a new ‘right to switch off’, promised by Labour, might work.

What do you want to do job-wise and how will it fit around family life? Having children is a whirlwind, stirring up all sorts of thoughts and emotions amid the total exhaustion. Often you can go around and around in your mind for years the whole issue of finding a way of working that works around family life. That can mean switching jobs, careers, setting up on your own and all sorts. It can help to get as many ideas as possible and to hear from others who have done it.

One full week of school completed. Yay! Items added to the ‘family’ calendar (which only I seem to check): 32. What? How is so much going on already? We’ve barely got started yet. But, with guitar lessons, football training, work meetings and Son#1 now undertaking Further Maths this year ‘just for fun’, there is suddenly something going on every day of the week, except Thursdays (when we are all exhausted and grumpy).

Yesterday morning I got an email from my former university. Ping! It asked me to take part in a survey about AI and journalism. Despite the fact that it assumed I was working for the kind of regular newsroom I have not been in for years, I decided to take part. It was an interesting experience. It asked me lots of questions about what I thought about AI, but mainly about whether I used it and for what. I’ve seen other surveys and they are fairly general. But this one was specific.

A new road map on how to attract more teachers through offering greater flexibility has been published by Teach First. The new report, Tomorrow’s Teachers: A roadmap to get Gen Z into the classroom, sets out a comprehensive roadmap of the transformations it says are needed to attract the next generation of teachers – including a new system of formal secondments for existing teachers to spend some time out of the classroom in other sectors, before returning with new skills, enthusiasm and energy.

Alice Howis from East London was doing a creative course when she decided to do a bootcamp in data science. Despite having no background in IT, she took that first step into the data industry and, with support from course provider HyperionDev on CV and interview preparation, she secured a job as a junior data analyst through LinkedIn. Alice is just one of HyperionDev’s success stories.

Your entitlement to any statutory redundancy payment would be unaffected if you were to take up other employment on your non-working days. Any entitlement you may have to any additional company severance payments may be affected by you taking on alternative work and you should check the terms of your employer’s redundancy policy and your contract of employment.