We partnered to devise a roundtable discussion for the senior leadership team. The 90-minute, online Working Parents Roundtable was held in Spring 2023, hosted by Returning Works Founder, Emma Waltham.

The event started with a panel discussion exploring the following topics:

• What does HS2 do well in terms of helping people stay and thrive after they become parents?

• What are the challenges that people encounter working at HS2 when they become parents?

• What could HS2 do better in this regard?

Attendees were then split into breakout areas, where they elaborated upon the topics raised in the panel discussion, focusing on the barriers to progression for returning parents at HS2, ways to tackle barriers to progression and how to foster a sense of allyship and inclusion at HS2.

As a group, we then discussed:

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• The business case for supporting expectant and returning mums through this major life change, to help everyone understand the potential impacts on long-term retention, progression and gender diversity.

• Potential barriers that create challenges for women in the workplace when they go through the maternity transition, including the biases that impact on their
  re-engagement, confidence and progression.

• What the senior leadership team can do to be allies for this talent pool, to create a culture where maternity returners are able to able continue on their career pathway

• The importance of policies, benefits and training that work for parental returners.

• The impact of maternity bias, and how to prevent it.

HS2’s Gender Balance Network approached Returning Works as it wanted to ensure that female employees who had parental responsibilities would be able to continue on their career pathways, recognising the potential impact of maternity on long-term retention and progression to senior levels.

The Gender Balance Network wanted to show HS2’s leadership team what steps they can take to create a culture which will enable women to continue to take on promotions at the same rate as men when they become mothers.

Following the panel discussion and its outcomes, attendees worked in groups to devise action plans to start to create an environment where returning mums want to stay long term at HS2, achieve promotions and take up roles at the most senior levels.

Key themes in the action plan included:

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• A review of working parents policies

• Enhanced training for line managers

• Creation of an online portal for working parents

• Improved career progression tracking.

After the session, Returning Works provided an action plan capturing key themes from the discussion, with measurable and actionable next steps identified.

HS2's Gender Balance Network comments: 

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“It’s really important that we talk about  parenthood and  long-term career progression here at HS2.

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Attendees at the roundtable discussion were able to share experiences – both personal and those of their colleagues and team members – of the challenges faced when combining family life with progressing their career. Hearing so many different perspectives helps to remind us why an individual approach to parental provision and policies is so important.

The workshop has certainly sparked plenty of conversation about support for working parents. We believe that HS2 is very nearly trailblazing in this respect, and we have many exciting plans in the pipeline to build on the work we’ve started!”