Allyship in the workplace is one of the main drivers of inclusion in the workplace. Overhauling a company’s culture is too big a task for one individual to tackle, and a company is never going to deliver a massive, permanent cultural shift overnight. Written by Dr Emma Waltham | Maternity Returners Expert
Workplace allyship focuses on the smaller, everyday things that we can all do - whether as colleagues, partners, HR professionals or line managers - that make an impact. I’ve developed a new workshop on maternity allyship, which I launched at Equate Scotland’s online conference STEM Through an Intersectional Lens in June. Allyship action plans During my Supporting New Parents interactive workshop, we looked at challenges to participation – for example, confidence, flexible working opportunities and maternity bias – and created a plan for actions that managers, HR and colleagues took home to foster a truly inclusive culture where returning mums will thrive. Actions included:
support networks for returning parents
the importance of empathy and open communication
buddies, mentors and coaching for returning mums
transparent recruitment and promotion processes.
We received some fantastic feedback following the workshop, with Robyn Harris, Policy, Research & Training Co-ordinator at Equate Scotland, commenting:
“We are so grateful that Emma could join us to share her incredible insights on this important yet under-discussed issue. Emma is not only highly reliable and efficient with communication and preparation, but she also brings a warm and thoughtful presence to any environment. Emma’s workshop added considerable value to our conference and we would be delighted to work with her again in the future.”
Retain and develop your returning mums The new workshop has proved to be incredibly popular and next month I’ll be delivering this workshop for a range of employers to raise awareness in their organisations of the importance of allyship and its impact on returning mums, to help them retain and develop this talent pool. I’ve got limited availability in the run up to Christmas, so now is an ideal time to book if you want to go into 2023 with an environment where your returning mums will thrive. Let me know when you’re free, and let’s arrange a call to get the ball rolling.