Working Mums Say Support Doesn’t Add Up

A new whitepaper by &Culture Consulting has shed light on the harsh realities facing working mothers returning from maternity leave, and the findings are stark. Despite the growing visibility of gender equality initiatives, only 17% of women felt confident about going back to work after maternity leave, and over half were unhappy with the support they received.

As the report reveals, 57% of returning mothers exit the full-time workforce within two years of their return, raising urgent questions about how, or whether, employers are truly supporting working parents.

A Culture of Fear and Disempowerment
While the statistics are alarming, the personal stories shared in the whitepaper paint an even bleaker picture. Mothers reported being gaslighted, bullied, and even demoted upon returning to work. One woman shared:
“After returning I was encouraged by my manager to take a demotion and pay cut or leave entirely… I will never, ever forget X’s treatment of me during such a vulnerable time. PLEASE reassess your policies.”
Another recounted being told to fix issues her maternity cover had caused and was accused of underperformance within weeks:
“Instead of supporting and defending me… she suggested we go back to the partners with a plan of ‘how we were going to turn things around.’ I resigned that very day.”

The Hidden Driver of the Gender Pay Gap
Maternity continues to be a major factor contributing to the gender pay gap — not just due to time out of the workforce, but because of how women are treated when they return. The emotional toll, coupled with practical obstacles, has led many women to abandon career advancement altogether.
Charities such as Pregnant Then Screwed estimate that 74,000 women a year face pregnancy or maternity-related redundancy. These figures underscore what the report describes as a systemic failure in workplace culture and policy.

Time for Action: Rethinking Return-to-Work Support
The whitepaper goes beyond statistics and testimonials, offering practical recommendations for HR professionals and business leaders. These include better training for line managers, structured re-onboarding programmes, and strategies to combat maternal bias.
Clare Radford, Founder and Business Psychologist at &Culture Consulting, who spearheaded the research, called on organisations to take real action:
“What most working mums, including myself, have experienced is that support when returning to work is severely lacking. Maternal bias is still alive and well, from office language to bullying and gaslighting by managers. If organisations are truly committed to closing the gender pay gap and retaining talent, they must take a deep look at their return practices and workplace culture.”

An Economic and Moral Imperative
Beyond the personal impact, the whitepaper argues there is a significant economic cost to failing mothers during this transition. Losing skilled employees not only disrupts teams but adds to recruitment and retraining costs, and weakens long-term leadership pipelines.
“The emotional and economic cost of not supporting returning mums is too severe for organisations to continue as they are,” Radford says.
The How to Support Returning Parents report is both a wake-up call and a roadmap. In a world increasingly focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion, this research makes it clear: true inclusion must include parents, not just on paper, but in practice.
As the voices of working mothers grow louder, employers must now ask themselves: are we really supporting our returners, or simply surviving their return?