Throughout the pandemic, flexible working has become commonplace in the majority of office environments. 

While many companies were adverse to it previously, hybrid working looks like it’s becoming part of company policies, which is reflective of what their people need. 

Flexible working suits women because, as we saw throughout the pandemic, women still carry the burden of childcare, which can result in career setbacks. 

Let’s be clear: it’s not a female issue, for women to fix. It’s a people issue that companies must change to harness the power of the talent in their businesses.

“Flexible working is key to our culture, and we encourage colleagues to support and promote it,” Clare Corkish, HR director at Vodafone tells Stylist. 

Companies like Vodafone are adopting new approaches to a hybrid model of working, understanding the importance for workplace culture. 

“The pandemic has shown we can work together virtually, and give ourselves a better balance, allowing more freedom to juggle busy lives. 

“At the same time, we know the importance of physically coming together when needed to be creative, collaborative or simply just to connect.”

Returning to the workplace after maternity leave or a career break is not easy. 

It can be met with a mix of emotions (especially a lack of confidence). One way to ease those feelings is for companies to show support by offering diverse routes back into the work environment. 

As it stands, there is no legal requirement for employers to offer part-time or flexible working after maternity leave which often forces women to change jobs. 

But, if a diverse approach is offered, the opposite effect takes place.

Creating a number of options and different approaches to returning to work crucially means that women don’t have to make the choice between a career and care giving. 

“I’ve been on maternity leave twice – most recently in 2021 with my twin boys,” says Lucy Unwin, head of culture and engagement at Vodafone. 

“I took advantage of the excellent parental leave policy [the company offers 16 weeks paid parental leave to all employees] which allowed me to spend such important time with my new babies. But then, just as importantly, I returned to work and was able to do four days (whilst still being paid a full-time salary) for the first six months. 

“Returning to work can be such a hard time; and being able to retain the balance of work and family when making the transition back to work was so valuable.

“Each time I returned after maternity leave, I was supported and successful in gaining a promotion and taking on a new, bigger role. I was lucky enough to breastfeed all my children and the dedicated areas in the office have allowed me to continue my breastfeeding journey so much longer than I would have otherwise been able to do.”

The saying ‘You can’t be what you can’t see’ is particularly prevalent when it comes to the workplace and career advancement.

When younger female employees see themselves represented at the top, it’s an incentive to both stay at that company and to strive to reach a similar position. 

Some companies have set themselves public targets in a bid to reach such a goal – like Vodafone, who has a set goal of reaching 45% senior female representation by 2030.

Better yet, mentoring is mutually beneficial. One study found that 87% of mentors and mentees feel more confident, gain a better sense of career satisfaction and feel more empowered. And they’re both promoted more often than those employees without mentors.

However, younger women need to witness an employer actively respecting long-standing female employees, especially those who are doing the mentoring. 

Over the past 12 months, many older women have spoken about suffering career setbacks due to the menopause. In a recent survey, 99% of women said they felt their perimenopausal or menopausal symptoms led to a negative impact on their careers.

Companies need to show commitment towards the life stage. “We recognise the significant impact that the menopause can have on women and understand how important it is that they feel fully supported in the workplace,” Corkish says. 

“We hope our commitment and awareness training will create an environment where women feel encouraged to seek the support they need and are comfortable to talk openly about what they are going through.”

Crucially, seeing women respected at the top in STEM jobs is something young women desperately need. 

As it stands, just 13% of the overall UK STEM workforce are female. That’s why initiatives like Vodafone’s #CodeLikeAGirl is essential in encouraging young women into the field, which will ultimately help to close the STEM gender gap. 

Diversity is crucial in any workplace. Period. It’s imperative that companies have set diversity targets, but it’s even more crucial that those employees are met by an inclusive culture, too. 

A company needs to represent the community it serves in order to encourage breadth of perspective and talent, and to understand the whole spectrum of people’s needs.

The business case for a diverse working environment is also strong, with a report finding that companies in the top quartile for gender diversity on executive teams were 25% more likely to have above-average profitability than companies in the fourth quartile. 

Equally, companies in the top quartile for ethnic and racial diversity were 35% more likely to have financial returns above the industry mean.

For companies like Vodafone, the drive towards diversity means embracing initiatives like increasing the number of people from ethnically underrepresented backgrounds in leadership positions. 

By 2025, 20% of UK-based senior management will be from ethnically diverse backgrounds, 4% of whom will be Black. Encouraging and offering different perspectives in the workplace benefits everyone, and every business.