FOR too long we have witnessed intelligent, highly skilled women struggle to find a role that fits around their other demands. We’ve seen too many accomplished women miss out on opportunities, depriving businesses of their talents and experience, simply because they can’t find the part time flexible roles that meet both their needs and that of the business.
While progress has been made, many organisations are still oblivious to the huge value and benefits that part time roles can bring to an industry and in fact the wider economy.
There is no doubt that hiring a part time employee can be economical as it is an efficient way of keeping costs down in areas where you don't yet need full-time cover, but what is more valuable is increased recruitment and retention of staff by offering flexible working practices.
The average cost of losing and having to replace an employee is 33 per cent of their annual salary but offering part time and flexible roles not only increases the ability of your business to respond to change and peaks of demands, more importantly it allows you to expand the pool of potential recruits. Another perk is that part time employees can be trained to specialise in a specific task.
This allows them to produce higher quality work than employees who frequently rotate positions. Part-time work tends to attract parents with younger children and older people, who may not want to work full-time but can bring a wealth of skills, experience and expertise and more importantly showcases to potential clients and customers that you value having a diverse workforce and ethical employment practices.
Part-time employees can therefore be an asset to any company and there is a huge appetite from women wanting to get back into the workplace. In fact, 93 per cent of women returners in Northern Ireland want part-time work.
To help address this gap, we launched Timely Careers in January, a free support service and jobs platform specialising in only flexible, part time, job share and term time job opportunities, all aimed at providing women with skills training and career support who are returning to work following a break or who require reduced hours.
Our ambition for Timely is to challenge perceptions and remove the obstacles and anxiety often faced by women who want to return to work. As well as providing this hugely talented pool of local women coming back from career breaks with the confidence and support to re-enter the workplace, we also want to give businesses and companies a place to advertise their jobs and attract female talent.
Key to Timely Careers is educating companies and employers on the value and benefits that offering part time roles can bring to a business.
Timely Careers’ founding partners include Fibrus, Danske Bank, Deloitte, Hughes Insurance, Version 1, Allstate and NIE Networks who have pledged their support with the view to increasing diversity and skilled staff within their businesses.
On a big-picture scale, companies across the globe with a high level of gender diversity in leadership positions have seen profit margins increase by 21 per cent.
We believe Timely Careers has the potential to boost our economy by way of inclusive growth.
:: Roseann Kelly is chief executive of the Women in Business Group
