Flexibility key to keeping mums on staff

Having a baby was once seen as a career killer, but Victorian health care provider Mercy Health believes giving new mums flexible work options is just “good business”.

More than 50 per cent of staff at the company’s hospitals and aged care facilities are now working flexible hours or job sharing, and a dedicated “parent’s network” has been put in place to help employees on maternity leave stay connected to the workplace.

Mercy Health Chief Executive John Ballard says the company’s predominantly female workforce have responded positively to the changes, with staff retention rates rising to 98 per cent from around 88 per cent six years ago.

He adds that the parent’s network has been a particularly good way of helping new mums ease back into the workplace. “Much of your social network is, in fact, from work. The parent’s network is an opportunity for employees to maintain their peer group.”

Mercy Health also believe offering opportunities for career progression, continued education and professional development have helped boost their staff retention rate. “One of the other things that can happen is that [new mums] feel a loss of confidence and a loss of skill set,” says Mr Ballard.

Mr Ballard says offering a highly flexible working environment ensures valuable, trained staff remain with the company rather than seek casual work with an agency or competitor. Without options, “nurses will go and quietly work casually for another employer,” he adds.

In addition to part time and job share options, “we have effectively a casual bank for people who just want to duck in and out,” Mr Ballard says. This flexibility is one of the reasons Mercy Health has recently been named an Employer of Choice of Women by the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency for the third year in a row.

“There’s [also] a material advantage to retaining skilled, talented people. We already have not advertised for a year,” Mr Ballard adds.

Part of the parent’s network is a catered lunch and guest speaker event held for new parents every three months. Mercy even hires nannies to babysit the youngsters.

Senior emergency nurse Tianay Hyndam was delighted when she realised she could return to work casually after being on maternity leave. “It made going back to work so much easier. I wasn’t locked into anything.”

She calls her employer “completely different” to other hospitals she has worked for, and says while working for an agency might offer similar flexibility, it can be stressful as you could be sent to “any hospital and in any area.”

“This way, I’m back doing my own job. I’ve worked in emergency a long time and I like the unpredictability of it.”

It’s not just mums who are looked after at Mercy. The company recently organised a “dad’s night” to ensure the 10 per cent of staff who are male do not feel left out.

“They have access to all of the same opportunities and flexibility, but what was coming through was a sense of loneliness,” says Mr Ballard. “We had comments like ‘I just want to have a trivial conversation about football [with other staff members].'”