Senior Leaders, VPs of HR, Engineering, DEI, and Managers
If you've had a top performer suddenly decide to stay home or change employers at the end of parental leave, and/or have up to 43% of highly qualified women with children (and up to 20% of men) leave or off-ramp from your company for a period of time, you've experienced the "Working Parent Problem."
What is it costing you? Up to a million dollars in recruitment and retraining, per top senior professional who doesn't return or quits after parenthood.
With costs of replacing talent ranging from 150% of their salary (for mid-level employees) to 400% (high-level, technical employees) failing to have a proper retention strategy for working parents "can become a powerful and insidious threat to your team and organization’s success."
Indeed, 50% of your talent is likely made up of committed professionals who are also trying to raise their kids in a present and loving way.
"Being a working parent isn’t a marginal or occasional concern for mothers and fathers on your team; it’s one of the central challenges of their lives, and they grapple with it daily," reports Harvard Business Review.
Pros&Babes can help you with the Working Parent Problem.
What is the Working Parent Problem? Harvard Business Review explains:
“This is a new, simple label we can use to describe the sometimes overwhelming challenge of trying to earn a living and build a career while also parenting well. For organizations and people in positions of leadership, it refers to the challenge of effectively employing and fully unleashing the potential of the folks who are trying to navigate the demands of work and family.
If you’ve thought about the Problem before as a manager, it’s
probably been under a different, hazier label (“work-life balance” or “integration”), and potential solutions may have seemed like a nebulous, elective effort; there was no clear path or upside to getting involved.
Even if you’ve directly confronted the Problem in the past — for example, you’ve had a star performer suddenly decide to stay home at the end of a parental leave — the issue probably still felt adjacent to your core business goals, a relatively small and inevitable cost of doing business.
But it isn’t anymore. In the current economic and cultural landscape, the Working Parent Problem has moved up to the forefront of leadership concerns, and it’s going to stay there. Ignored, it can become a powerful and insidious threat to your
team and organization’s success.”
How can Pros&Babes help?
Just starting out?
Ready to pay more attention to the issue and solve it?
Committed to retaining more women in leadership and moving the needle?
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Amanda, Sr. Development Engineer and Mom
I was a participant in a Pros&Babes Peer Mentorship cohort when I returned to work after my second maternity leave and have attended a number of Kinia’s workshops since, both through Enbridge ERG offerings and external offerings. The programming I have taken has helped me shift my focus by making intentional plans for my career and family, centered around my values (and shared values with my partner and Enbridge!). Working on my mindset as a parent and professional is helping me be a more effective coach and leader both at work and at home. I feel relieved and excited when I can connect with other working parents on the topic (relieved that I can be myself and not feel shame in being an ambitious working mother). Women in engineering often expect the best of themselves in everything they do and Kinia’s programming helps to reduce the pressure we put on ourselves, reducing overwhelm and the likelihood of burnout.
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Amber, Sr. Analyst, Finance, and Mom
The workshop helped me shift my mindset around the high expectations that I set for myself particularly at home. I wouldn’t expect these high levels of performance/activity from someone else, so I need to reduce the pressure that I put on myself. Working on my mindset as a parent and professional is helping me be more effective in taking control over my career development, and increasing patience at home. I feel validated and supported when I can connect with other working parents on the topic.
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Patricia, Engineer and Mom
I had finally found a community of like-minded women wanting to be amazing mothers, and continue to do amazing things with our professional careers... I wanted to be a part of that community to learn from these women, to share the wisdom and grace that I have personally and have never previously given myself credit for. And to show up for myself, instead of just doing what everyone else wants me to do. I am a supermom, even though it sometimes doesn't feel like it, even though it's often a struggle to just get through the day.
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Amanda, Specialist II, Diversity, Inclusion & TA Strategy
Kinia, thank you so much for your very helpful course. I learned some fabulous tips and tricks, made some new connections, and have a renewed since of confidence in myself. Pros&Babes is exactly what I needed. Thank you.
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Amanda, P.Eng. and Mom
I am really loving the MoMBA program.
I truly believe it has already been transformational for me. And it's made my health recovery and maternity leave so much more intentional and purposeful.
Unlike any other program, the MoMBA brings motherhood and career together. Its holistic approach covers 12 pillars, and they are all interconnected. Without a comprehensive program like this, I would have been left to figure out critical areas of my life alone. I would have spent a lot of time and energy in the process. As a mom, it’s already hard enough!
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Fatima, Sr. Advisor and Mom
Attending Kinia’s course was such an eye-opener for me. It taught me how to plan my work and after-work schedules with actual purpose, so I was optimizing the resources already available to me (such as my colleagues, support systems at home etc.) Being a working mom doesn’t have to mean feeling constantly depleted of energy, and Kinia helped us attendees find better ways as to approach our career and life. I highly recommend this to both young working mothers and seasoned veterans. The right mindset can make a world of difference! .
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Sarah, P.Eng. and Mom
The biggest shift I’ve seen in myself is in the mindset. When I started the MoMBA program, I was stuck in a scarcity mindset, worried about the loss of income from my career break and not open to opportunities for growth.
Joining the program has made a huge change: my mind has opened up to so many ideas, including the possibility to outsource, which allows me to keep working on myself. It’s a new element in my decision-making that is going to be extremely valuable after returning from maternity leave: I know I will need tons of support to thrive in my career.
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Joelle, Software developer and Mom
For me, the gains over a lifetime with just being able to make these shifts in your mindset is huge: if it makes my relationship better with my husband and makes that relationship better with my daughter and makes me a better employee, and makes me less stressed out for the rest of my life... all of those gains become huge. That investment is not really that big when you consider all of those different aspects changing in your life. It's a huge value for every area of your life, there's very few things that can really have an effect on every single piece of of the way in which you move through the world.
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Colleen, P.Eng. and Mom
Since the pandemic moved networks and support online, I’ve found in Pros&Babes a safe place where motherhood could be discussed and normalized. From there it has evolved into much more, helping me grow and realize I get to choose who I want to be - as a person, a parent and a professional. The MoMBA community has been an absolute highlight of my maternity leave.
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Maja, Director of Business Operations and Mom
The MoMBA gives us the tools to live a designed, purposeful life.
Surrounded by amazing parents, you're inspired to change your mindset to thrive both as a mom and professional.
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Alisha, P.Eng. and Mom
When you're the only woman in the room, you see how differently your male colleagues operate. You question your own ways of doing and working. It's nice to be in a room filled with like-minded mothers who are holding up a mirror to you and want to make an impact by helping create more and more space for women in our industry.
I was delighted and surprised to see myself become a trailblazer for other women. The peer mentorship I’ve enjoyed within the MoMBA community has helped me grow in competence and confidence, so now I feel ready to reach out to other women who are at an earlier stage in their careers and support them on their journey.
When you have coaching and regular follow-up, and you're exposed to a variety of perspectives within a supportive community, growth happens so much faster!
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Kirsten, P.Eng. and Mom
I joined the MoMBA one month before my return to work, a transition that felt scary and uncertain. It was right at that time that the opportunity to fill a leadership position in a new organization came up. The women in the MoMBA community offered me the encouragement I needed to go after that promotion. I knew that if I were to get that role, I would be able to rely on their support to grow and thrive in it.
Ever since my first session with Kinia, I’ve gained tons of confidence about my leadership skills. And confidence is what I brought to the interview, and what ultimately got me the job. I am so grateful to the community for helping me plant the seeds of my success.
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Funmi, P.Eng. and Mom
Pros&Babes has been the best thing for my professional development in this time.
And actually, the best thing for my family too, because it is something we can all learn from.
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Amanda, P.Eng., and Mom of teens
In a world of leadership programs, the MoMBA focuses on how we bring our professional and personal worlds together. It allows women with caregiving duties to reach their leadership potential. This is a priority because we have unique perspectives and skills as a result of being caregivers. The return on investment is most apparent in a female leaders' ability to lead and grow individuals on their teams, which in turn grows an organization.
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Jazmin, Senior IT Manager
and Mom
The MoMBA brings the clarity and structure I need to chart my path. It helps me break down big goals into tactical, manageable steps.
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Brittany S., P.Eng.
and Mom