Alexandra Jones, senior researcher at The Work Foundation, warned that employers 'must wake up to the issue of childcare'. At present 40 per cent of employers cite childcare problems as the reason for female staff not returning to work after maternity leave. Coupled with the statistic that women will make up 80 per cent of the workforce growth to 2010, there is a pressing need to provide workers with accessible childcare.
Keynote speaker Dawn Primarolo MP, Paymaster General, said that the Government had boosted childcare provision since 1997 but that employers must fully support its childcare initiatives to guarantee future improvements.
Ms Primarolo said, 'It is important for employers to see the real benefits of allowing employees a work-life balance. This must be included in corporate policy.
'We must not allow women to be excluded from the workforce because of a lack of affordable and accessible childcare options. Businesses will only thrive if they can retain their most talented staff.'
Liz Kendall, director of the Maternity Alliance, said that flexible parental leave could help employees with the work-life balancing act. In her speech she proposed the extension of statutory maternity pay and compulsory paternity leave - a 'daddy quota'.
Ms Kendall said, 'We need the Government to introduce a ten-year strategy for parental leave as well as for childcare. We know increased parental leave will be expensive, but what will the true costs be for child development if we don't?'
