Removing stigmas around parental leave

When it comes to demonstrating an equity and diversity that truly reflects our society, our sector still has some way to go to match other industries. Real estate working groups addressing minority voices are on the rise and statistics show steady, if slow, progress in higher representation of women in the industry. However, many issues still affect women entering and remaining in real estate. At junior level, more women are choosing real estate as a viable career, but retention issues mean that the pool of female talent at board and managerial levels is disturbingly low. Further segregating genders in tackling retention issues is a backward step. Personal experiences Returning from my second maternity leave in April, I was privy to conversations with other returners to work in our sector. Many were coming back after a second maternity leave and knew the difficulties they would face. Lack of flexible working in the real estate sector and childcare costs were cited as barriers to being able to comfortably return to work and progress at the same rate as their male counterparts. Of these women, a couple said that returning to work was not viable for them as they would essentially be paying to come to work. In October, Madison Berkeley embarked on a series of five roundtable audio sessions with 10 real estate professionals of both genders at different stages in their careers. We were supported by real estate companies such as Derwent, British Land, Related Argent, Knight Frank and LGIM, among others. It is important to say that during the process, we were approached by people who wanted to share their experiences of parenting in real estate but felt that speaking out may harm their job security. One tearful woman described how she was being worked into the ground with two young children, incurring incredibly high childcare costs, and needed a greater degree of flexibility, or she would have to leave the profession. Another male felt that he would have to be truly honest about how extended paternity leave had felt like a tick-box offering and, in reality, had left him feeling vulnerable in terms of his return to work and chances of promotion. He said that, in the current climate, he would be unlikely to take extended paternity leave again. For that reason, he said he could not take part. Parental leave We must continue to ensure that we do not approach EDI as a tick-box exercise. This is a waste of time and money for everyone. Staff incentives must be implemented with the support of the managerial team. Taking part in our roundtable session, Rob Codling, senior fund manager at LGIM, said that in some previous companies he had worked at, there were males who felt negativity around them if they had to leave work early to share parental responsibility in picking up children. All the fathers of young children who took part in the sessions said they take on equal shared parental responsibilities with their full-time working partners. They conceded the general expectation among senior leaders in the industry remains that it is for females to take on the main bulk of the childcare responsibilities. Childcare costs Painful childcare costs are also a factor. The UK has some of the highest childcare costs in the world. It is estimated that two children in a full-time nursery in London can cost around £4,000 a month according to some of our contributors. A 2023 survey of all industries found that for a third of families in the UK, childcare costs exceed their mortgage payments and 43% of mothers have considered leaving their jobs. Oxford University Development chief executive Anna Strongman’s conversation with Anthea Harries, asset management director at Related Argent, was eye-opening. Two senior women who have brought up families while climbing the real estate ladder shared their experiences, good and bad. Strongman says she feels the government has a responsibility to lower childcare fees or risk losing female talent from sectors like ours. Meaningful change Despite being the co-founder of a company, I found the switch from full-time parenting to returning to a fast-paced professional environment daunting when I returned from a six-month maternity leave. I was often operating on three hours of sleep a night. However, I was lucky enough to have the support of my co-founder Nina Zeilerbauer. This level of understanding meant that I could get through tricky periods at home and still deliver at work. There are ways that organisations can help mothers returning to work. Becky Gardiner, head of British Land’s flex business Storey, was candid that a return-to-work coach helped her achieve promotion quickly after her return, with confidence-building sessions. Gardiner also successfully negotiated a four-day week. For Lydia Good, head of talent at Knight Frank, caring for her disabled baby and her terminally ill mother at the same time was a challenge which she felt was met well. However, Good openly admitted struggling with the idea that once she was back at work she was expected to be at full throttle and felt a more staggered approach may have worked better. Both Good and Gardiner talked openly about there needing to be flexibility with empathy. Working together Parenting in real estate is a juggling act, just like many other industries. However, if we truly want to address the retention of women at senior levels in our industry then decision makers must look at helping parents of both genders take the strain. This is why Madison Berkeley’s The Real Juggle campaign ensured that the fathers in real estate were given a voice alongside mothers in real estate. Only in this way can we move forward. Clare Coe is co-founder of Madison Berkeley Photo by Aditya Romansa/Unsplash