Workingmums Survey: Full Results 2023

2,069 people responded to our 2023 Annual workingmums.co.uk survey.

84.48% of respondents are female, with ethnicity closely matching the UK’s general ethnicity profile based on census data.

42.39% are between the ages of 36 and 45.  35.91% are 35 or under and 21.70% are 46 and over.

41.07% are located in the South East and London, 18.41% in the North and Yorkshire, 16.42% in the Midlands, 11.87% in the South West and Wales, 7.34% in the East of England, 3.79% in Scotland and 1.10% in Northern Ireland. 

67.28% are married or in a civil partnership, 14.29% are in a domestic partnership and 18.44% are single.

17.05% have a disability and 12.98% are neurodivergent.

65.67% have two children or more. 23.33% have a child with special needs.

Work profile

With regards to career profile, 21.58% are entry level, 42.91% are experienced non-managers, 27.32% are managers or supervisors of staff, 6.87% are executives or heads of departments and 1.32% are C-suite (MD, CEO etc)

The respondents are largely experienced in terms of work: 14.68% have more than 10 years experience, whilst 38.94% have more than 15 years experience.

51.38% are currently employed, 11.41% self employed. 7.20% are both employed and self employed. 30.02% are not working.

57.07% work for an SME (under 250 employees). 13.74% work for an organisation with more than 5,000 employees and the rest fall in between.

The majority (62.24%) work full time. Whether full time or part time, 26.19% work remotely some of the time and 22.27% work remotely all of the time. 29.83% work set hours at a place of work.

Cost of living

40.94% have increased their hours due to the cost of living crisis. 41.72% have taken on another job or side hustle as a result of the cost of living. 28.53% have changed jobs recently to get more money. 52.08% have debts outside mortgage and student loan. 24.06% have debts of 1-5K; 8.51% have debts of over 20K [21.09% have debts of 5-10K; 13.96% 10-20K]. 46.82% say it is a personal rather than shared household debt.

23.11% have cut back on basic food supplies. 21.33% have used a food bank in the last year [15.25% of these do so weekly or more often]. 38.02% of those with partners say their partner has increased their hours.

Childcare

22.14% use grandparents or other relatives for childcare, 13.22% use holiday or after school clubs. 20.36% are using nurseries, pre-school or childminders and 2.97% are using special needs childcare.

16.87% spend over £100 per week on childcare.

29.37% say that their childcare costs had risen significantly in the last few months and 58.36% say the rising cost of living having an impact on their childcare decisions. 57.31% say that childcare availability is affecting the hours they can work/whether they can work. 30.02% say that childcare availability is affecting the hours their partner can work.

The majority of those surveyed, 58.36% say the rising cost of living is having an impact on their childcare decisions.

Sharing responsibility

46.70% say that they are doing more childcare than their partner, while 28.58% say they share it equally with their partner.

Flexible working

A massive 82.45% would investigate an employer’s flexible working policy before applying for a new job.

75.12% would ask about flexible working at interview and 72.92% say that flexible working is a deal breaker for them when applying for a new job. 51.87% have turned down a new job due to lack of flexibility.

32.03% have had flexible working taken from them at some point, of these 54.84% said that they left their job as a result.

With regards to how important various policies were to our respondents when they were seeking a new position, there was a fairly even split.

We asked what the barriers are (or were) to returning to work as a parent. Working hours /working pattern was seen as the biggest barrier (69.22%), followed by childcare (60.10%). 43.48% said employers lack of empathy for working parents was a barrier, and 36.32% said location. 38.70% found confidence a barrier, and 34.87% said having up to date/relevant skills. 19.78% found the application process a barrier.

Hybrid & Remote Working

40.47% of hybrid workers are happy about the amount of days they can work from home, but 18.26% of hybrid workers are not happy about the amount of days they can work from home. 43% of hybrid and remote workers feel passed over for promotion and work opportunities. 21% say they do not feel supported properly when working remotely. 29% of remote workers do not feel fully included at work.

Diversity & Inclusion

59.50% think their employer is committed to Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (ED&I)  29.32% don’t think they are  and 11.17% are not sure.

22.25% have seen a backlash against the D&I agendas in their workplace, for instance, sarcastic or negative comments although the majority, 45.08%, have not. The majority also feel safe speaking about ED&I issues at work.

Employee engagement & benefits

When asked what would encourage them to stay with their current employers, more pay came out on top, followed by more flexible working, more benefits such as medical help and more rights such as sick pay.

50.62% of those employed work at an organisation which provides enhanced maternity/paternity pay or enhanced equal parenting pay.  40.91% told us that this enhanced pay, if they were to have another child, would encourage them to take longer leave with their new baby.

55.40% said it would also make them more likely to return to their place of work after having a baby and being off on maternity/parental leave.

We asked what policies their employers offered. Paid holiday above the statutory minimum came out top, followed by carers leave and Reproductive health policies. Over  26.53% said their employer offered none of these.

53.24% think their employer provides good support for their mental health, and  66.73% say that providing support for your mental health would make it more likely they would stay with their current employer.

Becoming self-employed

Despite the uncertainty of the pandemic, 31.76% of the respondents are considering becoming self-employed or freelancing. For the 41.38% who said no, they would not consider it, overwhelmingly this was due to worries about earnings and security (63.65%). 41.63% said it was due to a lack of business idea, 45.64% because of lack of confidence, and 27.22% due to childcare support worries.

For those that answered yes, 66.70% are just thinking about it. 23.97% have started planning, 6.97% have a business plan and 2.36% have funding and are ready to launch.

Retraining

38.08% of respondents have retrained in the last three years. 44.42% are planning to retrain in the next year.

Career progression & development

63.58% said their career has stalled as a result of having children. A massive 70.95% are considering looking for a new job in the next 12 months. 49.93% are looking to change sector in the near future.

Mental Health & Family

47.69% say their mental health has deteriorated in the last year. 50.79% say money was the problem or part of the problem.

18.28% say their kids have mental health issues and 10.76% say that their child has had to deal with another family member’s mental health issues. 6.09% say that their child has had to deal with their own and a family member’s mental health issues.

Financial situation

52.08% of respondents have debt (excluding a mortgage). 43.56% have more than £5,000 debt.

We asked our respondents what they have been cutting back on. 49.93% have been cutting back on takeaways and eating out, 23.60% on holidays/outings, 58.47% on clothes, 53.43% on food brands (in favour of supermarket own brand) and 23.11% on basic food supplies.

21.33% have had to use a food bank in the last 12 months.

58.36% say the cost of living crisis is having an impact on their childcare decisions. 40.89% say financial issues are causing tension in their relationship.

40.94% are looking to move job, increase hours or take on another job to get more pay.

41.72% have taken on another job or side hustle to help with the cost of living.

25.27% say that statutory maternity pay/allowance is affecting their decision to have more children.

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