Flexibility is no longer just a benefit. For parents after parental leave, it can be a way back to work

The return of parents to the labour market is one of the ways to address the shortage of candidates.

However, companies need to stop looking only for “ideally available” people and start working more with the reality of employees’ lives.

The Slovak and Czech labour markets have been struggling with a shortage of candidates for a long time. Companies are looking for people in production, logistics, administration, customer service, HR, back office and specialist positions. At the same time, however, there is a group of people on the market who want to work, have experience, work habits and motivation, but whose return is significantly complicated by the traditional work model.

This mainly concerns parents of young children, women returning from maternity and parental leave, and single parents. For many of them, the problem is not a lack of interest in work. The problem is the conditions under which they can realistically perform it.

A work model from 8:00 to 17:00, full physical presence at the workplace, minimal ability to respond to children’s illnesses, closed kindergartens or school holidays – all of these are factors that can significantly delay a return to work. And for companies, this means one thing: they are losing people whom they could gain and retain in the long term if the conditions were set correctly.

Returning after parental leave is not just an administrative step

Returning to work after several years outside the labour market is rarely easy. Often, it is not only about a gap in practice. Parents return to an environment that has changed in the meantime – companies have introduced new systems, processes, technologies, reporting, communication tools and a different pace of work.

Many women returning from parental leave therefore face not only practical obstacles, but also a psychological barrier. Although they had solid experience before going on maternity leave, after returning they may feel that they have lost touch with their field, or that they will no longer be able to keep up with the company’s pace.

Very specific limits of everyday life also come into play:

• the need to work at a time that is compatible with kindergarten or school,
• more frequent absences when a child is ill,
• limited ability to work overtime,
• complicated commuting logistics,
• inability to work shifts or travel,
• the need for greater predictability in the work schedule.

For single parents, the situation is even more difficult. If they do not have a partner or extended family who can cover part of childcare, every inflexibility in the system becomes a barrier. The result can be a longer absence from the labour market, even though the motivation to work remains high.

Some employers still overlook this group

Many companies still base recruitment on the idea of an ideally available candidate. They expect someone who can start immediately, work full-time, be flexible according to the company’s needs, handle overtime and cover every shift without complications.

The reality of the labour market, however, is different. There are fewer and fewer candidates like this. Despite that, some employers still overlook parents returning from parental leave, parents of young children or single parents – not because these people lack skills or motivation, but because they do not fit the traditional idea of a fully available employee.

In the short term, this approach may seem simpler. The company sets requirements according to its internal regime and looks for a candidate who will adapt to them without reservations. In the long term, however, this is not a sustainable strategy during a labour shortage.

Employers are voluntarily narrowing their candidate pool and overlooking people who, under correctly set conditions, can become a stable and high-quality part of the team.

Parents of young children can be a very interesting group for employers. They are often people with work discipline, experience, responsibility and strong motivation to keep stable employment. However, they need a work model that respects their life situation.

This does not mean that every company must automatically introduce home office or significant flexibility in all positions. It means that for each position, it should realistically assess what is truly necessary and what is only a long-established habit.

Not every job requires physical presence eight hours a day. Not every agenda has to be performed at a fixed time. And not every position has to be set exclusively as full-time.

Where flexibility makes the most sense

The greatest room for involving parents returning from parental leave is usually in areas where performance can be measured by results, not only by the number of hours spent at the workplace.

Typical examples include:

In production or logistics positions, there is less room, but even there flexibility does not have to be ruled out. Shorter working hours, day shifts for parents, shared jobs or more precise shift planning can work.

The key is that the company should not look only at the number of hours worked, but also at the person’s real contribution. In many cases, a part-time employee can be more stable and productive than someone who formally works full-time but stays with the company only briefly.

Flexibility must have rules

One of the most common concerns employers have is that flexibility will bring chaos. They fear more complicated team planning, more frequent gaps, lower employee availability or weaker performance control.

These concerns are understandable. However, the problem often does not arise from flexibility itself, but from the fact that it is not clearly set up.

For a flexible model to work, the company must answer the basic questions in advance:

• when the employee is available,
• which tasks must be performed at a specific time,
• where physical presence is required,
• how cover is handled during care leave or a child’s illness,
• how performance is measured,
• how communication with the manager and team takes place.

Flexibility is not a free regime without control. It is a work model that requires clear expectations, trust and good managerial setup.

Returning to work does not have to be a jump from zero to one hundred

One of the biggest mistakes when returning from parental leave is the expectation that a person who has been outside the work rhythm for several years will immediately reach full performance. A gradual return is often much more effective.

In practice, the following can work, for example:

Manager communication is also very important. If an employee feels that every care leave is a problem or that their family situation is perceived as an obstacle, adaptation becomes significantly more complicated. Conversely, if the rules are clear and communication is open, the return can be smoother and more stable.

It also pays for companies to keep in touch with employees already during parental leave. It does not have to be anything complicated. Internal newsletters, invitations to selected team meetings, short training sessions or regular updates about changes in the company can help.

The employee then does not return to a completely unknown environment. At the same time, the company does not lose contact with a person it already knows and has invested time and energy in before.

For a company, flexibility can be cheaper than an unfilled position

When discussing flexibility, the focus is often on what it will cost the company. Less often, however, do companies calculate the cost of an unfilled position, repeated recruitment, advertising, agency services, onboarding a new person or turnover.

In many cases, it can be more advantageous for a company to adjust the work model for a high-quality person than to spend a long time searching for an ideal candidate who is not available on the market.

The return of parents after parental leave is therefore not only a social topic. It is also a practical response to the shortage of candidates. Companies that learn to work better with this group of people can gain stable employees without having to compete only through price, recruitment bonuses or outbidding competitors.

Flexibility is no longer a benefit. It is becoming a recruitment tool

Demographic development and the labour market situation show that companies will have to work with a much broader group of candidates than before. It is no longer enough to look only for people who can adapt without problems to the original work model. It will become increasingly important to adapt some work models to the reality of the people the company wants to attract.

Overlooking parents returning from parental leave or people who need greater flexibility can become an increasing risk for companies. At a time when candidate shortages are one of the main barriers to growth, employers cannot afford to narrow the market only to people who can function in a traditional work model.

The ability to involve groups that have so far been on the margins of recruitment attention may determine who will have enough stable employees in the future.

Parents returning from parental leave, parents of young children and single parents are not a marginal group.

They are people with experience, responsibility and motivation to work. The labour market has often overlooked them not because they did not want to work, but because the traditional work setup did not match their life situation.

For companies that are currently dealing with a shortage of candidates, this is an important message. Sometimes it is not necessary to look for completely new sources of labour. It is enough to change the way the company works with people who are already on the market.