Are you eroding the investment you've made in your talent returning from parental leave?

THE PROBLEM

The commercial blindspot

A lawyer with ten years' practice is worth far more to the firm than a newly qualified one. Their judgement, client relationships and knowledge of how the organisation works have built up over years, and their contribution grows as they progress.

Healthy retention figures hide stalled progression. The firm keeps the person while losing their fee earning potential. Firms face increased risk of reputational damage as stalled progression impacts women more.

1. You develop them

Years of training, experience and client exposure.

2. You support their leave and return

Cover, wellbeing support and a good return experience.

3. Their progression stalls

They're back and performing well, but no longer on the path they were on, so the return on your investment stops growing.

The damage often doesn't surface for years. When it does, it's rarely traced back to the return, and it gets logged as separate problems:

A high performer eventually leaves

→ Logged as a retention issue

A gap appears in the succession pipeline

→ Logged as a pipeline problem

Leadership becomes less diverse

→ Logged as a progression issue

01

Visibility drops

People who are seen less can be assumed to contribute less, even when their performance hasn't changed.

02

Opportunity narrows

The stretch assignment or high-profile client goes elsewhere, often with good intentions.

03

Ambition gets assumed

Managers decide what returners will want without asking them.

04

Returners respond

They stop putting themselves forward, and the organisation reads that as evidence.

HOW TO SEE THE PROBLEM CLEARLY

Five measures show whether your investment is paying back

These ask whether progression is continuing at the pace it was before leave, rather than whether someone came back.

Illustrative only, not to scale.

01

Promotion velocity

How long do returners take to reach their next promotion, compared with peers at the same level?

02

Stretch work

Are they still getting the stretch work, client exposure and high-profile projects that drive progression?

03

Progression three and five years on

Are they progressing at a comparable rate three and five years after returning?

04

Potential ratings

Do assessments of their potential change after leave? If so, is that based on performance or perception?

05

Senior appointments

What proportion of people who take parental leave reach senior leadership, partnership or succession pipelines?

GET THE FULL REPORT

From return to progression: the next step in parental support

Inside the report:

• How progression momentum slows, and how to see it in your data
• Five ways to protect returner progression
• The role of line managers and coaching
• Our research on partnership progression