30
Women in the UK Intelligence Community
“… the primary barriers
to women returning
to operational roles
following maternity
leave are cultural.”
“It is essential that
the Agencies follow
through on some
of the policies and
guidance on
maternity issues
that they have set.”
outweighed by the longer-term rewards for the Agencies. Operational
work is viewed by many as career-enhancing. By excluding those
with childcare responsibilities the Agencies are effectively making it
much more difficult for those individuals to demonstrate their skills in
a pressurised frontline environment and ultimately to progress their
careers. One way to address this is through further management
training – particularly at the key middle management level, which we
address later in this Report – in order to embed the message that
operational roles are an option for women with children.
44. Implementation of policies on maternity. It is essential that
the Agencies follow through on some of the policies and guidance on
maternity issues that they have set. Whilst these are published, there
is clearly a gap in terms of awareness: more therefore needs to be
done to increase the visibility of the policies and guidance. There also
needs to be consistency within each organisation in the way that the
policies are applied. While they are on maternity leave, women must
feel connected to the organisation and aware of opportunities upon
their return. We encourage the use of ‘Keeping in Touch’ sessions
and a mentoring/buddy system and these should be extended where
possible. We would also urge the Agencies to make more use of jobsharing registers in order that individuals can seek others who might
wish to share a full-time role: it is the role of HR to help staff and this
is an area in which they should be doing so. We understand that these
registers do exist in the Agencies but, in at least one Agency, staff
are often not aware of the initiatives and management have failed
to publicise them appropriately. More steps should be taken to make
staff aware of these policies.
45. Countering the negative perceptions of flexible working.
It is important to counter the often negative perceptions around
flexible working to ensure that all staff are valued regardless of
their personal circumstances. Further work also needs to be done to
counter the perception that flexible working and operational roles
are not compatible. We urge the Agencies to review the structure of
training courses so as not to disadvantage those with flexible working
arrangements and unfairly exclude a valuable sector of their workforce.
“When I had children I felt fully supported by colleagues and
the organisation in returning to work after maternity leave. It
did, however, take me some time to settle into being a part-time
employee, particularly in the early years. Much of that was about
my own personal adjustment to new responsibilities and different
priorities. Part of it also reflects the organisation at the turn of the
millennium, where flexible working, though long-established, was
not yet widespread, technology was less advanced and there was a
greater expectation (from me and the organisation) that part-time
working patterns would necessitate different, less frontline, roles.
MI5 always made it very clear to me that there would be a role for
me, at my senior grade, and took time to identify roles to make the
most of my skills and experience and to help develop me further.”
Senior woman at MI5