Working Parents & Carers

When employees don’t have the flexibility and support to balance family needs with work demands, organisations lose talent – and people don’t meet their potential.

But if you help working parents and carers navigate complex life-stages and offer support as they integrate their professional and family lives, you’ll attract and retain key talent, sustain productivity, performance and growth, and reduce business disruptions.

We’re pioneers in working parent coaching. And we have unrivalled experience in creating and running programmes that address challenges at every life stage – from thinking of starting a family, to balancing career progression with raising children. Plus, our inclusive, all-parent approach means our programmes cater to everyone: adoptive parents, surrogacy, carers, LGBTQ+ parents, and single parents.

By coaching individuals, managers, and senior leaders, we help you build a workplace that’s inclusive, flexible, and family-friendly.

What we offer

Parental transition coaching

Support your new parents – and their managers – as they start their journey into working parenthood. This programme addresses the four key stages of the transition: before the child’s arrival; preparing to return to work; after the return; and long-term career sustainability. We’ll identify the main themes affecting your working parents – with an emphasis on maintaining career-life success – then work through these areas in coaching sessions.

Get in touch

Benefits for your people

From setting boundaries to regaining confidence, we help participants find harmony between their life at work and their life as a parent or carer. Our Working Parents and Carers coaching programmes help the people in your organisation:

01

Thrive

Thrive with new skills, behaviours, and mindsets

02

Progress

Boost career confidence and progression

03

Balance

Manage the balance between life and career

04

Protect

Build resilience and protect wellbeing

05

Perform

Improve performance, productivity, and engagement

17.5%

increase in retention in year one

£16.6m

in savings in year one

72%

of parents feel more supported by their company

77%

of leave-takers retained or improved performance grade

94%

Women returning after leave rose from 80% to 94%

Testimonials

We believe that the success and impact that we have experienced through investing in parental transitions can be shared and replicated with many other organisations, and can make an important contribution to raising the quality of working life for new parents whilst helping businesses succeed. The Team at Talking Talent have been pivotal in helping us design, develop and deliver our practice. We have benefited from their experience and flexible approach, we have a highly valued working partnership.

Carolanne Minashi

Global Head of Diversity and Inclusion

We know that by offering programs such as these from Talking Talent, we build trust between the firm and our professionals, and that trust increases engagement. The more engaged our people are, the more fulfilled they are, the more efficiently they work, and the more dedicated they are to the firm, their clients, and their colleagues.

Katie Schuhow

Financial Services Partner

We believe in safe, inclusive, supportive workplaces where all of our people can be themselves and perform their best. For us, personal wellbeing, and looking out for the wellbeing of those around us, is a big part of this. That can be a real challenge when you’re a new parent or have caring responsibilities to juggle with work, so being able to provide advice and guidance to employees, at whatever time of the day or night they need support, is a really practical way to make a positive difference to life at work and beyond.

Darren Towers

Group Head of Inclusion, Diversity and Wellbeing

Case studies

Offering inclusive, accessible support with Spirax Sarco

Spirax Sarco wanted to enhance its support for working parents and carers, with a focus on providing an inclusive, accessible offer. Find out how we gave its working parents access to round-the-clock, high-quality coaching.

Read about our partnership with Spirax Sarco

100%

of participants said they had everything they needed to successfully manage their parental leave and return to work

Building a family-friendly employer brand with Citi

Citi aimed to retain key talent and to build on its employer brand as a place of choice for women and parents. Find out how we helped the organisation deliver coaching for senior women, managers, and first-time dads – and saved around £1.75 million in people costs.

Read about our partnership with Citi

Retention increased from 84% to 97% through maternity

Boosting engagement for parents and carers with RSM

RSM needed an infrastructure for uplifting working carers, with a focus on priority management, capacity conservation, self-awareness, and boundary setting. Find out how we helped increase employee engagement and performance, while reducing absenteeism and turnover.

Read about our partnership with RSM

Some of the valuable aspects of this training was learning more about yourself and what you can do to make changes in your life, work, and family without trying to do too much.” – R. Lira, coachee, RSM