About 35 per cent of female employees leave within the first few months following a maternity leave in Europe. This can cost your business hundreds of thousands in disrupted projects and replacement hiring, not to mention the knowledge and skills you invested to develop these valuable employees.

Working mothers and carers find it harder to advance their career. According to

Pew research

, 41 per cent of working mothers said being a parent made it harder to advance in their careers, compared with 20 per cent of fathers.