THE latest Kerry Businesswomen’s Network event took place in Tralee last Wednesday in Ballygarry House Hotel.
KBN in collaboration with ‘Moving On’ — the employment programme for women in Kerry — brought Karen O’Reilly, founder of Employmum and one of Silicon Republic’s ten ‘Future of Work’ Influencers to Kerry to talk all things Flexible and Remote Working.
In the last Census over 450,000 women in Ireland stated their role as ‘home duties’. Karen shared research conducted by her company Employmum which found that the availability of flexible work was listed as the most important factor by women when returning to work, more important than salary.
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“Flexibility is what people want in the workplace. They want to be treated as adults and trusted to get the job done…….It’s time for women to be able to say I really want to work, and I want to be there for my children too,” said Karen O’Reilly.
“Let’s hope Kerry businesses are listening and become leaders in the flexible work revolution by changing the landscape of flexible work in Ireland. Who doesn’t want to attract top talent, retain staff, and end the gender pay gap by allowing female employees to grow their careers, rather than having to choose between work or family?” said Elin Sorensen of KBN.
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According to Lisa O’Flaherty from Moving On, “We have worked with 150 women over the last three years and 95% them are looking for part time or flexible work so that they can balance work with caring and other responsibilities. We have found that employers who are willing to be a little flexible, are able to tap into the amazing talent pool of women returners”.
Flexi-86: Harriett McKenna, Lisa Ryan, Kay Moriarty, Lisa Fingleton (Moving On), Caitriona Hobbert, Siobhan Roche, Mary O’Driscoll, Breda Quirke, Karen O’Reilly (Employmum), Helen Donovan, Catherine O’Connor, Helen O’Connell, Lorna McCauley, Jade Burke, Joan McEllistrim, Eileen Leen, Diane O’Shea, Helen Phillips, Mary Quirke
at the event.
Following her Masterclass, Karen was joined by Lisa O’Flaherty of Moving On and Colette O’Connor of HQ Listowel for a panel discussion MC’d by Lisa Fingleton of Moving On, where they answered numerous audience questions from ‘How to encourage your employer to implement a flexible work policy’, to ‘How do I properly prep my CV having been out of the workplace for 10 years’.
