Large corporate organizations such as KPMG and Morgan Stanley are now looking for women who left their careers to have a family and who are now considering re joining the workforce. These budding employees are considered ideal as their skills and knowledge are appreciated and flexible working becomes easier to provide.

Historically women who left their job to have a child had little choice when they decided to return to the workplace as flexibility of hours to fit in with nursery and school times was very tricky to provide. Often women would work evenings in a retail setting or lately in some sort of call centre, operating in a customer care environment, as these jobs were the main ones with an element of flexibility. Opportunities were also available in the “party selling” type roles with the likes of Avon and Tupperware. Again these were attractive to returning mums as they permitted a high degree of flexibility and the option to Work From Home.

There has always been a need for extra retail cover, particularly in the lead up to Christmas and this again has been a place where women returning to work after having a child have found opportunities, predominantly over the last 20 years as late night shopping and Sunday shopping has become the rule. But even with decent employers such as the ones named so far the flexible jobs on offer until recently have not been career type ones. They have been just a way of adding extra income to the family bank account and have offered women with a moderately static role.

With the development of technology and the dawn of the Internet Business all this is now altering. We see the large organizations such as Barclays and Morgan Stanley actually making a conscious effort to enlist mothers back into the workplace and not only that, but the jobs on offer are at a much higher level than those seen before.

This form of development is due in part to the arrival of broadband, providing very quick download speeds to most of the country which in turn has allowed remote working to become an option. The opportunity to work from home or at a satellite office close to home rather than travel into the city is a big advantage for a lot of women with child care to consider. Local school runs can still be dealt with and the travelling distance to an office is cut out altogether meaning that the actual time spent “at work” is totally constructive and there is more time for family life.

Another side of the changing business scene that has offered opportunities for mothers to return to work in high flying jobs is the development of many internet businesses. These generally operate without a definite physical base and the majority of employees are able to work from home on Online Jobs using all the online technologies available and being developed.

It is therefore obvious why the larger organizations are tapping into this rich seam of aptitude, as it provides them with the opportunity to get hold of individuals with a high skill level who need no more than some refresher training to be fully operational. It will be interesting to see if some of the SME’s start to recognise this potential too and take advantage when the job vacancy numbers rise following the countries pull away from recession.