Abstract
Orientation and research purpose: There is a need to explore the role of maternity coaching in supporting and retaining professional women in South African organisations. Therefore, this study investigated the experiences of professional women during their maternity transition into working mothers and explored how maternity coaching can be used as a strategic intervention to support these women.Research design, approach and methodology: A qualitative inductive methodological approach was followed to gain an in-depth understanding of maternity coaching. The research strategy was cross-sectional and multi-perspective, consisting of 13 participants from 4 professional groups.Main findings: The findings emphasise that maternity coaching can play a positive role in assisting both working women and organisations to successfully navigate the maternity transition phase. Through the findings, it was established why maternity coaching is needed as a mechanism of support, how maternity coaching should be implemented and what should be included in the coaching conversations.Practical managerial implications: This article provides a Maternity Transition Coaching Model with guidelines and recommendations for different professional groups in any organisation where maternity transition is experienced. The implications of this study are how maternity coaching can be implemented as a tool in dealing with retention of professional women during maternity transition and to increase gender diversity at the senior organisational level.Contribution: The body of knowledge contributes to understanding the role of maternity coaching as an emerging form of transition coaching in organisations. A Maternity Transition Coaching model was designed that is complemented by guidelines for implementing a maternity coaching programme that can be utilised by human resources personnel, senior management and coaches who are exposed to the adverse consequences of senior women leaving the organisations because of the challenges they face during maternity transition.
Highlights
The retention of valuable skills of women at work is critical – organisations cannot afford to lose skills as people are their principal assets
It is unclear how widespread maternity coaching is offered in South African organisations, and there is a lack of empirical research on coaching aimed at supporting professional women, for example those in middle level to senior roles, who have experienced the transition from maternity leave into motherhood
The maternity coaching journey had a profound impact on those women participants in the study, at a practical level, and at a psychological and a physical level
Summary
The retention of valuable skills of women at work is critical – organisations cannot afford to lose skills as people are their principal assets. Given the paucity of professional women who are in senior roles in organisations, the retention of their skills in the workplace is paramount It is for these reasons that this research responds to the call put forward by Noon and Van Nieuwerburgh (2020) to develop enabling environments in organisations and explore how maternity coaching can provide support for the transition of professional women into working mothers. The role of maternity coaching in supporting and retaining professional women in South African organisations has not been fully explored. Whereas this study utilised the characteristics experienced by women working in South African-based organisations, the guidelines and recommendations for successful maternity coaching can be applied in any organisation that experiences challenges regarding the retention of professional women during and after maternity
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