Why Mothers Are an Asset in the Workplace

Nearly half of all hiring managers admit to thinking twice when it comes to hiring women who have children or those who are of childbearing age, according to research done by the Australian law firm Slater & Gordon. But the experience of raising a child makes women well-suited to the workplace. Firms who do not hire mothers are turning down an extremely valuable resource.

Mothers are grateful for the opportunity to be in an adult context and to reclaim their identity that is not limited to motherly responsibilities: feeding, cleaning, and clothing someone who can’t take care of themselves. And because baby requires so much attention, mothers are scheduling aces who miss no opportunity to squeeze a task into a small time window. They are also good for morale because of what they don’t do (a reported 59% of employees have had an office fling):

No time wasting, productivity sapping glances across computer screens for us. Those of us with partners are too tired to contemplate sex with them, let alone appear beguiling to someone who isn’t already a sure thing. More often than not, we’ll pick sleep over a torrid workplace romance. Even hypothetically it’s too much effort.

In his Big Think interview, hedge fund founder Marc Lasry says his company looks for a combination of book smarts and street smarts, a quality likely found in mothers wanting to return to the workplace.