In February, we asked you about the impact of parenting and working patterns on career goals.

Only 16% of female respondents felt they had not moderated their long term career goals since having children.

In contrast, 44% of male respondents felt they had not had to change their career goals.

Of the 76% of female respondents who felt they had moderated their aspirations [i], only 15% were very confident that they would achieve their new goals.

34% felt their current working pattern would allow them to achieve their career ambition. Of these, while 43% aged 41-65 found a positive correlation between their working pattern and achieving their ambitions, it fell to 27% amongst those aged 21-40.

Our survey result shows that, despite increasing conversations about flexible working, the newer entrants into the workplace do not show increased confidence in achieving their career goals. For a pipeline of senior talent, flexible work isn’t working.

This is important because the goal of genuine diversity in C-Suite and the Boardroom is fundamentally undermined by people’s ability to achieve their career potential.

[i] Nb – 8% were ‘unsure’