Citi’s Maternity Matters group coaching programme, successfully piloted last autumn with 50 women, is now being made available to all women at the bank’s London offices going through pregnancy.

The programme, designed and delivered by HRI-AXA ICAS in partnership with Managing Maternity, provides group coaching at three key stages (before maternity leave, during the second half of maternity leave and on return to work), followed by telephone coaching once back in work and supported by contact with advisors from HRI-AXA ICAS’ LifeManagementTM team, part of the Citi EAP service.

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Carolanne Minashi, Regional Head of Diversity for Citi’s Markets & Banking Division explains, “Many women who go on maternity leave have worked with the company for over 10 years. They have established their career and have a wealth of experience and talent we can’t afford to lose. Citi already had an excellent maternity return rate of 98% in the UK, but we recognised that the key points in maternity (working whilst pregnant, being on maternity leave and returning) are genuinely challenging times.”

Liz McCaw, Client Services Director at HRI-AXA ICAS*, underlines the impact Citi has by rolling out this programme: “Many women have a well-founded anxiety that being a parent will slow down their progress up the career ladder. If one of the world’s most successful financial services companies can create a culture in which women stay with them throughout maternity and beyond, then others surely can follow. It’s time to look beyond the obvious in talent management to get to the heart of what really matters to parents; their ability to do a great job at work and at home.”

A unique aspect of this programme is the idea of dedicating one of the new ‘Keeping in Touch’ (KIT) days (introduced under the Work and Families Act 2006) midway through maternity leave to structured group coaching. This day offers a forum to share research-based insights into the transition to motherhood, apply coaching tools and models to improving communication, strategic planning and reintegrating with their teams. The KIT day gives real continuity alongside group coaching before, and on return from, maternity leave with the added support of one-to-one telephone coaching and access to the EAP after returning to work.

Jennifer Liston-Smith, Managing Maternity Director, who took the lead in designing the programme, commented “We have had hugely appreciative feedback from the women involved about how Maternity Matters has helped to build internal support networks and given them new tools and insights to tackle situations more influentially both at work and home. The dedicated team we have committed to this project is inspired both by Citi’s vision for the programme and by the talented women involved in the pilot and the rollout.”

*Citi’s global wellbeing and behavioural risk management services are delivered by, Harris Rothenberg International. HRI partners with AXA ICAS in the UK to deliver a range of employee wellbeing services, including Maternity Matters, designed and delivered by Managing Maternity through our strategic partnership with AXA ICAS.