Maternity, a stage compatible with professional success at IKEA
At IKEA, we work on a daily basis to ensure that women have the right to go back to work after pregnancy. Isabel Garrido, People & Culture Manager at IKEA Badalona, is a clear example of how it is possible to advance your career while being a mother. With two small children, Isabel was able to enjoy her first days with her daughters and then go back to work fully ready to face new challenges and progress professionally.
In spite of the difficulties with extracting hard data on maternity discrimination, the International Labour Organization has repeatedly warned that women returning to work after pregnancy is a complicated task that often generates inequality and, in the worst cases, results in them leaving their job.
Aware of this situation, at IKEA we are trying to make sure that our co-workers’ return to work is fair and accessible after pregnancy and giving birth.
Isabel Garrido works as the People & Culture Manager in Badalona. She started at IKEA with a grant almost 11 years ago. Since then, she has not only grown as a person, but she has also developed professionally and has progressively risen through the company ranks.
Isabel has been pregnant twice in less than 4 years and, as she says, the maternity policy at IKEA made things easy and straightforward. “It is a privilege to be able to enjoy my pregnancy and motherhood. I felt very supported and respected at all times”, she says.
“I was able to take 2 months’ paid leave which, together with holidays and breastfeeding, have made the return to work much easier.Those months with my girls were wonderful and the return to work was great,” she adds.
Breaking down barriers at the source
At IKEA, we firmly believe in plans and measures to ensure equality between men and women.The results speak for themselves: 60% of the workforce is female and 51% of managerial posts are held by women.
In terms of maternity and paternity, we are committed to extending leave to foster co-responsibility and to ensuring that women have the same opportunities as men in balancing work with their new role as mothers.
Both Isabel and her partner were very clear about the sharing of family duties.
“My partner asked for shorter hours when our first daughter came along and he still has them.
This is how we’ve arranged things at home,” she recounts. However, she has not lost sight of the unfair social reality outside of IKEA. “At the end of the day, no matter how much joint responsibility we take in the family, the difference in time that mothers and fathers spend with their children is very noticeable, and the bigger burden always falls on women. Women are indirectly penalised for being outside of the company for longer. Fortunately, this doesn't happen here at IKEA,” she adds.
Investing in female talent
In 2013, Isabel was promoted to head of the HR section at our IKEA Badalona store. The birth of her first daughter in 2016 did not prevent her from continuing in her role. This year, after her second maternity leave, she had the opportunity to continue growing, reaching her position as head of the department now called People & Culture.
“When I told my friends that I went back to a job with even more responsibility after maternity leave, they said, 'Well, it seems that some companies are managing it!'” she related.
Since 2010, 51 women at IKEA have been promoted during or after their pregnancy, because we know that we work better with equality. We want to convey this message to our entire workforce and beyond. We want to be a driver of change and to make everyday life for men and women, mothers and fathers, fairer and more equal. As Isabel points out, “We not only work better with equality, but it is the only way to work.”
