Having children can derail your finances, especially if you're with the wrong employer

Irish Times

a day ago

Having kids
can derail your
finances
, especially if you're with the wrong
employer
.
A family-friendly organisation can help you stay in employment – maintaining your salary, pension contributions, skills and networks after kids can have a massive impact on your finances long term.
Some employers offer valuable family benefits too. So, if you
have children or are planning to
, vetting an employer's policies, culture and benefits pays off.
The parent penalty
For some, pausing or stopping work after kids is a choice. For some, the cost and availability of childcare means the numbers just don't add up.
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Other parents leave work when they have children because their employer expects them to work like they don't have any.
Women shoulder a disproportionate responsibility for care, says research from The
Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI)
. More than 82 per cent of women who started maternity leave in 2020 returned to work for the same employer within six months of their maternity leave ending, according to the CSO. For this same cohort who started maternity leave in 2020, in the 12 months following their last maternity payment, 13 per cent were no longer in employment.
Switching to part-time work or reduced hours, if an employer facilitates this, can be a solution. Though this means less money.
Some parents switch careers entirely when it's made too hard for them to continue in the one they have built.
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All of this can mean earning less over the course of your career, with gaps in your pension contributions too.
Indeed, women taking time out of the workforce, usually for maternity or caring responsibilities, is one of the two main drivers of the 36 per cent gender pension gap, says Irish Life in the company's gender pension gap research.
Taking time out from age 30-36 could mean a pension pot of about €118,000 less than if they had taken no break at all, says Irish Life.
There are other financial implications too. From getting your phone bill paid, to health insurance, a car allowance to bonuses and company share schemes, the cost of missed perks can really add up.
That's why if you are thinking of having children, or thinking of having more of them, choosing an employer whose policies and culture acknowledge parenthood, can be a great financial decision.
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Audit the culture
Checking an employer's support of 'the juggle' should be a high priority when assessing any role. A big salary can be a false flag if the working conditions quickly become unsustainable when you become a parent.
If you're job hunting, or being headhunted, don't be afraid to ask the recruiter about the culture. You won't be the only person doing so.
'We certainly have candidates asking us about companies that have more flexibility,' says Trayc Keevans, foreign direct investment director with recruitment company Morgan McKinley.
It's not because the candidate wants to do less work, but because they want to work in an environment that will enable them to contribute as much as possible, she says.
'There's no question, for a woman who has a family, or is planning to, this is a definite consideration,' says Keevans.
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'Women are looking for what is going to enable them. The will to do the best possible job, to have a career and to be successful is there with all of them, but time constraints can hold them back and that can be in the form of a lack of employer flexibility,' she says.
Leadership support and flexible working hours are the two most significant drivers for fostering family-friendly culture, says a Great Place to Work Ireland spokeswoman.
'When leaders openly share how they manage family responsibilities alongside work, and when an organisation promotes family-oriented values, this creates an environment where family commitments are respected,' she says.
If everybody from the top down pretends they don't have kids, then the job may not be the right fit.
Hybrid and flexible working
When it comes to the benefits most valued by employees, working from home took third place in a 2024 survey by Morgan McKinley survey of 3,400 professionals in 650 companies globally.
Coupled with flexible working, working from home can make a huge difference to family logistics.
Dropping off, picking up, attending parent-teacher meetings, children's appointments and the odd football game may all become possible.
Hybrid and flexible work at such times can ease pressure and help parents stay the course of work.
This is where some public sector employers can come into their own. While they may not pay top dollar or offer head-turning perks, the culture can be more genuinely tolerant of family life.
Some public sector organisations facilitate working from home for all of August and December for example. To parents juggling long summer holidays, or Christmas school plays, Santa letters and the inevitable seasonal colds, this can be a make-or-break perk. Others offer substantial career breaks, and employees routinely avail of them without recrimination.
You won't get free Deliveroo or doggy day care, but you might be able to take your full statutory entitlements without blowback. This can make all the difference when it comes to sticking it out at work.
Paid leave
Does the company top up statutory maternity and paternity leave payments to full salary? This is a significant help when you've added a tiny cost centre to your family.
Mothers can take another 16 weeks of leave immediately after their maternity leave. The State pays nothing during this period and most employers don't either – unless you're lucky.
Some of the big pharma and tech companies here are paying full salary for at least a portion of this period, even if they don't advertise it, says Keevans.
'The reality is, somebody doesn't know that in a job offer letter, they only know it when they receive the employee handbook, but that's after they join the organisation,' says Keevans.
'Women don't want to ask the employer directly, but it is a question we [recruiters] are asked more and more now by prospective employees – 'What is this company's maternity policy?'' says Keevans.
If you are headhunted or are using a recruitment company to find a job, get them to ask. Looking at employer review websites like Glassdoor, reading an employer's Gender Pay Gap report can be a source of valuable intelligence too.
Some extra weeks of maternity leave on full salary can help to get you through that exhausting and expensive first year and back to work with vim.
Irish marketing communications agency Core, a Great Place to Work awardee, offers parents a phased return to workplace of 50 per cent of full hours in the first two weeks, and 70 per cent in the second two weeks, on full pay.
Healthcare
Paid private health insurance is the second most valued employee benefit, says the Morgan McKinley research.
Grommets, speech therapy, braces, the chickenpox vaccine – children's health bills can mount up. Private health insurance can make a huge difference to speed and cost of treatment.
The average cost of a health insurance plan is now €1,929, says the Health Insurance Authority. Child plans can cost between €300 and €600.
Some employers, like Salesforce for example, offer paid health insurance for partners and children too. For a family of two adults and two children, this can be a saving of over €5,000 a year, or about €400 a month. This will spare you a chunk of after tax income.
Fertility treatment
The majority of women of reproductive age are in paid employment – their workplace will be an extremely important factor in their experience of fertility care, pregnancy or pregnancy loss.
A growing number of employers are providing fertility treatment support to their staff, with some firms offering contributions to the costs in excess of €50,000, according to their gender pay gap reports.
Professional services and legal firms PwC, KPMG and McCann Fitzgerald are among the employers to flag these benefits.
While the number of companies offering leave, or money towards the cost of treatment is still low – just 11 per cent, according to a 2023 survey of Ibec member companies – the numbers are growing.
Bank of Ireland, Vodafone and Lidl all report providing fertility supports in recent years, according to Irish Times
reporting
. The IRFU offers reproductive health-related leave.
Meta, Airbnb, Squarespace are among companies offering egg freezing support. At a cost of between €2,300 and €3,700 per round, this can be of substantial benefit.
Flexibility around fertility appointments, leave after pregnancy loss and manager understanding can make a big difference between remaining in work after a difficult experience and crashing out.
Feeling that you have to keep fertility struggles a secret and work without interruption can amplify stress.
Meet the grandparents
Ireland's working population has evolved with an increasing number of dual nationality households. Where grandparents and extended family live or overseas, the option to work remotely for an extended period can enable valuable quality time.
'Families are starting to avail of this now, and it's proven to be a way to spend time with grandparents in the country of the parent who is not Irish,' says Keevans. 'That is proving really attractive.'
It can also solve school holiday childcare pressures. Six weeks worth of summer camps for two children can amount to about €1,200.
Partners are parents too
To level the playing field, partners need to ask questions about family leave at their job interviews too. Men who push their right to parent can make it harder for workplaces to penalise women for doing the same thing.
When it comes to paternity benefit, the State pays €274 a week for two weeks off work in the first six months of the baby's life.
The leave in Ireland applies to same-sex couples too. So, whether you are a father of a new baby, or you are the partner, spouse, civil partner or cohabitant of the mother of the baby, or you are the parent of a donor-conceived child, you are entitled to paternity benefit. The leave also applies to adoption.
Again, many employers are topping this up to full pay. Some tech employers are offering four weeks paid paternity leave.
US restaurant management platform Toast, which has offices in Dublin, promotes parental equality by offering four months fully paid leave to non-birthing parents.
Dads who take their full paternity leave can help make it the norm for others to do so too. Until more fathers take leave for caring, women will continue to bear the financial hit for having children.