author: Davies, J. M., Brighton, L. J., Reedy, F., & Bajwah, S. year: 2022 title: "Maternity provision, contract status, and likelihood of returning to work: Evidence from research intensive universities in the UK" publisher: Gender Work And Organization uri: https://doi.org/10.1111/gwao.12843 pubtype: article discipline: organization country: United Kingdom period: 2013-2018 maxlength: targeting: implicit group: high-skill female workers data: FOI data of Russell Group universities design: observational method: cross-sectional; pooled odds ratios sample: 17 unit: employer representativeness: causal: 0 # 0 correlation / 1 causal theory: scarce high-level academic female representation through 'leaky pipeline' limitations: fragmented data restricting observable variables; doest not account for atypical/short-term contracts observation: - intervention: paid leave (childcare) institutional: 1 structural: 1 agency: 0 inequality: gender type: 1 # 0 vertical / 1 horizontal indicator: 1 # 0 absolute / 1 relative measures: employment (rtw ratios) findings: significantly decreased employment probability for rtw on fixed-term contracts compared to open-ended contracts; most universities provided limited access to maternity payment for fixed-contract staff channels: fewer included provisions in fixed-term contracts; strict policies on payments if contract ends before end of maternity leave/minimum length of rtw; long-term continuous service requirements for extended payments direction: -1 # -1 neg / 0 none / 1 pos significance: 2 # 0 nsg / 1 msg / 2 sg notes: study on public university employers only annotation: | A study on the return to work ratios for high-skill women workers in public academic universities in the United Kingdom, comparing the results for those in fixed-term contract work versus those in open-ended contracts. It finds that there is a significantly decreased return to work probability for those working under fixed-term contracts, and most universities providing policies with more limited access to maternity payment for fixed-contract staff. This is possibly due to provisions in the policies implicitly working against utilization under fixed-terms: there are strict policies on payments if a contract ends before the maternity leave period is over, and obligations on repayments if not staying in the position long enough after rtw. Additionally, most policies require long-term continuous service before qualifying for enhanced payments in the maternity policies. There is high internal heterogeneity between the univserities, primarily due to the diverging maternity policy documents, only a small number of the overall dataset providing favorable conditions for fixed-term work within.