Golin joins project to encourage PR firms to bring mothers back to work

This is the second year of back2businesship, which was created last year by media agency Starcom Mediavest Group and recruitment firm f1 Recruitment, with Golin joining for 2015.

The programme involves a part-time, month-long training course beginning on 15 September, after which the 25 participants will move on to a variety of permanent and temporary, full-time or flexible placements at media, marketing and PR firms.

Golin, f1 and Starcom are involved in organising the course and arranging the placements.

Bibi Hilton, managing director of Golin, said: "I’ve recently returned from a maternity break and so I know how important a supportive work environment can be. I‘m delighted that we’re supporting back2businessship and I’d encourage firms within our sector to work with us to help talented ‘media parents’ within our sector fulfil their potential."

Liz Nottingham, regional HR director at Starcom, said: "It is clear that returning parents in the media and marketing industry often don’t feel they have the help they need. So we wanted to develop a fully rounded programme to provide these parents with the confidence to return to work. This is the second year of our back2businessship initiative and we hope to build on last year’s success by attracting even more support from across the industry."

Recent research by part-time jobs recruiter Timewise found that PR was among the worst industry sectors for offering candidates flexible working opportunities at the point of hire - although some in the industry have said this could be set to change.