Navigating the Return-to-Work Experience for New Parents: Maintaining Work-Family Well-Being

Parenthood can be one of the most fulfilling, altering, and challenging life events. This book is set within the background of the reality of many parents’ return-to-work experience, the task of re-engaging with work and maintaining a job or a career, and the difficulties that parenthood poses for balancing the demands of a new family with the demands of work. It helps us understand this reality, give voice to new parents, and offer relief in the knowledge that we know a lot about these challenges and, most importantly, how we can start to address them.

The book brings together a number of internationally recognized experts from research, practice, and policy to explore the issues and offer evidence-based solutions around return-to-work after having children. It takes a balanced approach to theory and practice to cover topics such as equality, stereotypes, work-family conflict, training and development, and workplace culture, among others, whilst integrating research and policy, and illustrating learnings with case studies from parents and examples from countries that lead the way.

It will appeal to parents, researchers, and employers in any sector or economy across the world. Ultimately, it will help develop ways for new parents to re-engage with work successfully while maintaining their work-family well-being.

Maria Karanika-Murray is an Associate Professor in Occupational Health Psychology at the Department of Psychology, Nottingham Trent University. In her work she brings together different methodologies, disciplines, and stakeholders with the aim to understand the context and develop ways to support work-related health and well-being.at the Department of Psychology, Nottingham Trent University. Her work brings together different methodologies, disciplines, and stakeholders, with the aim to understand the context and develop ways to support work-related health and well-being.

Sir Cary Cooper, CBE, is the 50th Anniversary Professor of Organizational Psychology and Health at ALLIANCE Manchester Business School of the University of Manchester, President of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (HR professional body), Immediate Past President of the British Academy of Management, and President of the Institute of Welfare.