Prof Receives Financial Times Responsible Business Education Award
Professor Ivona Hideg recently received the prestigious ‘runner up’ award in the Responsible Business Education Awards (Academic Research with Impact category) of the Financial Times with her paper on ‘The unintended consequences of maternity leaves’ in the Journal of Applied Psychology.
The paper found that the longer new mothers are away on maternity leaves the less likely they are to be promoted, move into management, or more broadly advance their careers. Critically this paper identifies solutions addressing this challenge faced by new mothers in the workplace.
“Our work suggests that there are ways in which women can take much needed longer maternity leaves but also advance in their careers, and both managers and organizations more broadly have a role to play in this process,” said Hideg. She and her colleagues found that “keep-in-touch” programs implemented by some organizations in corporate Canada enable women to women to signal their ambition and dedication.
The Financial Times Responsible Business Education Awards showcase strong examples of work by leading business schools seeking to focus on people and planet alongside profit. The academic research award goes to papers that address societal challenges, with evidence of impact on policy or practice. Each award was judged by a group of senior people from the private, public and non-profit sectors alongside FT journalists.
“I am excited and relieved at the same time that socially responsible work is being recognized in the management world and that business and organizations are more proactive than ever about social responsibility,” said Hideg.