It's great news that more women are starting their own businesses - up this year to 37% from 33% last year. This follows the trend we witnessed at the Business Startup Show where we spoke to a huge number of women planning to launch a business.

What's interesting is the types of businesses these entrepreneurs are planning to open. There's a very clear steretypical slant which may surprise many. Three of the most popular sectors are cleaning, beauty and hairdressing, while pet minders and cake makers also featured highly. However, as well as these the jobs of market traders and self-employed teachers and financial advisers were also popular.

While many of these seem like typical female roles, they are actually also a response to demand. For example, following the popularity of the BBC’s The Great British Bake Off programme an increase in demand for cakes led to a surge in cake businesses. Also, with more and more working mums there has been an inevitable increase in demand for cleaners.

So, 70% of bosses believe the traditional 9 to 5 working day is over. There's no doubt that we have witnessed a massive shift in work patterns in recent years. Certainly in the fifteen years I have been at work my working day has changed drastically, as have those of many people I know. I started out life working the traditional 9 to 5 day with strict guidelines about lunchtime breaks, punctuality and the use of the Internet (which was quite new in the workplace at the time!). There was a very clear divide between work and home life, and at the time that was fine because it was all I had known and as I had no children I only had me to think about, so the fixed hours suited me. I was very rarely asked to work overtime and I only occasionally asked for time off for, say, an appointment. It worked well for both sides.

This is one sure to rouse strong opinions - following maternity leave nearly two-thirds of employers don't expect female employees to return to their job with many citing previous experience as the reason for their viewpoint. While this is clearly the case in some circumstances, from my experience most women do return to work within eighteen months of giving birth and many return far earlier than that.

 

Business need to be careful about making assumptions otherwise they could end up facing claims for discrimination. Employers also need to think about their return to work policy - or lack there of. Important issues such as working hours will need to be discussed and company policy made clear from the outset to avoid issues between employer and employee when it comes to returning to work.