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The “Big News” gives too much joy to the moms-to-be.
Every pregnant woman copes up with health problems… and dealing with her company’s maternity leave policy adds more to her anxiety.
Undoubtedly, it is the best time when she is ready to take up a new responsibility. On one hand, she is making every possible plan to welcome a new little member in her life. On the other side, her head struggles to find answers to unexpected questions. In fact, her attention is divided into three facets that hold equal importance – her career, life goals and the child!
Every expectant working woman realizes the risks to her career trajectory during her pregnancy period. There are many reasons for it.
Pregnancy, followed by maternity leave, is sometimes overlooked by the managers, HR and colleagues. Everything – including discrimination, work issues and maternity leave – burden the soon-to-be mom with unnecessary stress and frustration.
Though managers put happy face while working with pregnant women, they are also worried for the team struggles to achieve high performance. However, sharing the workload among team members is one way to sustain team productivity. In fact, every manager should consider it as a feasible solution, if a team member is unable to contribute during her maternity period. Possibly, it could be a reason for an expectant mother to de-stress herself.
It is the responsibility of HR people to design maternity policy and give necessary advices to the female employees to make their experience valuable & stress-free.
Let’s see the employer’s best efforts to help female employees to cope up with such situations.
Dismiss Discrimination
Discriminatory behavior when appointing new mothers or pregnant women should be dismissed. Their knowledge and ability to work should not be compared with their new hands-on responsibilities. It lowers the morale and optimism of the staff members. Appraisal decisions and hiring should be unbiased with no line of discrimination.
Business Needs Long-Sightedness
Believe it or not, long-sightedness helps employers to sustain in the business and competition. If a high-performing employee has a temporary difficulty to share the team workload, it is not necessary to ignore them. Their past valuable contributions must be appreciated. The supportive attitude to share their work can add more to their confidence. Remember, forcing an employee to handle motherhood or pregnancy under obstructive environment is not the right way to establish employee-employer relationship. Don’t look for shortsightedness, create a happy and supportive work environment.
Maternity Leaves or Work-from-Home Options
Employers must value their employees and show support in their life decisions. As we know motherhood is an exasperating experience, few easy-going maternity leave policy, like work-from-home or maternity leave, lowers the stress levels.
Leave for maternity also give women an opportunity to come back to work with a bang and a steady mindset to juggle well in between both the roles (motherhood and employee). Everyone’s support in the team gives them one more reason to take up new challenges and excel in them.
The last words…
Being considerate for a flexible work schedules, easing back into work and giving work-from-home options are some ways to help new mothers and encourage them.
Maternity leaves end after a specific period and slowly everything falls into the right place. But the most important thing is the employers’ support that make maternity a less-stressful and cherished experience for female employees.
What does your company’s maternity leave policy say? Do you provide work-from-home or paid leaves to the expectant mothers? Do you take care of their rights and ensure their comfort?
If not, start doing it NOW. Trust me, this is one of the best ways to win faith of your female employees and show that they are valuable. Design nicely outlined maternity leave policy and build strong employee-employer relationship.
