Mentoring Your Managers And Women Employees During Maternity

The workforce today has an increasing number of women employees in many organizations. Every organization is striving to create a balance in terms of gender equity of their employees. Providing the right kind of support is essential to retain this balance. Does your company even acknowledge that there are more than two genders?

The job requirements in the market are suitable for both men and women. The traditional role of the woman as the caretaker of homes is long gone – we now have women who balance their time and mind between both work and home.

Working women opting to give birth to a child are entitled to maternity leave – so if you don’t have a maternity leave policy or package already within your company, it’s a good idea to get started. You also need to have sensitization programs to prepare managers on how to be supportive of their pregnant women team members. Alongside that, a good program to help women transition back into the organization after the leave, makes the entire process complete.

Gender Disparity Within The Organisation

On an average, women have children when they are 31, and so there is a break in their career for a short duration or in some cases, permanently. The break can affect or even slow down their career as they need to divide their time between taking care of the child and work. This is a situation that most women find difficult.

Companies invest the same amount on their male and female employees. Statistics show that most women do not return after the maternity leave. This creates a loss for the organization as they lose the investment and the time they spent on creating a quality employee in the first place. Not only that, the female employees are as invaluable and committed to the roles. In some cases, the employee herself is also irreplaceable, and this makes the situation even more challenging.

However, statistics also show that women who are career-centric are fewer in number. The numbers denote that women who spend majority of their time on their job, are either childless or don’t have children till they are 40. However, that isn’t the case with men. You will find 90% of career centric men having children by the time they are 30. This is a luxury that women do not have.

Despite the troubles women face in a male dominated workplace, it is preferable to have women in top positions to guide other women, help organizations to have a higher business impact and ensure an inclusive workplace. Most talented women fail to return to work due to the lack of support from the organization or family. This way the company loses out on valuable employees who have the clear potential of becoming leaders.

The only way to bridge the disparity is by supporting women through maternity and the time after, until they return to their former productive self.

Support Career-And-Family Oriented Women

Maternity takes a toll on most women. They face a lot of confusion and guilt over not doing their best at work and home. Support from the organization in terms of infrastructure, policies and counselling, and the managers as well, can help make it easier for them to bounce back to work. Considering that most women fail to return, organizations can work on easing their transition back to the office.

Maternity Leave

A 6 month maternity leave is fairly common. Some companies even offer more, along with half-pay for a few months. The encouragement is likely to guarantee the employee’s return. The employee may struggle for a few months to adapt to the new changes. Supporting them until they return to their former self, will guarantee good performance from them and create a great sense of loyalty within the company.

Instead of setting a return date and fixing an ultimatum, managers can talk to them and find out when the employee can return to work. Allowing the employee to work part-time or with flexible hours, will help them gradually achieve a work-home balance.

Relationship Between Manager And Employee

A good and open relationship between the manager and the employee is essential. The chances of having the employee return will be higher.

Losing an employee who has years of experience due to improper support during maternity will cost you a lot more. New hires need training, and will only increase the work for the managers.

Child Care Facilities

An improvement in child care facilities can persuade most women to return to work. The excess expenditure incurred on child cares is one of the main reasons women prefer staying at home. Providing them with benefits and child care facilities will increase the chances of them continuing with the same job.

Pressure From the Managers

Companies tend to prefer employees who strive to get to better positions and improve career-wise. This bias serves as a disadvantage to women who prefer to stay in the same job and balance their work and family life. Encouraging working mothers to take up more can result in them resigning. Instead, the company can benefit from having skilled employees in the middle management level.

Paternity Leave

Paternity leave is an option that has now becoming popular with new-age companies, although today you see many large enterprises offering it to their employees. Men have just as much a right to take paternity leave to look after their newborns.

Flexibility and freedom from the corporation are two things that can benefit a gifted individual. With the level of competition in the industry, companies can retain the best of their employees by being flexible and coaching their managers on supporting employees through maternity.