Although I’ve been fortunate in my own maternity leave experiences I find that some companies still treat maternity leave as a necessary evil rather than a differentiated way to attract, retain and engage talented people.
Talk about a missed opportunity! The working moms I know are some of the most efficient workers you can get for money. They have to be so they can get home, cook dinner, fold laundry, wipe noses, change diapers, bandage boo boos, check homework, read stories, bake brownies, bring kids to bed then finish up their day jobs after the kids go to bed.
Think these women can’t handle a little work? Think again: these flexible, multitasking moms are a workforce to reckon with.
As an HR professional, I understand that there needs to be certain rules and guidelines in place; rules to ensure a safe, legal, and productive environment for our employees. But when we spend too much time focused on those rules and who might break them, we lose sight of what our true purpose should be: providing the support to perpetuate the success of our organizations through our people.
Employers need to be allowed to determine what works best for their work environment, organization and industry when it comes to crafting paid leave policies and flexible work arrangements realizing that there are some widely differing views of what that means.