Are you looking for tips to support working mothers in your office? Keep reading to find out more.

Let’s face it, working a job while also being a parent is not an easy task at all. In fact, statistics suggest that if you count family duties, then an average working mother puts in around 98 hours per week into work. As a consequence, this affects their physical, emotional as well as mental health adversely. 66 percent of working moms get only up to 6 hours of sleep a night. Imagine being sleep-deprived and having to take care of your household as well as your job. Pretty taxing, right? We believe that companies should actively make an effort to make working mothers feel as comfortable as possible in their working environment.

Making Workspaces More Convenient for Working Moms

Often the transition from work to being a parent and back can be very stressful. This is why we’ve put together a guide for companies, which will help them be supportive of their employees who are working mothers.

1. Provide a Flexible Parental Leave Policy

Having to fulfil one’s work duties while also taking care of a baby sounds like an extremely tiresome task for parents. This is why parental leaves should be a necessary facility in offices. But we did some digging up and found that only about 16 percent of the private sector employees have access to paid maternity leave. 
One of the best ways in which you can support your employees who are parents is to offer them a flexible parental leave policy. Companies like Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Reddit, and IBM have witnessed a massive drop in employee quitting rates after they implemented this. Experts propose that maternity leave ought to be granted for a period of six months and even up to a year.

2. Keep an Open Line of Communication

When parents come back to work after parental leave or even while they’re on their parental leave, it is crucial that you as their employer communicate with them about what they need and expect from you.

Keep an open communication channel and ensure that their needs are met. It helps to keep regular meetings for the same and let them know that they can approach you with anything.

3. Offer a Hybrid Work Schedule 

Having a hybrid work schedule seems like a really helpful idea for working parents because this way, they will have some control over their schedule. This also increases employee efficiency and allows them to be productive when they’re actually able to do work.

4. Provide Day-care Services and Other Resources

The World Health Organization recommends that mothers breastfeed their newborns for up to a year but this won’t be possible if they’re at work during the day. It is essential that you’re accommodative of new moms in your office. One way that you can achieve this is by providing them essential resources like day-care services, pumping stations, feeding stations, etc. It’s also helpful to start parent programs and provide health support at the office.

5. Extend Empathy

This is perhaps the most crucial step that we recommend you take. Parents often have a lot going through their heads and especially if they’re first-time parents, it becomes extremely difficult to cope with all the sudden changes happening in their lives. A helping hand or even someone who listens to and understands their problems can go a long way in making them feel like they’re on the right track. You can try building communities or having informal meetings in the office to achieve this.

Conclusion

Babies seem to function in a whole other timeline than us. This makes it extra difficult for parents to fulfil their needs as well as ensure their baby’s requirements are met. You as their employer must be empathetic and take the necessary steps that will ensure that your employees experience a smooth transition during the different stages of being a parent while also dealing with work.