I am honoured to share this story with you today from working mother Gemma Bateson. She has been incredibly honest and brave and I know her story will help so many others navigating the transition to parenthood. 

One of the biggest takeaways for me is the advice to stop pretending. It doesn’t do you or anyone else any favours to pretend that you’re managing and being the perfect parent AND employee. Be honest, get the help and support you need, and you will perform better and be happier at work and at home! 

If you would like to share your feedback with Gemma, please email me at [email protected] and I will pass it on. You can also leave a comment on any of our social media channels. 

Here’s Gemma’s story… 

What was your biggest fear about work when you found out you were expecting and how did you overcome it?

My biggest fear was losing hard won ground in terms of my career progression. I was worried that someone might do...

This return to work case study is a great example of how crucial flexibility is for retaining new mothers in the workplace. Here we share the story of Louise, an advanced nurse practitioner in a hospital emergency department and mother to a baby boy.

When Louise became pregnant she knew that after having her baby, she would eventually want to return to work in the career she had worked hard over many years to build as an advanced nurse practitioner in a hospital emergency department.

Her story is neither an outright success nor failure on the part of her employer, but there are many parts to it that we can learn from. Ultimately, it shows how vital flexible working is for retaining new mothers in the workplace. Rather than share the interview in full, we have highlighted some of the key themes and outlined key learnings from the perspective of both the new mother and the employer:

The Paperwork

“When I told my employers I was pregnant, they were very helpful and seemed...

When a driven, ambitious lawyer announces that she is having a baby, her employer has some key decisions to make to ensure a smooth departure and return. In this case, one employer’s loss was another’s gain…  

Although happy to share her story, this lawyer wanted to remain anonymous so we’ll call her Julia. When Julia announced she was pregnant at her law firm, all was well. She was treated fairly, adjustments were made, and it was easy for her to attend all the necessary antenatal appointments during her working hours without any resentment or sideways glances.

The problems came during the handling of her workload. After years with the firm building up a client base on full time hours, Julia was surprised to learn that her employer intended for her line manager to take on all the extra work alone while she was away. This caused a great deal of stress for everyone involved and made the time leading up to her maternity leave very tense.

Shortly after...

Anna is a Teaching Assistant at a Learning Centre in the UK who recently returned from maternity leave and agreed to share her experiences with us.

Upon returning to work, Anna’s employer was flexible to her request for fewer hours and later start times to accommodate nursery drop-offs. But more than that, she was reassured that she would not be penalised for occasionally running late due to her parental responsibilities and told not to worry about it.

It’s brilliant to hear that Anna’s work culture is sensitive to the needs of working parents and has allowed and supported her to continue on her career path as before. Within a few months of returning to work she completed a training course, and she says that it feels like she was never away.

The main challenge for Anna has been the cost of childcare and the realities of separation for extended periods, but over time she has become more comfortable in the knowledge that her son is safe and happy at nursery.

Her...

Paid parental leave is essential for children, important for families, and good for business. Parental support from the organisations they work for is something that prospective parents want, because they know intuitively that spending more time with each other and with their newborn is going to be the best thing for their family. For all concerned, flexible paid extended and shared parental leave is a no-brainer. Here’s why...

Benefits For The Company

From a business perspective, it’s logical that improving the happiness and mental health of your staff increases productivity and helps you to retain your best talent. In many organisations, family leave worth the investmnt as they see an increase in engagement, productivity and talent retention. hen Google extended its paid maternity leave from 12 to 18 weeks, it saw a 50% increase in employee retention among women who had babies.

In contrast, insensitivity and lack of “civil organisational behaviour” -...

Once you’ve decided when to share the news about your pregnancy with your boss, there are steps you can take to ensure it is well received.

Now is the time to start reflecting on how long a maternity break you would like to take and your initial ideas on the handover of your role.

Before you sit down with your manager, here are some things to consider that may help you have a more productive discussion...

Research your company’s leave policies

Learn everything you can about your employer’s maternity leave policies. Some offer paid leave, some offer unpaid leave, and others allow sick days or vacation days to be put towards family leave. Read your employee handbook and consider setting up a confidential meeting with someone in HR.

Know your employment rights

Familiarise yourself with your local employment laws so you know what you’re entitled to. Most countries have public websites hosting this information and a simple Google search will offer a wealth of...

First of all, congratulations!

For each parent, this is such a personal journey that there is no script to follow. Instead here are some tips to help you be mindful of and embrace the changes.

As the Professional woman:

You hopefully agreed boundaries before your maternity break and they are being adhered to. It may be that you have changed your mind and you want more or less contact – let people know so that you maximise this time. It is worth considering which colleagues are key influencers and always keep abreast of the political landscape – a coffee/lunch with them can quickly bring you up to speed with developments at work. 

• Remember that this can be a great opportunity to develop new skills and learn about topics you never have enough time for in a typical working week. There is an adundance of interesting articles, discussions, forums etc you can access or explore an on-line course as a possibility. Please be mindful that this may be unlikely in the early...