Liz Ryan is our Life Meets Work Careers Expert. She writes a monthly column where she provides practical and tactical career advice.
The Mom Advantage: Being Hospitable to Working Moms
By Liz Ryan
No life event seems to get a corporation's collective undies in a bundle so much as the birth or adoption of a baby. Perhaps it's the unpredictability of the event. One day Sally is working quietly at her desk, and the next day she drops the B-bomb on her boss like it's nothing.
Unlike vacations, promotions, work schedules and travel requirements, a baby's arrival is in the employee's court all the way.
Lots of people prefer predictability to unpredictability, and so the disappearance of an employee on maternity leave feels like a terrible inconvenience and an affront.
I like to remind employers that a garden-variety skiing accident could easily land an employee of either gender in a six-week medical leave of absence, but that doesn't seem to quiet their fears.
After all, they tell me, an employee with a torn tendon comes back to work post-leave unencumbered. S/he hasn't taken on a major life obligation in the process! This is true. New motherhood (or repeat motherhood) is its own animal.
Yet, babies are not about to stop appearing, and employers need to handle their working moms' arrivals and departures without panic. Having made an investment in an employee already, wouldn't you rather keep her on board than lose her to a more family-friendly environment?
Accommodating Moms
But you'll need more than a family-friendly policy. You'll need to do lots of listening and lots of communicating, to consider each returning mom's situation on its own merits, and to guard against a backlash from non-moms who may wonder why having a baby entitles an employee to special hours and other privileges.
The most common accommodations for returning moms are flexibility in their work schedules and flexibility of place (e.g. telecommuting). A baby's early months require doctor visits during the day and childcare can create scheduling demands.
Less common accommodations for new moms are on-site child care, the ability to bring Baby to work, and company-paid babysitting when Mom travels for business.
Overcoming Barriers
Employers typically have three big fears in the accommodating-new-moms department. Be prepared to deal with these cultural obstacles.
If we offer special programs to new moms…
Other employees will complain.
The last thing we want to do is to send a signal that moms are golden and all other employees are chopped liver.
Accommodations need to be based on a realistic assessment of job requirements,
the returning mom's tenure and performance, and how the accommodation could be applied to others.
If you can’t extend the same kind of flexibility to other employees, consider putting a timeframe on the agreement. Meet and discuss the arrangements every quarter to see whether it makes sense to stay the course.
When I was a corporate HR person, I'd hear from non-parents fairly often about our company's few family-friendly offerings. I'd say to them:
"We need to develop all the employee groups that we have here at XYZ Corp, and spot any gaps between the performance or tenure of any group of employees and the team overall. If new moms are quitting at an alarming rate, that's a business problem. If Latvian red-headed Capricorn employees were dropping like flies, that would be a business problem, too."
If we can help employees see our outreach and accommodation measures as the solution to a legitimate business problem, we have a chance to get them over the 'why not me?' hump.
All prospective moms will want to work here.
Is this a bad thing? In the Knowledge Economy, keeping acquired knowledge is the name of game. If we spend a small sum per year to keep knowledge in the firm, we're making a smart investment.
A mom who works three-quarter time at three-quarter salary and stays with the firm an extra five years is a gift in the current War for Talent.
It's hard to shake some managers from the traditional full-time standard. If an employer can make that leap, incredible talent becomes available that simply wouldn't sign up for a full-time, in-the-office job.
Our managers will have to work much harder.
The best managers are the ones who believe in management by conversation and not by policy. Good managers continually tweak the employment relationship as circumstances change. That doesn't change when new moms enter the mix.
Managers who live and die by the policy sword may be uncomfortable in an environment where making schedules and workloads balance week by week is standard operating procedure. Some bosses simply can't flex with changing conditions. Maybe they're not the best managers for employers who've decided to become hospitable to working moms.
Leadership is seldom cut-and-dried. Figuring out what works for each person and each job over time is a tremendous training ground to build nimble managers for the future.
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Ask Liz Ryan is a human resources and leadership consultancy, and think tank focused on the new-millennium workplace. The Ask Liz Ryan online community reaches over 30,000 men and women on five continents with business, career and life advice. For more information, contact Liz Ryan at liz@asklizryan.com
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