How Employers Can Accommodate New Mothers at Work
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By Dan Woog
Monster Contributing Writer
Susan Seitel, president of Minnesota-based consulting company Work & Family
Connection, remembers one client well. The woman had recently given birth to
her first child and was returning to work. Her infant cried all the way to
day care. The mother cried all the way to the office. Unfortunately, Seitel sees
many other new mothers who can relate to the woman she described.
Seitel says that 47 percent of the American workforce is female, and 85
percent of those working women are or will become mothers. A _study_
(http://www.res.org.uk/society/mediabriefings/pdfs/2005/feb05/waldfogel.asp) published in
the February 2005 issue of the Economic Journal reveals that 63 percent of
women who work pre-birth come back to work within 12 weeks of giving birth,
with 37 percent of that group returning full-time.
Workplace accommodations for new mothers particularly are a problem for
women who breast-feed. According to an Ohio State University _study_
(http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/brstfeed.htm) , 54 percent of women who return to
full-time work within three months after giving birth had to stop
breast-feeding. That compares to only 35 percent of women who did not return to work.
Why Breast-Feed at Work?
A 2003 Los Angeles County _health survey_
(http://www.breastfeedingtaskforla.org/PR/081804.htm) showed that workplaces friendly to breast-feeding
decrease absenteeism by up to 57 percent. But the same survey showed that 60 percent
of mothers stopped breast-feeding when they reported to work within six
months of giving birth.
Karen Peters, executive director of the _Breastfeeding Task Force of Greater
Los Angeles_ (http://www.breastfeedingtaskforla.org/) , says the reason is
simple: Most businesses do not understand the economic and social benefits of
breast-feeding. Breast-fed babies tend to be healthy babies, and healthy
babies mean fewer medical expenses. Encouraging women to breast-feed at work means
less staff turnover, sick time and personal leave, lower healthcare costs,
and higher job productivity and morale.
The _US Breastfeeding Committee_ (http://www.usbreastfeeding.org/) estimates
that for every $1 invested in breast-feeding support, a company saves $3 for
an average savings of $400 per breast-fed baby over the first year.
Breast-Feeding Accommodations
Companies can provide new mothers with clean, private rooms with sinks,
breast pumps and refrigerators. Employers can also offer part-time work options
like reduced schedules, job sharing, phased-in returns, flextime, compressed
workweeks, drawing time from a paid-leave bank and telecommuting. Allowing
sufficient break time to breast-feed or express milk on the job also can be
helpful. Finally, employers can educate expectant and new mothers, as well as
managers and colleagues.
Some employers already do these things, led by Fortune 500 companies, Peters
says. Lagging behind are midsize and smaller firms. Peters terms the
fast-food, retail, manufacturing and agricultural sectors particularly negligent. In
fast food and retail, most workers are not unionized and are hesitant to ask
for "special concessions," Peters explains. Manufacturing and agricultural
workers have little privacy, and many are paid piece rates, which create a
disincentive to take breast-feeding breaks.
Providing breast-feeding accommodations at work is the law in 10 states.
Thirty California breast-feeding organizations use a carrot-and-stick approach
to encourage local businesses to comply. The carrot includes giving companies
"mother-friendly awards" and providing breast-pump rentals. The stick is
fines: $100 per incident. However, as Peters notes, "it takes a brave woman to
take action against her employer." She does not know if any company has been
fined.
More Support of New Mothers
New mothers have other workplace concerns besides breast-feeding, including
infant care. Misty Rose is CEO of KidCentric, a Livermore, California, firm
that helps companies organize child-care programs. Although most of her work
involves 2-to-5-year-olds, she recalls one small company where two key
employees were due to deliver at the same time. KidCentric helped convert a portion
of a warehouse into a care facility licensed for four infants. Both women
returned to work within six weeks.
"The best companies subsidize infant care heavily, because they realize it's
the best thing for them and their working mothers," Rose says. She cites
large companies like Cisco Systems and Sun Microsystems as being at the
forefront of infant-care issues.
However, Judith Stadtman Tucker, editor of _The Mothers Movement Online_
(http://www.mothersmovement.org/) , says Silicon Valley and the legal,
journalism and broadcast professions are notorious for being mother-unfriendly. "Part
is the business itself, part is the culture," she says. "In the 'elite'
professions, it's hard to stay at the top of your game and also be involved in
families."
And, Tucker says, while large corporations have noble-sounding formal
policies for new mothers, small businesses may be more flexible. "In a small
company, people know each other," she explains. "If your sitter gets sick, it's OK
to bring your kid to the office."
The best solution, Tucker says, is to keep new mothers in the work flow
mainstream while recognizing that even the best employees can get temporarily
sidetracked by the demands of new motherhood.
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