Introduction to motherhood can be tough and is an unpredictable journey. Motherhood is transformational in every sense, and that often includes redefining your relationship to work.
New mothers are left with two significant options, interrupted career, or a newborn at childcare. Every woman has a different vision of what their life after delivering their first child would be, but most of women want to spend time with their babies; might want to breastfeed and simply need to recover from an extreme marathon, that is childbirth & pregnancy.
Personality will play a role on how new mothers will and want to handle their new journey. Some will be happily stay at home mother and governments have put processes in places to allow and support that. In another end, some women might want to go back to work but also parent at their best, and our current 9-5 society makes it really hard to become a successful working mother.
So how can new mothers be integrated in the workforce?
Baby / child friendly workplace
Parent rooms in workplaces are becoming more and more frequent. By designing a child friendly policy, you allow new mother to socialise, and empower them to take ownership of their professional lives.
Childcare is pretty much another mortgage with educators raising your infants. Many years ago, when working was not the primary focus and need, women would have constant family support and most likely live under the same roof. Nowadays, women are empowered to travel, be professionally successful, but still have to raise children somehow, with less family support.
Flexible hours & remote working
Allowing arrangements on parents working schedules, will give them the opportunity to spend time with their children, without losing focus on their professional lives. If the nature of the job makes it possible, letting parent work while they can split their children’s care can build trust and recognition between employer and employee, as long as results are observed and measured.
Support & help with workspace mental health
Having children makes lives busier, but new mothers can also reach a level of loneliness. Adjusting on a professional and personal level doesn’t come that easy. Supporting your employees by checking-in and a simple ‘Are you ok’ might trigger further conversations and help staff to open up about potential challenges.
Featured image by Lotte Alexis https://www.instagram.com/lottealexis/ – All rights reserved Lotte Alexis
