She is worth the wait!

Women form a significant part of the workforce today, bringing into focus the need to manage unique issues such as pregnancy and post-maternity, a business priority. 

Issues facing the post-maternity women workforce need to be addressed because when inadvertent discrimination occurs, not only do companies lose out on trained and existing talent, but they also face the costs of replacing staff and hampering a productive work environment.

A recent report by NASSCOM estimated that companies can generate a return of around 8 per cent by adopting family friendly policies. As talent becomes scarce across all levels in the organisation—women power if leveraged, can bring significant benefits to all stakeholders.

At Interweave, we recommend that organisations:

• Addressing the needs of the post-maternity employee, begin by acknowledging her contribution and empathising with her new roles.
• Formulate comprehensive maternity policies as well as build support systems to help her stay connected with the organisation during the period of maternity. Women should be allowed to return to work when they are ready and when adequate child-care arrangements are in place.
• Formulate empathetic and inclusive policies such as gradual transition into workload, staggered working hours, working from home, and child care to help your employees work and perform better.
• Enable the women to have their work life balance by providing the appropriate support systems and permit women to have flexible schedules that will help them remain productive.
• Create a clear productivity measurement model, amenable for women to work from outside the office. Women friendly policies have to be deployed in a fair and transparent way, resulting in neither misuse nor discrimination. 
• Companies can invest in technology infrastructure so that women can work from home or from satellite offices when needed, operate on flexible work schedules especially during the pre- and post-natal periods. 
• Remember to check frequently to re-assess the employee’s readiness and work satisfaction levels. Employees who feel supported through personal milestones are likely to be more productive and efficient.

At Interweave, we take pride in assisting organisations to invest more time and resources in helping women employees develop, participate, and contribute fairly and equitably. We recently helped a large global MNC launch a series of handbooks for their managers and employees to understand and work with maternity better. The request for this had specifically been generated when Business Units internally noticed that managers needed support to work around expecting mothers. Companies that take efforts to develop and retain competent women benefit immensely, not just through home-groomed talent but by being able to attract fresh talent as well. 

Not only does an inclusive work environment spell wonder for your company’s branding (yes, go ahead and ask the happiest women employees you see and you’ll see that their workplace boasts of rich women-oriented policies) but research has indicated that diverse and inclusive organisations show characteristics of improved problem solving, creativity and innovation.