A few weeks ago, someone named Sarah* left a comment on my blog saying she was starting a “mother-friendly campaign” at work. I’d never heard of such a thing.
A mother-friendly campaign? What does that look like? Is it for coworkers? HR? Company executives? New mothers? Is it about changing attitudes, or policy, or both? How do you go about planning something like this? And how cool is this woman to think of it?
I contacted Sarah and asked if she could tell me more. I assumed she worked in HR, and this campaign was part of her job. Or maybe she was a fed up working mom and decided to do something constructive about the way she was treated at work. Turns out I was wrong on both counts.
Sarah works for a faith-based social services organization in the Southeastern part of the U.S. She doesn’t work in HR, nor does she have children. The campaign is a volunteer effort, outside of her regular job duties. Her inspiration comes from the fact that she is trained in public health and, although she’s American, she spent much of her childhood in various parts of Africa where she says it was commonplace to see women breastfeed and take care of children while they worked, shopped for groceries, and went to church. When Sarah moved back to the U.S., the lack of support for mothers here was striking.
Sarah was kind enough to let me share her answers to my other questions here on the blog, but asked that I do not use her real name or name her employer. So without further ado…
Question: What is a mother-friendly campaign?
Answer: In our definition, this is a campaign to create a work environment that supports mothers trying to balance caring for their children and work expectations.
Question: Why did you decide to start one?
Answer: There a couple of issues that make being a mother in our organization more difficult then not being a mother:
- Breast pumping rooms are not available in any of the different locations.
- New mothers get a maximum of three months of unpaid leave. Flexible work schedules during or after this leave period are not an option.
- We are a social services organization. As a part of what we do, daycare is offered to families attending classes through the organization. However, daycare is not offered to employees of the organization.
- Like many workplaces, there is pressure to work late, and coworkers often don’t understand why parents have to leave on time to pick up their kids.
Question: How do you start a mother-friendly campaign?
Answer: There are three of us hoping to change our work environment. We started just under two months ago. We don’t have any experience with such a campaign, so we are taking each step as it comes.
We are in the ‘research’ process right now, gathering materials regarding employee morale and productiveness when mothers are supported. We will also be talking with other women we work with to get their input and suggestions, and garner support.
The next step is to write a proposal that outlines the current system, the benefits of a more supportive environment, and examples of what that environment might look like for our organization. We hope to present this proposal to the head of HR and request a meeting to discuss the proposal.
Question: What do you hope to to get out of the process?
Answer: Our primary goal is to create policy changes that would allow women to balance caring for children and work. Our assumption is that we will not be able to see all of our recommended changes take place, so I believe that our first goal would be to allow for a more flexible work schedule that would include
- working full-time from home
- working part-time from home and part-time on location
- extended maternity leave
- paid maternity leave
In the long term, we would also like to see a deeper culture change that doesn’t degrade mothers, but values them as equals and recognizes the extra work they do on a daily basis.
Question: Do you have any advice for people who would like to start a similar campaign at their workplace?
Answer: At this point I have no idea what advice we would give…it’s too new for us. We would love to receive advice!
Has anyone else tried to do something similar at work? Sarah and I both would love to hear your about your experiences (what worked, what didn’t work) with trying to make the workplace more friendly to parents. What kind of change would you like to see at your workplace?
*Names have been changed.
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Sounds similar to my work environment. Best of luck to this “Sarah”! I’d love to hear how it goes.
I work for an early intervention agency in MA. As we are also a social service agency serving families with qualifying children ages 0-3. I believe that it is important that the policies for the employees are parent friendly. Most of the agencies policies are. There are many part-time and hourly staff in addition to full-time staff. The primarily home-based services we provide meld well with our flexible schedules. Earned flex -time is part of each employees contract. There is short paid maternity leave (for returning staff) as well as the option for a 3 month unpaid leave. Health insurance is available for anyone working 20+ hours. (Although “family” plans are expensive and there is no option for a childless couples, which my husband and I are).
I wonder Sarah’s situation this compares to other social service agencies in her area.
Good luck Sarah!
Hi Katrina
Having never worked for a corporation, I may be accused of not being realistic, but here’s an idea for a Mother Friendly Campaign. Have everyone, or as many people as possible at work, just go home at 5:30 pm. Every day. A 40 hour work week is a right. If a company or an organization is forcing people to work 60 or 80 hours a week, they just haven’t hired enough people. But until employees have the backbone to just go home after an 8 hour day, the organization would rather just save the money. I’m not an employment lawyer, but can employees really fire people for not working compulsory overtime?