I don't think any working mom needs a survey or study to tell her what she already knows in terms of going back to work once her maternity leave is over. What we most want from our employers is flexible work hours and the possibility of working from home. I say this from personal experience.
While I was unemployed (through no fault of my own) when I had my first child, I was working when I had my second one. Knowing that my employer would give me neither flexible hours nor the option of working from home, I told him I wasn't coming back after the eight weeks I managed to get for maternity leave. It wasn't an easy decision to make in terms of our finances, but I couldn't stand the thought of leaving my child in a daycare center all day long.
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Unfortunately, not every woman has the possibility of choosing this option. And that's simply unacceptable. I feel that if more employers realized how easy it would be to try to accommodate our needs, they would notice that having an employee who is pregnant doesn't have to mean they have to start looking for a replacement, which is not only costly but also time-consuming, in terms of training and such.
Luckily, there seems to be one area where things could start changing and it has to do with the way women are treated by their employers while they're actually pregnant. House members from New York and California will be introducing federal legislation Tuesday which will "require an employer to make a reasonable accommodation for pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions, unless this creates an undue hardship on the employer," Representatives Jerrold Nadler told The New York Times.
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Known as the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act this legislation is definitely a step in the right direction and hopefully the beginning of more laws like it, which will hopefully give working moms the kind of treatment we deserve.
What's the one thing you want(ed) the most from your employers as a working mom? Please let us know in the comment area below.
Image via US Department of Education/flickr
