Why companies benefit from offering their employees and their families professional support during the maternity period.

2 min read

Many companies like Google, Facebook or Abbott have programs to support their employees’ reproductive health. Maternity & paternity leave is one of the most offered benefits which, in European countries, is regulated by law. To support easier re-entry to the work place a wide range of companies such as Tesla and Yale University offer lactation rooms. Abbott also offers 24/7 lactation consultancy to their employees and that for good reason. The hardest point of re-entry after leave is to organise regular child care, and especially if a child is sick. One of the main preventions of a child getting any short or long term illnesses is breastfeeding. Therefore Abbotts services of on site lactation consultancy tackle the problem by at roots and minimise the chances of sick leave. But why not even start earlier on in pregnancy? Mothers, as well as clinicians agree that a healthy pregnancy, as well as antenatal preparation results in a faster recovery after birth. This not only benefits mother and baby, but overall the family and the employer!
On average 85% of working women worldwide will be pregnant at some time during their career. A study by Utah University showed that supporting your employee during pregnancy can

• increase employees retention by 79.8%

• achieve higher employee engagement by 71.9%

• increase productivity by 65.2%

• improve recruitment success/higher quality candidates by 60.1%

• achieve a more diverse teams by 50.1%

• achieve more women in high levels of leadership by 47.2%

• increase profitability by 33.7%

Additionally, it could be debated that not only will your female employees productivity and satisfaction increase by offering them support during the maternity period, but can also be achieved by offering this to your employees’ partners. Pregnancy and the Postpartum period is not only new and challenging for women, but also their partners. It could even be stressed that they worry more, since they not only worry about the health and safety of the baby but also their partners. If we talk about relocation, studies show, that the main reasons employees choose not to relocate to another country is because of their family. The Harvard Business Review also stressed that most relocation fails, due to the ‘unhappiness to the trailing spouse’. Most people relocate because of their work between their late 20s and 40s. The likelihood that they are already parents or become parents in this period is relatively high. Furthermore, when becoming or being a parent you worry most about high quality multilingual medical care, education and the social aspect when relocating. By offering families a support system & multilingual medical care you increase your chances of recruiting highly qualified candidates.