US Firms Adopt Maternity Programmes to Retain Women

Coaching Offered to Ensure Employees Stay on Career Track

Pregnancy is most often seen as having an adverse effect on a woman’s career. Research shows a woman feels professionally marginalised when she becomes pregnant. That’s why many firms in the United States are investing in maternity coaching plans to retain women, sending the message that women employees are valued. Maternity programmes often use one-on-one coaching for senior executives and seminars for lower level employees to ensure that women are focused, vigilant and stay on their career track. Maternity coaches are available for employees during their maternity leave and when they return to work after giving birth to help ease the transition.

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Source: http://www.foxbusiness.com/industries/2012/11/19/more-firms-trying-to-retain-women-through-maternity-programs/#ixzz2CmpF2yv4

Leaders’ Support Key to Success of Flexible Work Models

The opposition may claim that workplace flexibility is a perk provided to employees at a cost to employers. However, the truth remains that if worked out well, the benefits of flexibility translate into strong bottom line for companies. Flexible workplaces find it easier to attract talent and retain it. However, myths abound when it comes to flexible work options, be it worries of employees not performing in untraditional work settings and schedules and the view of workplace flexibility as “a nice-to-have perk” that managers can dispense like at their discretion. Flexible work options will become part of a firm’s DNA only when leaders embrace it as corporate doctrine.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/allison-okelly/dispelling-three-leading-_b_2158766.html

Why Employees Need Access to Workplace Flexibility

Across the world, employees are ready to trade higher wages for benefits that allow them to better balance their work and home lives. A US survey found that 45 per cent workers would accept a lower salary in order to obtain a better work-life balance. In the United States, 36.1 per cent of all workers lack access to any form of paid leave while 44.2 per cent do not have access to any form of workplace flexibility. In these times, there is a strong case for providing every worker with access to paid leave or workplace flexibility at some point. More importantly, access to these policies should not be based on one’s gender, race, income, age, and educational attainment.

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Source: http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/labor/report/2012/11/20/45589/workers-deserve-equal-access-to-paid-leave-and-workplace-flexibility/

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