When an employee announces their pregnancy to their employer, there are mixed feelings. Of course, from a personal point of view, you’re really happy that they’re starting or expanding their family, but on the other hand, you’ll have some issues to deal with including finding maternity cover, plus the potential costs of hiring someone new or training someone in-house.
However, as an employer or HR professional, you’ll want to make sure that your employee is happy and comfortable during the time leading up to their period of maternity leave. Here are several ways in which an employer can offer support for pregnant employees.
Flexible working hours
A new survey has discovered that 48% of expectant mothers have to battle through a working day due to tiredness, which of course would mean that the employee may not be as productive as normal.
Flexible working hours will potentially give employees the chance to spend longer in bed in the morning, trying to catch-up with some missed shut eye or deal with their morning sickness. However, it’s also a benefit for the employer too, as employee is likely to be far more productive once they catch up on some sleep and spend their working hours when they are feeling their best.
Flexible working provides employees with the opportunity to attend antenatal appointments without it overly impacting on their work day. Employees are actually entitled to paid time off work to attend their antenatal appointments, so employers should ensure this is the case.
Working from home
Expectant mothers may find it more comfortable working from home, rather than going into the office. Depending on the place of work, there may be less health and safety issues in their own home, as well as being able to be comfortable throughout the day.
Pregnancy related illness is not uncommon, so giving an employee the opportunity to work from home may be beneficial. For them to have quick and easy access to toilets in their own home, and being able to wear comfier clothes that are better suited to an expanding waistline will also be welcome by most pregnant employees.
On the upside, a lot more companies tend to offer options for remote work to their employees. Jade Thomas, Office Manager at Pure Property Finance, says that her team had never worked from home before the pandemic, and had no intentions to, but thanks to the experience of home working they’ve realised how much easier it can be than they originally thought.
“We’ve never really considered remote working as an option prior to this, but this whole experience has taught us that our roles can in fact be done at home, and perhaps remote working is something we will do more of in the future.
“I think a lot of companies have learned that employees can work just as efficiently at home, providing they have the right set-ups and the right software. I know remote working is something that is discussed amongst businesses a lot and, for some, it can be a bit of a grey area as company owners are totally against the idea.
“Hopefully, this pandemic has proven that companies can adapt anywhere, rather than just to the office!”
Additional employers support for pregnant employees
Employee rights
It is the responsibility of an employee to inform their employer that they are pregnant within 15 weeks of their expected week of childbirth. After being notified, an employer should make employees aware of their employee rights while pregnant, and send them links to their rights, the maternity policy and what sort of support the company offers.
It’s all good and well putting them in a public place for employees to dig out themselves, but by sending the documents to them straight away, it will show that you’re keen to help and offer support throughout the entire process.
Maternity pay
It’s also important for you to understand the current employer laws around maternity and paternity, to ensure that your company doesn’t get into any legal trouble around this topic and so that you’re able to offer the best solutions to the employee while they’re pregnant. Maternity leave and maternity pay are going to be one of your employee’s main considerations so make sure they are well informed about these to put their mind at ease
Scott Jones, Managing Director at Illustrate Digital, says:
“We keep all files in one central location and send around frequent emails to employees to remind them how to access them. This includes documents such as company policies, maternity and paternity information and company benefits. Some employees may be scared to ask about these sorts of things, especially new members of staff, so it’s important to make these documents easy accessible. All employees also have their own private folder which consists of their own contracts, payslips etc too.”
For help and advice on dealing with an expectant mother, or father, and their rights in the workplace, the best option would be to speak to an employment expert.
Health and Safety risk assessment
Once an employee has informed an employer that they are pregnant, it is the responsibility of the employer to carry out a risk assessment to see if the job poses any health and safety risks to the baby. If any risk are identified, reasonable adjustments should be made to eliminate the risks.
This might involve removing any hazards from the workplace, or even slightly amending the role of the pregnant employee so that they are no longer exposed to the risks. For a physically demanding job, this might involved going on light duties or being offered suitable alternative work.
Conclusions
Creating a supportive working environment for pregnant women helps the employee feel valued and increases the likelihood of valued members of staff actively wanting to return to the workplace and the same employer after their maternity period has elapsed.
Having systems in place that make it easy for the employee to access information relating to their rights, maternity allowances, statutory maternity pay and more, ensures employees know about their full entitlement and are unlikely to face any form of pregnancy discrimination or unfair treatment.
