Innovative Ways to Support Working Moms

Much has been said about how the workplace has evolved over the last couple of years offering more and more benefits with employees in mind. Although at many companies great strides have been made, one area where organizations still seem to fall short is in terms of accommodating working mothers. Many working moms discovered a little too late that "family-friendly" policies at their company depend on the goodwill of individual managers — a common problem, several studies have found.

Women, much more than men, leave their current career path or stop working altogether while their children are young. This trend, observed worldwide, comes despite the fact that some organizations have increased assistance and policies for working parents. However, the sad reality is that far too many work environments do not provide enough support for working mothers and workplace moms are frequently viewed as not willing to work as hard and long as workers without children. In a country with severe skill shortages, we can't afford to lose any skilled capable employees to something that can be fixed with forward-thinking workplace initiatives.

Any workplace can make life a little easier for the moms in the company. Here are three innovative ways to offer support and flexibility to working moms.

Performance measurements
More and more companies have decided to radically change their performance appraisal process, not just for working moms but all employees. Times have changed. Don't manage and measure performance based on "who spends the most time at their desk" at work. Manage and measure performance by results. As long as employees are producing results, they should be trusted to manage their time. This will especially make a huge difference to moms.

Flexibility
The benefit of flexible work schedules is a huge plus when trying to retain skilled working mothers in your organization. For moms, it's all about having control over their own schedule or the ability to work from home. As long as employees are producing results, they should be trusted to manage their time.

Ease the child care juggles
Research by the International Labour Organisation has shown that employers consider child-care issues as causing more problems than any other family-related issue in the workplace. This resulted in increases in absenteeism and tardiness at nine out of 10 companies surveyed. In addition, 80% of the companies said that workdays were cut short because of child-care problems.

The reality is that initiatives like flexible work hours, generous family leave policies, and assistance with childcare will not just improve the overall well-being of our society and our communities but also boost a company's bottom line. Employer support can include on-site programs, support for established community programs, financial subsidies, or resource and referral services. Old Mutual's Greens'cool is an ideal example of a work-based daycare center. Parents drop off their children at the school before heading to their offices.

Helping workers raise their families instead of putting roadblocks in their way is not just the right thing to do, it's also just plain smart business.

If you are an employer of choice and looking for new talents to hire, we can assist. Communicate Recruitment is a specialist recruitment agency, with the very best recruiters. We specialize in the sourcing of top candidates in the Finance, IT, Engineering, and Supply Chain/Freight industries, both for permanent and contracting placements throughout South Africa, and the African continent.

We also have various vacancies, which include jobs in Finance, IT, Engineering, Freight and Supply Chain.