Finding a mom-friendly job helps working moms achieve a balance in life between career and family. However, all this job relies heavily on the family-friendly policies that the employer has put in place to support parents.
If you are starting your career, coming from a career break, or simply switching employers, it is important to check if your potential employer has the necessary mom/family-friendly policies in place to support you.
Critical things to look out for includes child care policies, educational policies, maternity policies, and staffing among others. All give you the flexibility to incorporate, balance and thrive at both work and motherhood.
Only go for a job that is offering the maximum support in terms of policies for the moms or parents. The most important family-friendly policies for working moms focus on ensuring working moms get as much quality time as possible of work and support in parenting.
Things Moms Must Look for in Choosing a Job/Career
1. Child Care and Activities Policies
As a mom insist on a job that accommodates your need for emergency child care. You will face many challenges in getting the right and convenient type of childcare for their kids. However your plan fails, you need your employer to support you.
Some employers do offer their employees an emergency child care option for such emergencies that may include sending in a nanny. Other employers go out of their way to offer daycare services at the workplace.
Both options significantly lowers the childcare cost for the moms and is also a great convenience by eliminating daycare drop off and pickups. It is a good sign of a company you should work for. Be on the look out for such as family friendly company that you can potentially work for.
Other employers or workplaces offer after- school programs are good jobs.The programs accommodate school-going kids after school before the parents are through with their work. The program may incorporate educational and entertainment activities.
Another interesting program of a good company for moms is Kids Day at work. During this day, the parents are allowed to bring in their kid(s) in the morning and hand them over to caregivers. They get meals and the day is fully packed with educational and entertainment programs where the parents can join in the afternoon and gets to spend quality time with the kids.
All these programs are rare and that is why as a mom you should be on the look out before accepting job offers. The best type of job is one that allows you to thrive not only at work but at motherhood.
Read: Top Mom Friendly Jobs and Careers
2. Educational and Parent Support Policies
Educational and parent support policies are very important for a mom looking for family friendly organizations to work for. Support groups for parents or working moms are specifically crucial for moms through getting social networking, sharing tips, knowledge, and guidance on the journey.
The best kind of workplaces for moms ensues that they have all the supportive resources they need. Their presence illustrate a good family friendly workplace any mom would be interested in. The company facilitates by creating the necessary environment and channels for organized/structured regular meetings for parents, including both moms and dads.
Another crucial element you need consider when selecting a job are parent education programs. Some employers organize educational programs for parents at the workplace. The topics vary and incorporate different types of parents for different-aged kids.
Sometimes the employer can invite a professional to some of the meetings to discuss and help out the moms on the major challenges they are having. The presence of such shows the workplace is accommodating families and moms. If you identify such an employer, it is a good sign and a company you should work for.
Read: How to Quit your Job and Go Back to School
3. Good Pregnancy and Maternity Policies
Maternity leave is a very sensitive issue and one that working moms must consider in selecting an employer. The ability of the employer to offer adequate and paid maternity leave illustrates a good workplace fro moms.
After delivery, all working moms need adequate maternity leave of at least 12 weeks. Different employers have different policies on implementing this where some are very generous to the moms. For instance, some employers give 20 weeks, full pay, for birth mothers, and 12 weeks full pay to fathers.
Therefore when looking for a job look out for employers offering the best maternity leave package to the new mothers. The best kind of a job as a mom is one you are assured of a generous maternity package when you get pregnant.
Another thing that moms should look out for while selecting a workplace is the option of unpaid extended leave option. In addition to the paid maternity leave, moms may opt to take a prolonged maternity leave. Some employers offer the option of an extended unpaid leave if the moms need it.
Not many employers would be willing to offer this to their employees. Check out what the maternity leave policy at your potential employer is and see if it aligns with your goals. You will know the job is good for if it will meet your parenting goals.
Also look at the employers miscarriage/pregnancy losses leave. Not many employers consider the loss of pregnancy as a need for leave for the woman. Yet the woman needs time to recover as well as deal with the loss.
Some employers do offer up to 2 weeks’ leave with no doctor’s note required for pregnancy loss before 24 weeks. After 24 weeks, parental leave rules take effect. Therefore ensure that you go for a job that offers you this.
Lastly look at how the employer hands anti-pregnancy/mom discrimination. Pregnant and new moms face constant discrimination at the work. Such is a sign of a non family friendly workplace and this should be a major red-flag of an employer to avoid.
It is important that the workplace puts the right measures into place to protect pregnancy and new moms from all kinds of discrimination. It may be in the form of demotion, pay cuts, bypassing promotion, and being fired.
Look what your employer’s policy says about discrimination. A mom-friendly policy eliminates bias against working parents.The policies should also allow moms to get promoted and not lose all their progress after returning to work from maternity leave.
Read: Reasons to Disclose Pregnancy to your Employer
4. Staffing and Time Management Policies
One of the things you should consider in choosing a job as a mom is the level of staffing at the office. Look out for and select jobs and workplaces that aim at conducive staffing level. You will know a good job fit for you as a mom if it allows you a good work-life balance.
Adequate staffing is crucial for moms to avoid getting overwhelmed and reaching burnout. It is straining when you are overworked at the office,because by the time you get home you wont get quality time with your kids.
As such a mom-friendly policy would be targeted to retain adequate staffing to avoid overworking the moms. If staffing is always short and people are overworked, then colleagues will naturally start resenting the ones that need to take time off for their kids.
Another aspect of work that you can look at while selecting a job is the option for remote or part-time working. Times have changed and technology has powered and allowed people to work from home. Some jobs are appropriate for remote working while others are not.
Also, some employers allow this option while others do not. Check if your potential employer supports moms by allowing them to work from home or part-time. Also, look at how reasonable the work deadlines or unscheduled meetings are.
Further as a mom only choose employers or jobs that have time flexibility. It leaves you with more hours to handle more parenting duties and other emergencies. Some employers are more lenient to moms by allowing them to report late or leave early so that they can spend more time with their kids.
Lastly consider how the employer handles time off before accepting a job. Check if the time-off is penalized or not. Unfortunately, some employers penalizes moms for sick leaves or off days. It is important that employers have policies in place that offer moms a set of minimum sick off days they can take without penalizing them.
It is important too as moms do have sickness emergencies. They also need paid days off so they can take a break. Pick a job or employer who allows you to take time off when you need it to care for yourself or a family member.
Read: How to Set and Enforce Work Boundaries
5. Discounted Services Policies
Educational discounts can make an employer stand out from the rest as a mom friendly company. Some employers offer boxes/subscriptions for kids’ education programs. It helps you with access books or learning classes at a discounted price while the employers cover the rest.
Some employers also offer the parents access to discounted entertainment services. The discount reduces prices at parks, fun games, family days at a museum/zoo/aquarium, etc. where the kids can have fun and spend quality time with the moms.
Lastly affordability of the health insurance is a key element for moms to consider. Ensuring health cover of families is a good policy that is attractive for moms. It is important as it allows moms to get access to quality health care affordably as the employer is helping with the insurance. Therefore you should only select and pick employers who offer the comprehensive and competitive health cover.
All these are signs of a potential good place to work for.
Related Articles
How to Work Two Jobs without Burnout
How to be a Full Time Mom, Worker and Study
Sources of Motivation for Working Moms
