Having a comprehensive work/life strategy that includes programs and policies for pregnant and potentially pregnant employees has been proven to contribute to an increased return rate from maternity leave and the retention of talented staff. Such strategies also enable women to fully contribute to the workforce and reach their full potential.

• How you could analyse your workplace to identify any pregnancy, potential pregnancy and breastfeeding issues for women.

• Suggested actions you could take to address the pregnancy, potential pregnancy and breastfeeding issues for women you have identified.

• Identify how many women in your workplace are either pregnant, on maternity leave, or newly returned and nursing a small baby. Expand this group to include ‘potentially pregnant’ employees – women who are often categorised as likely to become pregnant because of assumptions based on their age or marital status. While these figures may give you a reasonable working base, be prepared to also look beyond assumptions based on age and marital status. Collecting this data anonymously through a comprehensive work/life needs assessment is one way of gathering objective statistical data on this issue.

• Consult with your employees.

• Examine your current policies and practices relating to pregnancy, potential pregnancy and breastfeeding.

• Review your policies on flexible work arrangements to ensure that a broad base of options are in place.

• Recognise the importance of retaining staff after parental leave.

Are pregnant women and women of all ages and different marital status recruited into your organisation'

Are pregnant women and women on maternity leave retained at similar rates to non-pregnant employees during periods of restructuring' Are women on parental leave included in salary review processes'

Are more than 75% of employees who access maternity leave returning from leave in your workplace'

Do women on maternity leave return to at least equivalent positions'

Do women know that they can access their leave to attend medical appointments'

Does your work environment support a woman’s choice to stay at work until a date close to the expected date of birth' And to return at a time that suits her between 6 weeks or up to 12 months'

Is your workplace safe for pregnant employees' If not, what can be done to make it safe' Is there a mechanism for pregnant women to be transferred to safe roles during their pregnancy if their current role cannot reasonably be made safe'

Would your policies, procedures and decisions about women who are pregnant, potentially pregnant or breastfeeding withstand the rigour of a review by an independent third party'

Is there a mechanism for employees to make formal complaints in relation to discrimination on the grounds of pregnancy or potential pregnancy'

Can women returning to work from maternity leave access flexible work arrangements'

Do pregnant women access training at similar rates to women who are not pregnant, or to men'

Is there a Keeping In Touch Program to help women on maternity leave maintain contact with the workplace'

Are pregnant and breastfeeding employees promoted or do they have access to other benefits at a similar rate as non-pregnant employees'

Are women still with the organisation six months after returning from maternity leave' A year later' Are women still with the organisation after 2 or more periods of maternity leave'

Do working conditions enable employees to continue to breastfeed after they have returned from maternity leave'

Are women confident that they will not be treated less favourably as a result of being pregnant or breastfeeding' Is the response similar for women of different backgrounds (eg. culturally diverse women, disabled women, older women)'

Does the organisation provide a hygienic and comfortable environment for breastfeeding employees to express milk'

Are there opportunities for women to work from home and/or work flexible hours'

Does the organisation provide breast pumps for women who are breastfeeding'

Does the organisation provide access to carer’s leave'

• Not all of these actions may be relevant to your organisation. You will need to decide whether you choose to do all, some, or none of the suggested actions and whether you wish to tailor suggested actions to suit the needs of your workplace.

•  If your workplace analysis demonstrates your organisation has no issues for women in this employment matter, you would not need to take any actions.

• Develop a policy to support women who are pregnant, returning from maternity leave or breastfeeding. Ensure that this does not make any assumptions about the age of pregnant or potentially pregnant women, or those who are adopting children.

• Include pregnancy and potential pregnancy issues in your policy and training on workplace harassment and discrimination.

• Make a presentation to your management team that demonstrates the business case for actions to create an inclusive workplace for pregnant employees, and employees who are breastfeeding. Ensure your recommendations are sensitive to the needs of women from different cultural backgrounds and of different ages.

• Research what other companies have done to support women in this area. Assess how the strategies of leading practice organisations can be translated into actions within your own workplace.

• Hold a series of lunchtime workshops with guest speakers on parenting issues.

• Consider including speakers who address how they managed pregnancy/ breastfeeding while working. Look for speakers to represent a diversity of backgrounds and experiences. Include parents from your own organisation to share the experiences of returning to work and how they coped with key issues.

• Provide a clean private room (other than a toilet) where nursing employees can express breast milk or breastfeed their baby.

• Provide a comfortable chair, access to a small fridge and facilities for washing hands and storing expressing equipment.

• If possible, provide a carer’s room.

• Review your people management policies to ensure they are inclusive of pregnant and breastfeeding workers.

  -         Are pregnant women allowed to attend doctors’ appointments during work
             time'

  -         Do you provide leave for women to participate in IVF programs'

  -         Can pregnant women utilise sick leave to attend appointments'

  -         Do these policies cover all pregnant employees, regardless of their
            employment status'  And is this information readily communicated to all
            employees'

• Develop a policy that supports and facilitates breastfeeding in the workplace.

• Include lactation breaks for nursing mothers in your policy in a way that is flexible and which meets the mothers’ needs and the organisation’s needs.

• Conduct focus groups with your female staff to identify the challenges and opportunities for improving the workplace for pregnant and breastfeeding women. Make sure you include women of different cultural/religious backgrounds and ages.

• Conduct a safety audit of your work environment to ensure it is as safe as practicable for pregnant employees, and for any co-workers whose jobs are altered as a consequence of a change in tasks.

• Review maternity leave statistics – time off, return rates, return modes (for example, full-time and part-time returns) etc.

• Consider including paid maternity leave beyond legal minima.

• Ensure that mothers have flexible return-to-work options (for example, part-time work, job-share) that assist them to continue breastfeeding.

• Ensure that pregnant, potentially pregnant and breastfeeding women get access to the same training and development as their peers.

• Ensure that pregnant and breastfeeding women are still considered and recommended for roles as part of your succession planning.

• Ensure that managers and those responsible for making decisions regarding promotion, recruitment etc. are trained in EEO and the issues concerning pregnant or potentially pregnant women.

• Where appropriate, provide the opportunity for employees to undertake casual paid work whilst on maternity leave.

• Ensure that your organisation has provided an appropriate and reasonable work environment for pregnant employees (eg. seating, regular access to water and toilets).

• Involve staff working in your occupational health and safety area, and consult with OH&S representatives to ensure the workplace is safe for, and accommodates the needs of, pregnant employees.

• Develop a parental leave information kit that contains the organisation’s parental leave, return to work and breastfeeding policies. Give examples of the documentation that will be required to inform their manager/organisation about their leave requirements and plans to return to work. Include both manager and staff responsibilities and a planner for the manager and the employee.

• Implement a Keeping in Touch Program for women on maternity leave. This would include opportunities for the employee to attend Team Meetings, Training Sessions and other activities to maintain their skill levels.

• Provide information on child-care options and services.

• Provide networking opportunities for pregnant employees to share their experiences with other women who have returned to work after maternity leave.

• Ensure that your policy and procedures in support of pregnancy, return from maternity leave and breastfeeding are communicated and accessible to all employees (including culturally and linguistically diverse women, disabled women and older women).

• Educate your selection panels on how to interview pregnant and potentially pregnant women, and on how they can ensure they do not discriminate against them.

• Encourage managers to communicate with pregnant employees about:

  -        Flexible work options available to women returning from maternity leave.

  -        Any dependant care support that the organisation provides (for example, a
           telephone information service or child-care resource kit).

• Encourage managers to continue talking with employees so they can balance the needs of the individual and the business.

• Educate managers to not make assumptions about the capabilities of pregnant women. Also, keep in mind that women’s cultural differences may influence how they communicate their pregnancy needs and values.

• Ensure that the needs and requirements of pregnant women in a work team are discussed with other staff in the area, particularly if there is a need to change work allocation. This may help to avoid resentment within the team and the perception that pregnant women receive special treatment.

• Use training forums to ‘mainstream’ EEO issues (for example, cover Valuing and Managing Difference through Conditions of Service in induction training).

• Hold managers accountable for providing equal opportunity to pregnant, potentially pregnant and breastfeeding women, by including this accountability in managers’ workplace and performance agreements, and in key performance objectives.

• Encourage managers to lead by example when providing equal opportunity to pregnant and potentially pregnant women and women who are breastfeeding.

• A lack of applications from female employees.

• A low proportion of women in management.

• A low proportion of women in non-traditional occupational roles, eg. trades, labouring, plant and machinery operators, corporate lawyers, engineers, bankers, finance.

• Problems retaining female employees.

What policies exist concerning workplace flexibility'

Is there a high percentage of women returning from maternity leave'

Do your policies and practices reflect the needs of staff'

Do you keep in touch with women while on maternity leave'

Have you introduced part-time work and family leave' Can you introduce more flexible hours (such as flexible start and finish times)'

Have you introduced a ‘work from home’ policy' A job-share policy' If so, what is the usage rate of these policies'

Do women within your organisation feel that they can talk about their pregnancy or desire to fall pregnant without it affecting their careers'

Have you identified success stories and ongoing challenges to accessing and implementing flexible work arrangements' Do the responses vary for women and men'

Have you conducted an assessment that identifies the child-care needs of all staff (both women and men)'

Have you introduced a family or carer’s leave policy'

What action have you taken to respond appropriately to the identified needs of pregnant, potentially pregnant and breastfeeding women'

If you have not already done so, is it feasible for your organisation to introduce a Keeping in Touch program for women who are on maternity leave' Do you have clear policies and guidelines on how and when staff should apply for parental leave'

• Conduct an assessment of the current and future needs of the women within your organisation in relation to current and future pregnancies and breastfeeding. Consider linking this audit with a more general work/life assessment that also reviews the needs of the business, team leaders and male staff as well as female.

• Use the data collected from the assessment to update your strategy and where appropriate, link this into the development of your business case for paid maternity leave.

• Establish a carers’ room at appropriate sites. Provide a clean and safe place for breastfeeding mothers to express milk on their return to work. Ensure that a fridge is available for storage.

• Implement a Stay in Touch program or network for employees (both women and men) on parental leave.

• Include staff on parental leave (women and men) in the annual remuneration process.

• Provide staff with access to free advice on workplace flexibility issues, including child-care.

• Ensure that there is a designated breast-feeding or parents’ room in the office.

• Ensure that there is a working policy that enables staff members returning from maternity leave to bring their babies in to feed, or when child-care arrangements cannot be made.

• Encourage senior managers and managers to act as role models and to take up flexible working arrangements such part-time hours or job-sharing if they wish to do so.

• Ensure that a phased return-to-work system upon returning from parental leave is in place.

• Enable all staff, including managers, to utilise flexible hours to breastfeed.

• Review your current policies on maternity leave, flexible working options, carer’s leave, paid parental leave, OH&S (in relation to pregnant, potentially pregnant and breastfeeding employees). Check that these policies are compliant with current legislation.
• If they do not exist already, implement the following policies across your organisation:

  -        Maternity Leave / Parental Leave Policy

  -        Breast Feeding Policy

  -        Pregnancy and Work Policy

  -        Children in the Workplace Policy

  -        Pregnancy Risk Assessment

• A Maternity Leave Policy should include access to part-time hours on return to work.
• Ensure that staff on maternity leave are paid a contact allowance for being available to attend selected meetings.

• Offer paid maternity leave and paid parental leave. Benchmark against others in your industry to see what your competitors offer. Below are some examples of paid maternity leave options:

  -        6 weeks half-pay on commencement of leave, 6 weeks half-pay after six
           months back at work.

  -        8 weeks paid leave available to all staff (permanent and casuals with more
           than 12 months service). 

  -        12 weeks paid leave for primary care giver and 1 week paid leave for
           secondary care giver – no length of service requirement.

  -       26 weeks paid leave – can also be taken for 52 weeks at half pay.

• Permit staff to work from home after returning from maternity leave, including managers.

• Meet all reasonable requests for changes to hours on return from parental leave.

• Monitor staff members’ workloads on return to work.

• Provide staff during late pregnancy an allowance to park in city.

• Allow provisions so that staff can retain their company car during parental leave.

• Provide ergonomic assessments of pregnant staff’s working areas by appropriately trained staff.

• Continue to provide educational assistance to staff on leave.

• Provide a pager service so that a child-care centre can page a mother at work when her child needs to be breastfed.

• Allocate a ‘buddy’ to every staff member on parental leave to ensure they are kept up to date.

• Advise managers and supervisors that they need to assist staff returning from maternity leave with successfully utilising workplace flexibility.

• Offer refresher training or other re-induction programs to staff returning from maternity leave.

• Communicate relevant policies to all staff members.

• Maintain ongoing communication before, after and during parental leave.

• Put in place a ‘Keep in Touch’ program.

• Regularly prodcue booklets or pamphlets addressing these matters and circulate them to all staff, including those on leave.