Companies that manage work and family issues well, and do not discriminate against pregnant or potentially pregnant employees, attract and retain the best talent while enabling all their female staff to fully contribute to the best of their ability. They can also achieve over a 95 per cent return to work rate for women after maternity leave.

The information provided here aims to assist you to start thinking about:

• 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.

Keep in mind that women are a diverse group and differences such as age, religion, cultural and linguistic backgrounds, disability, sexual orientation, etc. should to be considered when shaping your workplace practices. Organisations that recognise and value women’s diversity stand to benefit from the range of skills and experiences they can bring to doing business in a diverse society.

Not all issues, actions and examples suggested here are relevant to your organisation. It is up to you to decide what is appropriate and relevant for your organisation to consider when analysing your workplace to identify issues for women, and taking actions to address these.

Analysing your workplace
Suggested Actions to Take to Address
- Developing Policies and Procedures
- Reviewing Policies and Procedures
- Reviewing People Management Practices
- Supporting Employees
- Communicating Policies and Procedures
Predominantly Male Workplace Issues
Predominantly Female Workplace Issues
Case Studies
Related Links and Resources

Analysing Your Workplace

To assist you to analyse your workplace to identify pregnancy, potential pregnancy and breastfeeding issues for women, you could:

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

Questions to Identify Recruitment and Selection Issues for Women

Remember, your organisation is unique and may have unique issues. However, the following questions may be helpful when analysing your workplace.

Pregnancy and Potential Pregnancy

	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 employees who access maternity leave returning from leave in your workplace?		Do women on maternity leave return to at least equivalent positions?
	Do pregnant and breastfeeding employees experience promotion or access to other benefits at a similar rate as non-pregnant employees?		Do women know that they can access their leave to attend medical appointments?
	Is there a mechanism for employees to make formal complaints in relation to discrimination on the grounds of pregnancy or potential pregnancy?		Is your workplace safe for pregnant employees? If not, what can be done to make it safe?
	Do pregnant women access training at similar rates to women who are not pregnant, and to men?		Are women still with the organisation six months after returning from maternity leave? A year later?
	Does the work environment support a woman’s choice to stay at work until a date close to the expected date of birth?		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?

Employees who are Breastfeeding

	Can employees continue to breastfeed after they have returned to work?		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)?
	Does the organisation provide a hygienic place for the employee to express milk?

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Suggested Actions to Take to Address

To comply with the Act, you need to take actions to address the conditions of service issues for women you identified. You do not need to do everything all at once and you can aim to achieve equal opportunity over time.

To be waived from reporting in following years, you must demonstrate that you have taken all reasonably practicable measures to address pregnancy, potential pregnancy and breastfeeding issues for women you have identified. For example, your issue might be retaining women after maternity leave.

The following suggestions will help you start thinking about actions you could take to address any pregnancy, potential pregnancy and breastfeeding issues you have identified.

Keep in mind that:

• 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.

Developing Policies and Procedures
Reviewing Policies and Procedures
Reviewing People Management Practices
Supporting Employees
Communicating Policies and Procedures

If you would like additional information on your company’s legal responsibility or additional information on pregnancy, potential pregnancy and breastfeeding, you may wish to visit the HREOC – Sex Discrimination Act for a copy of the Pregnancy Guidelines (1999) resulting from the National Pregnancy and Report Inquiry.

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Predominantly Male Workplace Issues

An equal opportunity program must deal with the specific needs and issues of your organisation. Such a program identifies and outlines the issues you are addressing and the initiatives you will put in place to achieve results. The most significant issues facing organisations with a majority of male employees may be:

• A lack of applications from female employees
• A low proportion of women in management
• A low proportion of women in non-traditional occupational categories eg. trades, labouring, plant and machinery operators
• Problems retaining female employees

	What work and family policies exist?		Do women return 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 (start and finish times)?		Can you introduce a ‘work from home’ policy? A job-share policy? What is the usage rate of these policies? Does it vary for men and women?
	Have you conducted a childcare cost benefit analysis?		Have you introduced a family or carer’s leave policy?

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Case Studies

Mixed Gender

• The results of a staff attitude survey at John Wiley & Sons indicated that flexible options were required to accommodate pregnant or potentially pregnant staff.
  
  Read about their actions ...

Predominantly Male

• For mothers returning to work at IBM Australia, flexible work and breast-feeding policies are in place, while carer and family leave are also accepted parts of the IBM culture.
  
  Read about the success of IBM’s diversity strategy.

• Management at Kimberly Clark Australia, through analysis of their workplace program, realised that they needed to increase their rate of return from maternity leave. Through specific actions, they now have an almost 100% return rate!
  
  Read what they did it…

Predominantly Female

• At Aldersgate, maternity leave is an ongoing issue that needed to be addressed sensitively due to such a high percentage of women on staff. Their actions to combat return to work are revolutionary and their results are truly ground breaking.
  
  Read more ...
  
  
• Australian National Credit Union (ANCU) faced a similar issue as many organisations – increasing return to work after maternity leave rate. Through some ingenious actions and a new policy, ANCU now benefits from increased return rates.
  
  Find out more ...
  
  
• Autoliv Australia, manufacturer of seatbelts and airbags, has managed pregnancy, maternity leave and breastfeeding proactively by taking action before issues arise. Actions such as workplace adjustments, paid maternity leave and provisions for breastfeeding have resulted in a dramatic increase in return from maternity leave rates.
  
  Read on ...
  
  
• It has been a key goal of Blake Dawson Waldron to retain experienced staff after maternity leave. By adopting sound and flexible EO work practices, Blake Dawson Waldron have been able to dramatically increase their return to work rate for maternity leave.
  
  Find out how you can archive this ...
  

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Related Links and Resources

• Guide to Combining Breastfeeding and Work
  www.workplace.gov.au
  
  A guide for employers, provided by the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations. (AUST)
  
  
• Australian Breastfeeding Association
  www.breastfeeding.asn.au
  
  In response to an ever-growing number of women returning to the workforce shortly after the birth of their baby, the Association has prepared information to assist mothers, employers, unions and governments to formulate policies to support breastfeeding women in the workplace.
  
  Other publications also available through the Association are:
  Breastfeeding, Women and Work booklet
  Expressing and Storing Breastmilk booklet
  The Caregiver's Guide to the Breastfed Baby leaflet
  
  
• Diversity Australia
  www.diversityaustralia.gov.au
  
  Diversity Australia  is a newly developed portal for diversity management, directed mainly to business, including business educators. The site is provided by the Department of Immigration, Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs and complements another new portal that has a government and community focus. Both sites will be available in April 2002.