Building Work Culture to Make Parenthood Easier

#ExperienceSharing

I have just re-joined my job from 6-months of paid maternity leave this March.

I work at a growing non-profit that has limited staff; where we have to multitask on a regular basis; where we have to source, spend and save every penny with a super calculative approach (I guess every organization does that, right?); where affording contingency for a long-term leave is near to luxury. Global pandemic made it more difficult as colleagues had to take medical leave more frequently, funds had to be re-distributed for emergency need and sustaining became the only agenda for small organizations like us. I know being a small organization, it was not easy for my organization to give a full paid maternity leave to a senior employee who leads a newly established department.

So, what is expected of this kind of organization?

They will give you maternity leave because they have to comply with the labor law but they will try to interrupt your leave, they will regularly put pressure on you to complete your assigned task before you go ahead with your leave, they will taunt you here and there and the list goes on! I have heard many of my friends, relatives, aquintances complain about their amazing workplace when they became pregnant. But it didn't happen in my case or in any of my colleagues' cases. Here's why -

My supervisor scheduled a meeting with me

The moment I e-mailed about my pregnancy, my supervisor scheduled a meeting with me. The then supervisor was a doctor and a dedicated parent, so he knew and understood the physical and mental hassle I would go through during my pregnancy. The first advice he gave me was to start working from home full time as there was a nationwide COVID-19 emergency ongoing at that time. He wanted to get involved in my projects to help out and told me I can schedule one-on-one sessions with him as a physician whenever I needed to vent out. The most important sentence was uttered - don't panic, don't worry, we've got your back! This is one of the most important phases of your life, I want you to enjoy it. I know you will worry about your work, but work will be done anyway, we all can help you out! But no one can replace you in your child's life. So, focus on that, focus on your pregnancy.

25% of my tasks were re-distributed

I was advised to take a step back and design my team calendar till I come back from my maternity leave. So, sitting in February 2021, I was planning what my team will do till February 2022. By September 2021 when I was going for my maternity leave, my team was already trained to self-manage their tasks, assigned to other teams on a six-month deputation, and my supervisor had the calendar to supervise individual progress. But there were a few tasks that I was doing single-handedly and that was 25% of my job profile. That 25% of tasks were re-distributed among other senior employees considering their expertise. Well, I was relieved that somebody was carrying forward my projects! Now I could carry forward with my motherhood journey!

My colleagues went out of their way to celebrate my motherhood

There were days during my second trimester when I couldn't work from home due to external engagements, meetings or I was simply feeling bored at home. So, I would notify my colleagues who lived nearby my house. They would pick me up from my house and would drop me off at the end of my work hour.

I kept getting presents after presents with each passing week. I couldn't eat chicken in earlier days, but protein is important for a pregnant woman and her child. So, my colleague would cook chicken with different flavors for me. They would bring pickles (they still have pickles for me in the office fridge), cakes, and flowers for me to make me feel better. They even threw an online baby shower for me and another colleague (who was also pregnant at the time).

Are my colleagues super-rich? Does my office force my colleagues to do such things? No! They have created an environment of comfort for everyone around them. They just remember to say hi, they don't forget to smile at each other, and keep track of everyone's mental health!

My maternity leave was uninterrupted

As usual, I overpromised few of my deliverables and could not deliver a thing or two before starting my leave. I still don't know how my supervisor took care of it. She understood my emergency situation and those works were done magically without involving me during my maternity leave. Not a single one from my office knocked me with work. They would knock me once or twice month to see if I was feeling okay, if my child was okay but NEVER with WORK! I even hung out with them twice, was invited to office function once during my maternity leave, but no one talked work with me.

I can reschedule my office hour according to my child's need

It's been almost two months that I have re-joined work. Within this short time, I had to add a series of work from home in my calendar as their was absence of caregiver or my child was sick. My supervisor does not care from where I am working as long as I am delivering my work on time, my team is well-coordinated, and I am not super stressed with my care work. I even can bring my child to work anytime I need to. Office assistants help out in looking after my child, my colleagues take turns to hold him if I have important meetings to attend to. My office is so small that we are unable to afford a daycare but they provide such a welcoming environment that I don't feel I am missing out on anything.

Equal treatment for male colleagues are still on the way!

Well, it's not a fairytale. We had to do a lot of hard work, lof of process building, example setting for such environment. My colleagues and all of us at our organization had to build an environment of trust and openness to make parenthood and overall life easier for us. Such openness did not hamper our work because we kept collaborating, we kept empathizing and we kept searching for easier and practical solutions. It's not that only women get such treatment at our office. I remember throwing baby shower for our male colleagues and their wives also. I remember, my male colleagues coming to work late, taking work from home because their kids and family members were not feeling well or they needed a family day. In terms of providing male colleagues with parental leave, we are just not there yet (We can only provide 7-15days of parental leave) but we are trying to create equally comfortable environment for our male colleagues when they need to be with their families. With our increasing size of staff and projects, I dream we can create that too!

At the end of the day, we all need to believe in happy colleague, happy workplace, right??

[P.S. I wanted to write it in a subtle way, more in a third person's view. Then I thought, no I have to brag! Because, we all need to talk about our positive workplace experience. Work doesn't need to be tiresome! So, I JUST BRAGGED and BRAGGED! Feel free to inbox or comment, if you need to BRAG about your workplace too! If we don't share, then who will?]