Whether you’re in an exciting career and thinking about starting a new family or you’re an employer wanting to better support your teams, family friendly workplaces can benefit everyone.
“There are moments that matter in our life where we have to really sit down and think about what we really want,” Emma Walsh, founder of Parent’s at Work, tells Tarla Lambert on our podcast series ‘Fertility Unfiltered’, in partnership with Genea Fertility.
“Sometimes we can find ourselves – at a point where you know we’re just so busy on the hamster wheel – just you know going through the motions that we’re not taking stock of actually where we’ve got to in our work or our personal goals.”
A mum of three, Walsh’s service- Parents at Work- is Australia’s first dedicated return-to-work service for parents and has now helped thousands of working mums and dads juggle work and family life.
Walsh says that if you’re planning to have a baby, there are some important conversations to have.
“My view always is if we can have upfront conversations first of all with ourselves and our partners about what we really want, then those conversations can be really rich,” she says.
“They lead to really great input from others and you get to talk out loud about what really matters to you, and in doing so, they almost unlock the next conversation that is really important to have – whether it’s your leader or your broader workplace or your HR team.”
While it may feel uncomfortable to open up to an employer about wanting to try to get pregnant or asking for support in your job with kids in the picture, Walsh says it’s worth it to find someone to talk to.
“I’m always blown away by how sometimes the most amazing – changes are made to an organisation’s policies – because one person – in the beginning spoke up and said something,” she says.
“So don’t underestimate your voice – your ability to impact change.”
Many workplaces around the country are realising that staff need to feel empowered both at home and work. Family-friendly and inclusive policies allow employees to be happier and more productive.
One employer leading the dial with a family friendly workplace is QBE Insurance, which not only works directly with its own employees to develop supportive policies and culture but has also partnered with organisations like Parents at Work on projects like Family Friendly Workplaces.
QBE’s head of diversity and inclusion Catherine McNair tells the ‘Fertility Unfiltered’ podcast that the insurer has seen a lot of positive impact from supporting staff who are coping with serious life changes as well, such as pregnancy loss.
To do this, QBE works closely with non-profit The Pink Elephants Support Network, which is built on the idea of creating a circle of safety and protection around people who are going through pregnancy loss.
McNair says the insurance company “introduced additional leave a couple of years ago for people who were experiencing pregnancy loss.”
“What we aimed to do was ensure that our people and their partners felt supported during that time so we actually extended our full paid parental leave policy to all employees which is twelve weeks over twenty four months, acknowledging that the experience, as I already said, is diverse, but that loss is not a moment in time,” she says.
“That it takes time to heal emotionally and mentally and physically and that there can be a number of events – that occur in the future where people need that ongoing support.”
For employers out there looking to support their staff through big life events, McNair says that partnering with nonprofits and other specialist advocacy groups can help develop more sophisticated insight into best practices.
“The more courageous you are as a workplace to have those challenging conversations – the more it normalises the conversation for people,” says McNair, adding that “it supports people leaders to understand what that experience is and what the resources are that we can offer our people, and the more that you will have people who will come forward and seek out those resources.”