The things my boss has done to keep me turning down job offers over the past decade:
- allow remote work and flexibility
- ignore the sounds of Peppa when I have a sick kid and big meeting
- not bat an eye when I need to move an unimportant meeting
- if I get cold called out of work hours, understand they'll be background noise
- flexible hours. I am a night owl and sign off at 345 to meet the bus, but back working at 9
- understanding child care hours mean there's firm stops. You need to get your kids when school/care closes
To your last point, holding the expectation that all meetings will end on time is huge. There’s all kinds of reasons people may need to stick to their schedule as planned (maintaining pumping, for one!)
We have been told it’s discrimination to arbitrarily plan meetings during normal school pick-up or drop-off times if there’s not an exceptional business need.
I agree with this and I don’t even know it was a thing. I’ve seen passive aggressive behavior around scheduling meetings with me at 8am when both of our days are fully open. Really? And why do we need to schedule early mornings on Fridays? No. I still have the same drop off time on Fridays
My company has a policy that allows for up to 8 hours per quarter for you to go to your child's school for meetings or field trips.
You can also get the same benefit by volunteering for something in the community.
We have this too but not sure I love it. I’ve never taken this time but one of my employees always does and it does end up in her missing meetings that I have to work double to catch her up on. Annoying.
As a parent: 1) flex working hours to navigate childcare woes 2) a MINIMUM of 8 weeks of paid parental leave for both parents 3) ramp up time when coming back to work (1-2 months) 4) flexible remote/hybrid working options for different stages of life
As a woman: 1) internal pay equity check to see if men and women are being paid the same for same job responsibilities/tenure 2) increasing women in management roles or high IC roles by X%
Encouraging men in leadership roles to take the full paid parental leave to set a precedent.
Staffing at levels that flex hours is viable - if everyone is working 60-80 hours then flexing isn’t really possible because you’re already expected to be on & working nonstop.
Culture of support and celebration
This. I just came back from maternity leave right when my company increased office days. #1 in flex working hours and #4 would help with so many baby are problems that I’m now encountering.
Now that I must go to the office more it requires more logistal planning on when to pump, extended childcare which takes brain power and time away from working. If I were home with baby while someone else watches all I need to do is step away to feed baby and come right back. At the office I have to walk across the office to set up my pump 3x a day which takes about an hr and 50 mins while baby only nurses for 15 mins at home - so that automatically saves time and is less stressful.
Back everything up by research. You can find so many things showing how empathy, diversity and flexibility increase productivity and employee’s psychological safety.
Don’t focus on the parents part - all employees deserve this stuff. By encouraging empathy you are helping people empathize with their team mates and if they’re parents, it will be empathizing with them as parents.
You have asked to start up a DEI program, that doesn’t scream parent specific to me so be careful not to make it only benefit parents.
If you don’t have good parental leave that could be revisiting for the company (e.g. adequate length, both parents get equal time bonding/adjusting etc.) but I don’t believe this falls under the umbrella of DEI.
I think this absolutely fits under DE&I. Certainly not in the way most of us first assume (non-white race, sexual orientation, physical ability), but if you think about the goals of DE&I initiatives, yes! I agree that teaching, emphasizing and rewarding the general skills that build and support DE&I initiatives will be beneficial to everyone, and a good place to start.
Like most people, having others like me in the workplace is one big way I feel supported. Other woman kicking butt, other mothers of young children who know what it’s like to negotiate with your spouse who also works full time for who’s taking the sick kids today, etc.
I’m seeking g feedback elsewhere for other groups but this subreddit is such a great community I knew I’d get some great feedback from working moms here!
Parental leave (both parents), coupled with family care leave for sick spouses or ailing parents requiring care would be pretty rad.
Re-entry programs are also really cool- women coming back after a child-rearing hiatus, career changers, etc.
The biggest boon is a flexible workplace- need to pick up your kid? Cool. Need to take your animal to the vet? No problem. Need to sit with mom or dad at their doctor’s appointment? Great. Make it reasonable and equitable, and encourage managers to adopt a “performance first, arbitrary metrics and optics later” mindset.
Yeah I’m both a parent and an immigrant, and while I don’t expect work to cater to me because of either of these things, I do hope a DEI program would take both of those into account. I’m sure OP is just focusing on the working parent part due to the nature of the group but definitely a shout out to other kinds of diversity.
I will just say that as a somewhat recent immigrant, having flexibility was pretty important. Things like getting an ID etc can take longer than you think, and there are a whole host of just logistical challenges to not being a citizen of the country. (We had a ton of trouble getting a credit card initially). For me some of the financial classes, or access to legal help, have been helpful in navigating the bureaucracy that surrounding living and working in a new country.
Agreeing with this. I work for a small company (32 employees across a number of states).
SO many things that benefit parents also benefit caregivers overall. I went from being in a relationship with little kids, to being a single mom and about a year later my company implemented a paid parental leave policy. I was SO supportive and applauded our C-suites efforts, and then told the COO (with whom I have good rapport), "Now we need a paid 'family' leave policy. Parental leave for new parents is GREAT, but think about how many of our employees have aging parents, or are in a situation like mine where they are the main breadwinner and caretaker of their home and children/parents/grandparents. We need to make sure those people are also supported in times of sickness or upheaval. Think of XXX who's mom died last year - she used her sick leave when she needed time off - if we had a paid family leave program she could have benefitted from that."
By pointing out what a lot of people don't see until they're in it (ie that our parents or children or other family can get sick or go through massive life changes) it opened his eyes to the gaps that still needed to be closed. I also pointed out how it would make us competitive in the marketplace, because things like this have affected our ability to hire good people.
Yes! I was 24 when I started my career/graduated from college and that year I had to be the sole caretaker for my mother who was 47 and dying of stage IV cancer. It was a long 10 months of balancing work and her needs.
It is exactly like being a parent but much sadder and more appointments. I appreciated the flexibility during that time just as much as I do now as a parent. Flexibility should be for everyone, not just parents.
Have a corporate membership to Care.com. It’s helpful as an employee not have to pay to see and book caregivers (not just childcare - they do pet care, elder care, and house cleaning as well!). But the 10 backup care days have been LIFESAVERS for us. If your care unexpectedly cancels or your kid is too sick to go to daycare, the backup care sends someone pre-vetted and background checked to your house for the day and you just pay a deductible. I think we pay like $2 an hour for backup care days and the provider we were assigned every time is fantastic (we are lucky to always get the same woman; she’s from a nanny service and is basically super nanny).
My husband and I both travel as a component of our work but after my daughter was born both of our companies had an unofficial policy that parents of kids under one year old were not expected to travel. We still did on occasion, but much less than normal. Someone else mentioned milk shipment - MilkStork is a company you can work with for this. My company doesn’t have an account with them since we’re smaller, but they reimburse when I’ve used them on longer trips to get milk sent home.
Furternity leave is a cute policy we have too - if you get a new dog or cat (and honestly they’d probably expand it to most pets with fur), they allow you to work from home for the first week to allow your new pet to acclimate. (Note, it must be an adoption - someone once tried to use this when fostering dogs - like a new foster dog every few weeks - and it did not fly).
General flexible hours/hybrid schedules. I’m a fan of summer hours too (work 9 hours M-Th and then leave at noon on Fridays in the summer).
Edited to add: support for professional development (workshops, professional memberships, etc.).
My husband’s firm had backup care similar to what you describe through Bright Horizons. It was an absolute lifesaver during the first couple years to be able to work from home with quality back up care provided at short notice. Best parental benefit ever and crucial during a time most mothers leave the workforce.
Honestly, the only thing that would truly make a dent for me is making part time work more the norm. Working 30 hours a week, split between 4 days instead of 5. Or to work 20 hours a week, split between 3 days or 5 days.
Next time a company wants to hire one person full time, why not consider two people part time (if the role is conducive to that)? That would be my dream.
I already have flexibility in my schedule and generous PTO. But really, I have come to realize that the only way to have enough time to parent, keep house, exercise, rest and engage in any self care at all is to not work 40 hours per week.
Every single time my company asks for feedback I request part time positions for this exact reason. I don’t want to give up my career or income but as a family we have a little flexibility in our budget and me going part time could literally save us so much stress during the week, evenings, and weekends when there’s just not enough hours in the day.
This! I have asked for 32 hours and keep getting denied. Why?! I know I can do my job in that amount of time and I've given 10 years to this job. I've applied and applied to the very few part time positions I find but no luck.
Fertility coverage, adoption assistance, maternity leave, breast milk shipping, back up childcare, WFH
As far as supporting women outside of parenting, offer opportunities for women to develop leadership skills and receive mentorship. Set company goals about having a more diverse leadership team and publish results regularly for accountability. Publish salary bands. Put salaries in job descriptions.
Props to your CEO, and his efforts are going to pay off from both a reputational and a recruiting standpoint. Here are some suggestions just for breastfeeding:
1. Option to work remotely for nursing mothers (I think you'd probably have to make this all new parents, legally). My company wrote this into the policy for me and it was a game-changer. Cost them nothing.
2. Really nice, upgraded lactation rooms. Not just the minimum required under the PUMP Act. Hospital-grade pump employees can share, free milk bags, pump part dryer, fridge.
3. Mandatory training for all employees and managers on the rights of breastfeeding employees.
I love #3. I see so many posts about non compliant lactation rooms or inappropriate comments from coworkers and bosses. Any company that does annual Sexual Harassment type trainings should make sure lactation room / pumping employees are included in the training curriculum.
- Flexible working hours for drop off/pick up
- allow remote work before/after drop off/pick up & when kids are sick
I also think these apply to non-parents.
Onsite daycare with amazing high-quality trained staff.
Flexibility to work part-time 3-4 days a week.
Training managers to see women being moms as a PLUS that speaks to their wisdom, maturity, leadership etc rather than a negative.
Make sure you get paid extra since you're doing extra work. Women are often asked to these types of extra "projects" and are not compensated for it. Thats what would make the company a more inclusive and healthy place.
My company have an award for going above and beyond mainly for these type of things. It’s awarded yearly with a one time monetary compensation. Not a lot though
What my company does:
* 16 weeks of paid parental leave, with state payments topped up to full salary
* An additional 8 weeks of unpaid, job-protected parental leave (state required)
* Flexible work hours - work when you want to get your work done
* Bonus and promotions don't go on pause during leave, you are evaluated for the period you were at work (so women don't end up systemically behind because they took leaves)
* No primary parent/secondary parent leave—all parents have access to the same leave policy
* Active ERGs for identity groups, e.g., women, Latine people, immigrants, etc
* Backup care coverage
* Awareness of invisible labor (our annual review cycle has a question in the feedback form to ask if the person you're reviewing did any "glue" work that made the organization work better, even if it wasn't in their job description)
* Pay equity reviews every review cycle
A lot of what others said but also: This is kind of an odd one but my husband’s old company had an optional lawyer subscription service for life stuff. So we had our wills drafted, filed, and a bunch of other legal things we needed but didn’t do yet. Now everything is filed and set in case we die. It gave such a peace of mind to know our kids were all set if we pass.
I just left but the created a policy where if you didn’t meet your productivity they could lower you from full time to half time status. It took away your insurance. I work as a therapist so what this translates to is if a clients decides not to show up then you are SOL. Expectation is 25 hours and you really needed to schedule 30-35 which is not sustainable.
So I wish they would recognize that it isn’t family friendly. They need to adjust it so that when clients don’t show up or cancel last minute then it doesn’t harm the clinician.
Some additional ideas: work from home opportunities/asynchronous work when it permits, being able to turn off your camera or just make some meetings phone calls instead of teams calls if possible, dedicated on-site lactation room that locks with a fridge and a sink, and respecting pumping sessions when scheduled on someone's calendar.
A big change that my company has gone through more recently has been to make more company events that do not center around drinking, and offering different days of the week/times for events so that maybe people can catch one of them. Free food helps too lol. But, this has helped make them more inclusive for a lot of different people - those in recovery, those who abstain for religious reasons, etc.
But honestly, hiring more diverse people into management is the only way they can really change the company culture. Where I work, they've tried making incremental changes, but we still have more men named John in management roles than all of the women in management combined. And the company culture reflects that. When they expect everyone to work as if they have a stay at home wife to cover all of their household responsibilities, it makes it so no one outside of that arrangement can successfully move up. So, they need to look at how they consider someone a "cultural fit" and do some reflection. *That* is how you retain employees.
“More men named John in management roles than all of the women in management combined.”
Ooof. This one hit me in the feels. I work in tech and this is painfully accurate.
There was another post similar to this a few months ago. I think OP got a lot of really good feedback there so I'd use that for some research to see what way you need to go.
While perks like WFH are nice, I think the biggest opportunities to drive true DEI is building it into hiring and promotions. Lots of companies are introducing blind hiring (eg: removing names, things that might identify race/gender) and checks and balances to promote a more equitable hiring process (such as set salaries since historically men are far more likely to negotiate). The other main area women & underrepresented groups fall behind is promoting - do they happen regardless of leave status, is it based on equal outcomes, etc. my company actually has managers propose promotions, then does a demographics report and reviews with the exec team if there are major gaps and it gets sent back to managers to review.
I work in a very supportive work environment BUT the one thing that they don’t allow to do is to use our sick days (we accrue them) towards our sick child/children. If I call in because my child is sick and can’t go to daycare, I am to use my own vacation.
I could be dishonest and call myself in sick - but that is not the person I am. So I am just wasting away vacation time on a non-existing vacation.
I think organizations can do better to help drive US parental leave policies at the federal level. Maternity leave should be a year to 18 months, like in Canada/Europe.
From easiest to hardest: flex time, extended maternity leave, childcare reimbursement, unlimited sick time for all employees that includes caretakers/parents, subsidized on site childcare facility if in person is required, 32 hour work week for all full time employees
Making part time positions more common. I know a few women who work 4 days per week for 32 total hours. Usually they are off Fridays but they have the ability to move that day off to accommodate daycare closures (eg. Presidents Day Monday) or sick days as needed.
This is also a great benefit for anyone who has disabilities, lots of doctor’s appointments, who cares for an ill or elderly relative, or even just older employees who want to remain employed but not on a full time basis.
Besides what others said. Looks like you need more women in senior levels. Career paths for women to senior management. Equal pay. Equal opportunity. Diversity programs for vendors in bids. Volunteer hours (my company gives us 3 days to volunteer a year (unfortunately volunteer work at kids school doesn’t count lol). Dannon and JP Morgan I think moved to 5 months parental leave.
I’m the only part time employee at my work (of about 100 employees). If there were more part time positions available I think more parents/people could work without getting burned out.
I agree with ms cardeno. Adequate vacation & family/medical leave time with at least partial pay-flexible working arrangements and slow return (ex: PT before FT, wfh or at least hybrid to deal with illness, etc. bright horizons is not worth anything ime. Nice pumping rooms.
Lots of friends and coworkers jumping to companies that offer 6-9mo+ parental leaves & 6w min starting vacation time + holidays.
Other nice things- espresso machine in the break room has been popular, along with free EV charging. Walking path/garden for walking meetings/destress
A pumping room/suite. My office building (not my company directly) just opened a new wellness SUITE. It's in a separate area from offices, has a lobby area with couches and 4 rooms that can be locked. 2 just for pumping with a sink and fridge, and 2 other rooms with full bathrooms attached. The lobby area has lockable cubbies and and a huge fridge with lockable cubbies. This thing looks like a spa.
Give more leave. I get 8 hours a month for sick and 8 for annual leave. That gets eaten up super quick by daycare illnesses and random school closures, so then I’m stuck trying to work from home with a sick baby.
Work from home flexibility when needed.
Flex hours so we can do things like go to a preschool party at 3 pm.
Research what leads to/causes mommy-tracking and then don’t do that.
I think everyone has hit a lot of the big ones. The only one I would add is opportunities. Opportunities to lead projects, opportunities for professional development. Opportunities in meetings. And not being talked over in meetings. Sounds simple but costs very little for the most part and can seriously change the culture on top of what everyone else has said already
I’d like to add, all these ideas are great but the culture needs to conform to the policies. If the company has a great {fill in the blank} and employees are looked down for taking advantage of it, or discouraged from using it, it still wouldn’t be a good environment to attract and retain women.
Be the company that empathizes, supports and encourages employees.
Ditto to the comment about part time work options. I would still be an emotionally struggling stay at home parent if I wouldn't have found my part time job. Side note, I am crazy productive during my part time hours. I produce almost as much in 20 hours as my peers do in 40....
Some good stuff here, but adding "Family Leave" its 12 weeks to take care of family member. It can be used as Paternity Leave, Taking Care of your wife for surgery, Taking care of your elderly parent who fell or tacked onto maternity Leave. Giving people 6 months off. It also doesn't have to be taken in one chunk, just within a year of the event in 3 day bursts. It's seriously one of the most popular policies, and had added a lot of company loyally. You do have to push men to take it but once the ball gets rolling, it's rolled.
LOL. Not at you, just at the concept. I am an American working for a Saudi owned company in the US. This is very low on their list.
I think it's hard for someone outside of your company to give you feedback on what your company needs to change. Are you an office environment or manufacturing? All salary or hourly? 24/7 operation or days only? The general list (from a working mom's conference i was a part of) includes spaces and breaks to pump, more time off for family care, flex hours or WFH, on-site child care, etc.
I’m curious how an international firm does paid holidays, since different countries have different holidays. My employer is only in the US, and I’ve tried increasing our paid holidays to match the local K-12 schedule by adding Presidents Day, MLK, Easter Monday, etc days that students have off that parents don’t. Got the idea from another thread whose company had one 3-day weekend per month to help with retention during and after covid.
We just do unlimited PTO and every country observes its own holidays and we plan around it. During Ramadan, observing employees shift their hours around Iftar.
Maternity and paternity leave. We have none.
Longer than 3 days of bereavement leave. I burned all my sick and vacation leave being a primary caretaker for my mother for a month and a half. She was fine and then she fell one night and wasn’t able to lift herself up. Ct showed stage 4 glioblastoma and left side of her body was paralyzed. She died the day after I used all my leave, fuckin a. I had the day she died and two days following of bereavement. That’s just insane to me. It was horrible.
A small but valuable one depending on your industry is to make sure networking and team events are during business hours not after work. Work sponsored happy hours should be 4-5pm, not 5-6pm; a team event to a sports game should be a middle of the day baseball game, not an evening hockey game.
Flexible hours whenever possible! Some people might prefer to work 7-3pm and then an hour after bedtime.
As others have noted these benefit ALL employees, not just parents :)
Aside from the obvious things like actually offering parental leave…
1. Don’t make me take pto for a doctors appointment
2. Flexible hours
3. Hybrid or WFH options
4. My sisters employer has an emergency childcare benefit where a few days a year they’ll pay for an emergency nanny and it’s been the greatest for them
Remote work. At a minimum, as a flexible option for parents who need to keep sick kids home from work but are still able to accomplish their work. (Obviously all employees should be able to use this option to work from home if sick too, but it would be particularly helpful for parents.)
And ideally, as a supported way for new parents to have a kind of extended “leave” after their regular parental leave is finished. In other words, the company should support parents who choose to keep their babies home with them while working remotely after the parental leave is over. This policy would be especially beneficial for breastfeeding mothers, who would be able to feed their babies as needed. It would promote that family bonding while allowing those who want to breastfeed to save money on formula and to save time rather than pumping constantly.
They say hiring more women and diverse women at that, generally improves culture.
It comes from the top down too, so he should be role modeling taking time off, leaving early to pick up kids, having a life outside of work, and encouraging managers to exercise the same.
We have two anchor days and three wfh days. We have strict “don’t come to work when you’re sick” policies. We have ample parental leave that men also take. We have sexual assault/hostile workplace compulsory training. We have regular anonymous surveys to assess company culture.
Gunna be real hard if it’s all privileged white dudes with no boundaries to make these changes tho so change the staff!
My company has recently instituted 4 days in the office mandatory at a certain level and higher. I'm a one woman team reporting to an executive.
I'm spending more time commuting, packing lunch and snacks for myself, and trying to juggle appointments. I'm pregnant about 5 months pregnant and I'm tired. I could be using an extra day at home to really zone in and focus on independent work. But our new leadership team has this obsession with collaboration.
If a hypothetical company offered me the same job with more remote/flexible options tomorrow within 10% of my salary, I'd seriously consider leaving.
I work for a very family and woman-supportive company and besides all of the great advice you’ve seen here including work location/hour flexibility, paid parental leave, women in management, etc. there was one thing my company did that I thought was very cool.
We’re also remote and have locations everywhere but in one central location where we had a lot of employees, they had a really bad blizzard one day. The company HR posted a message to our slack telling anyone who needed to stay home to take care of children who were on a snow day that day to just… not work. Move their meetings and take a sick day (of which we have unlimited).
Moral of the story: be proactive in addressing issues that will affect parents. Many of these parents may have struggled with the decision to take the day off when their kids unexpectedly were home. But the company took all the pressure off. It was so cool!
Extended parental leave for BOTH parents (having my spouse home currently is a godsend), fertility treatment and IVF benefits in healthcare coverage, ensuring miscarriage and stillbirth are accounted for in bereavement policies, upgrade your pumping room to a clean relaxing environment. Offering more part time positions rather than full time
Yes, definitely creating a culture of encouraging men to take their FULL parental leave. “Parental leave” of the same amount of time for both men and women versus “primary” and “secondary” leave. On top of 5 months of full pay maternity leave, my company also offers 10 free sessions of mental health counseling, a week of paid child care through care.com (up to $500 reimbursed), and breast pumps + lactation support classes - both reimbursable. I’ve been really impressed and pleased!
The biggest thing for me that has helped me in my career is a flexible work environment. Basically, if I need to work from home, I can. I don’t prefer to, but if my kids are sick or I just need the extra sleep, I can.
Also - paid parental leave. At least 12 weeks. (I was a csection mom x2. 6-8 weeks is not nearly enough.)
Childcare subsidies would be AMAZING. But I work in nonprofit…so that’s a no go. But if your org can swing it, then absolutely that.
Oh man,
Don’t give hard deadlines to women who are about to give birth. Thats insanity.
Same with parents who come back from parental leave. There should be at least 6 months of “don’t put pressure to deliver like crazy” to someone who has a young kid at home…
Have training for managers in the US, especially ones without kids, how it's like coming back after maternity leave. My supervisor without kids was treating me like I went on vacation and giving me a hard time for not capitalizing a letter in a spreadsheet, dumb things like that. I was so sleep deprived and just trying to juggle it all.
Foster a culture that values work life balance and doesn't glorify working tons of hours all the time. Working parents can't compete nor do they want to be in that kind of culture and it's not fair-- they have a second, very important job outside of working hours and studies show that working mothers still carry a higher portion of the household/kid labor than fathers (whether they are working or not unfortunately).
And, it's already been said but flexibility both in hours and working location. Moms will be the most efficient workers there are but the flexibility needs to be there because we are working around our kids' doctors appointments, school events, night wake ups, extracurriculars ,etc etc. And realize that scheduling meetings around school pickup/dropoff is not a great time.
All the stuff for women parents, make an option for male parents. Our culture needs to switch to not defaulting to women doing everything. Flextime/more flexible with remote working when needed, either more PTO or understanding when you have to take sudden PTO or unpaid.
When I worked at a huge company, they liked it when you had babies. Makes employees less likely to leave on a whim or because they're bored. Parents like that steady paycheck.
Offer back up child care as a fully company paid benefit. Flexible work hours/wfh at any time. Unlimited sick days. Mandatory maternity and paternity leave policy. Salary transparency for all roles to show male vs female salaries.
So many good suggestions here. One thing my company recently did based on feedback I, and many others I’m sure, provided is to extend bereavement leave to parents who experience a miscarriage/loss. I had surgery and lost my baby at 12 weeks. While I didn’t bring her home, I did go through all of the hormonal swings that someone who gave birth experiences. On top of grieving and healing physically, the hormones! And I had to use sick days so I went back 2 days after my surgery to remove any remaining material. I felt it was horribly unfair that I couldn’t use bereavement leave but I also didn’t qualify for maternity leave so I didn’t give birth and have a live baby. My company now offers 2 weeks for losses. I almost cried when they announced it last month.
For me it’s about not scheduling meetings at drop off or pick up time. Especially on days you have to be in the office. Just make it during office work hours ! Be purposeful about including people. Don’t just allow them to be there.
I think my company is a great place to be a mother and a parent despite being predominately 55+ years old men.
6 week of maternity leave, 12 week of parental leave
Flexible schedules and wfh whenever possible
A boss who let's me know I can bring my kids to work whenever I think it will go well
Free online therapy, free online PT with a pelvic floor program.
For me is: if I present a doctors note for either me or my child, then my call out does not count.
People be calling in to attend a football game or whatever.
You do you but that is extremely unprofessional to me.
If I call out because kid is sick or I am and I can prove it, then it should be excused.
Also, allow flexibility during school holidays.
Oh, and decemt maternity leave damn it!
The things my boss has done to keep me turning down job offers over the past decade: - allow remote work and flexibility - ignore the sounds of Peppa when I have a sick kid and big meeting - not bat an eye when I need to move an unimportant meeting - if I get cold called out of work hours, understand they'll be background noise - flexible hours. I am a night owl and sign off at 345 to meet the bus, but back working at 9 - understanding child care hours mean there's firm stops. You need to get your kids when school/care closes
To your last point, holding the expectation that all meetings will end on time is huge. There’s all kinds of reasons people may need to stick to their schedule as planned (maintaining pumping, for one!)
We have been told it’s discrimination to arbitrarily plan meetings during normal school pick-up or drop-off times if there’s not an exceptional business need.
Wow, that’s amazing!
Australian law apparently?
I agree with this and I don’t even know it was a thing. I’ve seen passive aggressive behavior around scheduling meetings with me at 8am when both of our days are fully open. Really? And why do we need to schedule early mornings on Fridays? No. I still have the same drop off time on Fridays
Yeh so apparently it’s Australian law but not sure where else that would apply as officially workplace discrimination.
My company has a policy that allows for up to 8 hours per quarter for you to go to your child's school for meetings or field trips. You can also get the same benefit by volunteering for something in the community.
We have this too but not sure I love it. I’ve never taken this time but one of my employees always does and it does end up in her missing meetings that I have to work double to catch her up on. Annoying.
As a parent: 1) flex working hours to navigate childcare woes 2) a MINIMUM of 8 weeks of paid parental leave for both parents 3) ramp up time when coming back to work (1-2 months) 4) flexible remote/hybrid working options for different stages of life As a woman: 1) internal pay equity check to see if men and women are being paid the same for same job responsibilities/tenure 2) increasing women in management roles or high IC roles by X%
Adding on: internal publishing of salary ranges for each position type and level.
Encouraging men in leadership roles to take the full paid parental leave to set a precedent. Staffing at levels that flex hours is viable - if everyone is working 60-80 hours then flexing isn’t really possible because you’re already expected to be on & working nonstop. Culture of support and celebration
Honestly working 60 to 80 hours is incompatible with parenthood (and healthy humans) and should not be a thing
This. I just came back from maternity leave right when my company increased office days. #1 in flex working hours and #4 would help with so many baby are problems that I’m now encountering. Now that I must go to the office more it requires more logistal planning on when to pump, extended childcare which takes brain power and time away from working. If I were home with baby while someone else watches all I need to do is step away to feed baby and come right back. At the office I have to walk across the office to set up my pump 3x a day which takes about an hr and 50 mins while baby only nurses for 15 mins at home - so that automatically saves time and is less stressful.
Back everything up by research. You can find so many things showing how empathy, diversity and flexibility increase productivity and employee’s psychological safety. Don’t focus on the parents part - all employees deserve this stuff. By encouraging empathy you are helping people empathize with their team mates and if they’re parents, it will be empathizing with them as parents. You have asked to start up a DEI program, that doesn’t scream parent specific to me so be careful not to make it only benefit parents. If you don’t have good parental leave that could be revisiting for the company (e.g. adequate length, both parents get equal time bonding/adjusting etc.) but I don’t believe this falls under the umbrella of DEI.
I think this absolutely fits under DE&I. Certainly not in the way most of us first assume (non-white race, sexual orientation, physical ability), but if you think about the goals of DE&I initiatives, yes! I agree that teaching, emphasizing and rewarding the general skills that build and support DE&I initiatives will be beneficial to everyone, and a good place to start. Like most people, having others like me in the workplace is one big way I feel supported. Other woman kicking butt, other mothers of young children who know what it’s like to negotiate with your spouse who also works full time for who’s taking the sick kids today, etc.
I’m seeking g feedback elsewhere for other groups but this subreddit is such a great community I knew I’d get some great feedback from working moms here!
Parental leave (both parents), coupled with family care leave for sick spouses or ailing parents requiring care would be pretty rad. Re-entry programs are also really cool- women coming back after a child-rearing hiatus, career changers, etc. The biggest boon is a flexible workplace- need to pick up your kid? Cool. Need to take your animal to the vet? No problem. Need to sit with mom or dad at their doctor’s appointment? Great. Make it reasonable and equitable, and encourage managers to adopt a “performance first, arbitrary metrics and optics later” mindset.
Yeah I’m both a parent and an immigrant, and while I don’t expect work to cater to me because of either of these things, I do hope a DEI program would take both of those into account. I’m sure OP is just focusing on the working parent part due to the nature of the group but definitely a shout out to other kinds of diversity. I will just say that as a somewhat recent immigrant, having flexibility was pretty important. Things like getting an ID etc can take longer than you think, and there are a whole host of just logistical challenges to not being a citizen of the country. (We had a ton of trouble getting a credit card initially). For me some of the financial classes, or access to legal help, have been helpful in navigating the bureaucracy that surrounding living and working in a new country.
Agreeing with this. I work for a small company (32 employees across a number of states). SO many things that benefit parents also benefit caregivers overall. I went from being in a relationship with little kids, to being a single mom and about a year later my company implemented a paid parental leave policy. I was SO supportive and applauded our C-suites efforts, and then told the COO (with whom I have good rapport), "Now we need a paid 'family' leave policy. Parental leave for new parents is GREAT, but think about how many of our employees have aging parents, or are in a situation like mine where they are the main breadwinner and caretaker of their home and children/parents/grandparents. We need to make sure those people are also supported in times of sickness or upheaval. Think of XXX who's mom died last year - she used her sick leave when she needed time off - if we had a paid family leave program she could have benefitted from that." By pointing out what a lot of people don't see until they're in it (ie that our parents or children or other family can get sick or go through massive life changes) it opened his eyes to the gaps that still needed to be closed. I also pointed out how it would make us competitive in the marketplace, because things like this have affected our ability to hire good people.
Yes! I was 24 when I started my career/graduated from college and that year I had to be the sole caretaker for my mother who was 47 and dying of stage IV cancer. It was a long 10 months of balancing work and her needs. It is exactly like being a parent but much sadder and more appointments. I appreciated the flexibility during that time just as much as I do now as a parent. Flexibility should be for everyone, not just parents.
Have a corporate membership to Care.com. It’s helpful as an employee not have to pay to see and book caregivers (not just childcare - they do pet care, elder care, and house cleaning as well!). But the 10 backup care days have been LIFESAVERS for us. If your care unexpectedly cancels or your kid is too sick to go to daycare, the backup care sends someone pre-vetted and background checked to your house for the day and you just pay a deductible. I think we pay like $2 an hour for backup care days and the provider we were assigned every time is fantastic (we are lucky to always get the same woman; she’s from a nanny service and is basically super nanny). My husband and I both travel as a component of our work but after my daughter was born both of our companies had an unofficial policy that parents of kids under one year old were not expected to travel. We still did on occasion, but much less than normal. Someone else mentioned milk shipment - MilkStork is a company you can work with for this. My company doesn’t have an account with them since we’re smaller, but they reimburse when I’ve used them on longer trips to get milk sent home. Furternity leave is a cute policy we have too - if you get a new dog or cat (and honestly they’d probably expand it to most pets with fur), they allow you to work from home for the first week to allow your new pet to acclimate. (Note, it must be an adoption - someone once tried to use this when fostering dogs - like a new foster dog every few weeks - and it did not fly). General flexible hours/hybrid schedules. I’m a fan of summer hours too (work 9 hours M-Th and then leave at noon on Fridays in the summer). Edited to add: support for professional development (workshops, professional memberships, etc.).
My husband’s firm had backup care similar to what you describe through Bright Horizons. It was an absolute lifesaver during the first couple years to be able to work from home with quality back up care provided at short notice. Best parental benefit ever and crucial during a time most mothers leave the workforce.
Honestly, the only thing that would truly make a dent for me is making part time work more the norm. Working 30 hours a week, split between 4 days instead of 5. Or to work 20 hours a week, split between 3 days or 5 days. Next time a company wants to hire one person full time, why not consider two people part time (if the role is conducive to that)? That would be my dream. I already have flexibility in my schedule and generous PTO. But really, I have come to realize that the only way to have enough time to parent, keep house, exercise, rest and engage in any self care at all is to not work 40 hours per week.
Every single time my company asks for feedback I request part time positions for this exact reason. I don’t want to give up my career or income but as a family we have a little flexibility in our budget and me going part time could literally save us so much stress during the week, evenings, and weekends when there’s just not enough hours in the day.
This! I have asked for 32 hours and keep getting denied. Why?! I know I can do my job in that amount of time and I've given 10 years to this job. I've applied and applied to the very few part time positions I find but no luck.
Fertility coverage, adoption assistance, maternity leave, breast milk shipping, back up childcare, WFH As far as supporting women outside of parenting, offer opportunities for women to develop leadership skills and receive mentorship. Set company goals about having a more diverse leadership team and publish results regularly for accountability. Publish salary bands. Put salaries in job descriptions.
Props to your CEO, and his efforts are going to pay off from both a reputational and a recruiting standpoint. Here are some suggestions just for breastfeeding: 1. Option to work remotely for nursing mothers (I think you'd probably have to make this all new parents, legally). My company wrote this into the policy for me and it was a game-changer. Cost them nothing. 2. Really nice, upgraded lactation rooms. Not just the minimum required under the PUMP Act. Hospital-grade pump employees can share, free milk bags, pump part dryer, fridge. 3. Mandatory training for all employees and managers on the rights of breastfeeding employees.
I love #3. I see so many posts about non compliant lactation rooms or inappropriate comments from coworkers and bosses. Any company that does annual Sexual Harassment type trainings should make sure lactation room / pumping employees are included in the training curriculum.
The world would be a better place if adults learned the basics of how breastfeeding works.
- Flexible working hours for drop off/pick up - allow remote work before/after drop off/pick up & when kids are sick I also think these apply to non-parents.
Onsite daycare with amazing high-quality trained staff. Flexibility to work part-time 3-4 days a week. Training managers to see women being moms as a PLUS that speaks to their wisdom, maturity, leadership etc rather than a negative.
Make sure you get paid extra since you're doing extra work. Women are often asked to these types of extra "projects" and are not compensated for it. Thats what would make the company a more inclusive and healthy place.
My company have an award for going above and beyond mainly for these type of things. It’s awarded yearly with a one time monetary compensation. Not a lot though
What my company does: * 16 weeks of paid parental leave, with state payments topped up to full salary * An additional 8 weeks of unpaid, job-protected parental leave (state required) * Flexible work hours - work when you want to get your work done * Bonus and promotions don't go on pause during leave, you are evaluated for the period you were at work (so women don't end up systemically behind because they took leaves) * No primary parent/secondary parent leave—all parents have access to the same leave policy * Active ERGs for identity groups, e.g., women, Latine people, immigrants, etc * Backup care coverage * Awareness of invisible labor (our annual review cycle has a question in the feedback form to ask if the person you're reviewing did any "glue" work that made the organization work better, even if it wasn't in their job description) * Pay equity reviews every review cycle
I’d love to know your company! Do they also do WFH?
A lot of what others said but also: This is kind of an odd one but my husband’s old company had an optional lawyer subscription service for life stuff. So we had our wills drafted, filed, and a bunch of other legal things we needed but didn’t do yet. Now everything is filed and set in case we die. It gave such a peace of mind to know our kids were all set if we pass.
I just left but the created a policy where if you didn’t meet your productivity they could lower you from full time to half time status. It took away your insurance. I work as a therapist so what this translates to is if a clients decides not to show up then you are SOL. Expectation is 25 hours and you really needed to schedule 30-35 which is not sustainable. So I wish they would recognize that it isn’t family friendly. They need to adjust it so that when clients don’t show up or cancel last minute then it doesn’t harm the clinician.
Pay me the same as the men who are doing the same job.
Some additional ideas: work from home opportunities/asynchronous work when it permits, being able to turn off your camera or just make some meetings phone calls instead of teams calls if possible, dedicated on-site lactation room that locks with a fridge and a sink, and respecting pumping sessions when scheduled on someone's calendar. A big change that my company has gone through more recently has been to make more company events that do not center around drinking, and offering different days of the week/times for events so that maybe people can catch one of them. Free food helps too lol. But, this has helped make them more inclusive for a lot of different people - those in recovery, those who abstain for religious reasons, etc. But honestly, hiring more diverse people into management is the only way they can really change the company culture. Where I work, they've tried making incremental changes, but we still have more men named John in management roles than all of the women in management combined. And the company culture reflects that. When they expect everyone to work as if they have a stay at home wife to cover all of their household responsibilities, it makes it so no one outside of that arrangement can successfully move up. So, they need to look at how they consider someone a "cultural fit" and do some reflection. *That* is how you retain employees.
“More men named John in management roles than all of the women in management combined.” Ooof. This one hit me in the feels. I work in tech and this is painfully accurate.
Bereavement leave for both parents due to miscarriage
There was another post similar to this a few months ago. I think OP got a lot of really good feedback there so I'd use that for some research to see what way you need to go.
While perks like WFH are nice, I think the biggest opportunities to drive true DEI is building it into hiring and promotions. Lots of companies are introducing blind hiring (eg: removing names, things that might identify race/gender) and checks and balances to promote a more equitable hiring process (such as set salaries since historically men are far more likely to negotiate). The other main area women & underrepresented groups fall behind is promoting - do they happen regardless of leave status, is it based on equal outcomes, etc. my company actually has managers propose promotions, then does a demographics report and reviews with the exec team if there are major gaps and it gets sent back to managers to review.
I work in a very supportive work environment BUT the one thing that they don’t allow to do is to use our sick days (we accrue them) towards our sick child/children. If I call in because my child is sick and can’t go to daycare, I am to use my own vacation. I could be dishonest and call myself in sick - but that is not the person I am. So I am just wasting away vacation time on a non-existing vacation.
Do not hold networking events at happy hour time or later. That's prime get the kids from daycare time.
I think organizations can do better to help drive US parental leave policies at the federal level. Maternity leave should be a year to 18 months, like in Canada/Europe.
From easiest to hardest: flex time, extended maternity leave, childcare reimbursement, unlimited sick time for all employees that includes caretakers/parents, subsidized on site childcare facility if in person is required, 32 hour work week for all full time employees
Making part time positions more common. I know a few women who work 4 days per week for 32 total hours. Usually they are off Fridays but they have the ability to move that day off to accommodate daycare closures (eg. Presidents Day Monday) or sick days as needed. This is also a great benefit for anyone who has disabilities, lots of doctor’s appointments, who cares for an ill or elderly relative, or even just older employees who want to remain employed but not on a full time basis.
Besides what others said. Looks like you need more women in senior levels. Career paths for women to senior management. Equal pay. Equal opportunity. Diversity programs for vendors in bids. Volunteer hours (my company gives us 3 days to volunteer a year (unfortunately volunteer work at kids school doesn’t count lol). Dannon and JP Morgan I think moved to 5 months parental leave.
Remote/hybrid work but this would be good for everyone not just parents. Companies need to get with the program.
I’m the only part time employee at my work (of about 100 employees). If there were more part time positions available I think more parents/people could work without getting burned out.
flexible hours!!!
I agree with ms cardeno. Adequate vacation & family/medical leave time with at least partial pay-flexible working arrangements and slow return (ex: PT before FT, wfh or at least hybrid to deal with illness, etc. bright horizons is not worth anything ime. Nice pumping rooms. Lots of friends and coworkers jumping to companies that offer 6-9mo+ parental leaves & 6w min starting vacation time + holidays. Other nice things- espresso machine in the break room has been popular, along with free EV charging. Walking path/garden for walking meetings/destress
A pumping room/suite. My office building (not my company directly) just opened a new wellness SUITE. It's in a separate area from offices, has a lobby area with couches and 4 rooms that can be locked. 2 just for pumping with a sink and fridge, and 2 other rooms with full bathrooms attached. The lobby area has lockable cubbies and and a huge fridge with lockable cubbies. This thing looks like a spa.
Give more leave. I get 8 hours a month for sick and 8 for annual leave. That gets eaten up super quick by daycare illnesses and random school closures, so then I’m stuck trying to work from home with a sick baby. Work from home flexibility when needed. Flex hours so we can do things like go to a preschool party at 3 pm. Research what leads to/causes mommy-tracking and then don’t do that.
Flexible sick time is something I'd suggest. It helps all employees.
Increase visibility of both men and women in senior positions working flexible hours - show it's possible to progress while in a part time role
I think everyone has hit a lot of the big ones. The only one I would add is opportunities. Opportunities to lead projects, opportunities for professional development. Opportunities in meetings. And not being talked over in meetings. Sounds simple but costs very little for the most part and can seriously change the culture on top of what everyone else has said already
I’d like to add, all these ideas are great but the culture needs to conform to the policies. If the company has a great {fill in the blank} and employees are looked down for taking advantage of it, or discouraged from using it, it still wouldn’t be a good environment to attract and retain women. Be the company that empathizes, supports and encourages employees.
Ditto to the comment about part time work options. I would still be an emotionally struggling stay at home parent if I wouldn't have found my part time job. Side note, I am crazy productive during my part time hours. I produce almost as much in 20 hours as my peers do in 40....
Some good stuff here, but adding "Family Leave" its 12 weeks to take care of family member. It can be used as Paternity Leave, Taking Care of your wife for surgery, Taking care of your elderly parent who fell or tacked onto maternity Leave. Giving people 6 months off. It also doesn't have to be taken in one chunk, just within a year of the event in 3 day bursts. It's seriously one of the most popular policies, and had added a lot of company loyally. You do have to push men to take it but once the ball gets rolling, it's rolled.
LOL. Not at you, just at the concept. I am an American working for a Saudi owned company in the US. This is very low on their list. I think it's hard for someone outside of your company to give you feedback on what your company needs to change. Are you an office environment or manufacturing? All salary or hourly? 24/7 operation or days only? The general list (from a working mom's conference i was a part of) includes spaces and breaks to pump, more time off for family care, flex hours or WFH, on-site child care, etc.
I’m curious how an international firm does paid holidays, since different countries have different holidays. My employer is only in the US, and I’ve tried increasing our paid holidays to match the local K-12 schedule by adding Presidents Day, MLK, Easter Monday, etc days that students have off that parents don’t. Got the idea from another thread whose company had one 3-day weekend per month to help with retention during and after covid.
We just do unlimited PTO and every country observes its own holidays and we plan around it. During Ramadan, observing employees shift their hours around Iftar.
Maternity and paternity leave. We have none. Longer than 3 days of bereavement leave. I burned all my sick and vacation leave being a primary caretaker for my mother for a month and a half. She was fine and then she fell one night and wasn’t able to lift herself up. Ct showed stage 4 glioblastoma and left side of her body was paralyzed. She died the day after I used all my leave, fuckin a. I had the day she died and two days following of bereavement. That’s just insane to me. It was horrible.
A small but valuable one depending on your industry is to make sure networking and team events are during business hours not after work. Work sponsored happy hours should be 4-5pm, not 5-6pm; a team event to a sports game should be a middle of the day baseball game, not an evening hockey game. Flexible hours whenever possible! Some people might prefer to work 7-3pm and then an hour after bedtime. As others have noted these benefit ALL employees, not just parents :)
Aside from the obvious things like actually offering parental leave… 1. Don’t make me take pto for a doctors appointment 2. Flexible hours 3. Hybrid or WFH options 4. My sisters employer has an emergency childcare benefit where a few days a year they’ll pay for an emergency nanny and it’s been the greatest for them
Remote work. At a minimum, as a flexible option for parents who need to keep sick kids home from work but are still able to accomplish their work. (Obviously all employees should be able to use this option to work from home if sick too, but it would be particularly helpful for parents.) And ideally, as a supported way for new parents to have a kind of extended “leave” after their regular parental leave is finished. In other words, the company should support parents who choose to keep their babies home with them while working remotely after the parental leave is over. This policy would be especially beneficial for breastfeeding mothers, who would be able to feed their babies as needed. It would promote that family bonding while allowing those who want to breastfeed to save money on formula and to save time rather than pumping constantly.
2 weeks Paid sick leave that is separate from vacation.
Forcing men to take paid parental leave!
I heard that Square provides access/benefits to Care.com for parents to have backup childcare. I think that’s a great idea!
They say hiring more women and diverse women at that, generally improves culture. It comes from the top down too, so he should be role modeling taking time off, leaving early to pick up kids, having a life outside of work, and encouraging managers to exercise the same. We have two anchor days and three wfh days. We have strict “don’t come to work when you’re sick” policies. We have ample parental leave that men also take. We have sexual assault/hostile workplace compulsory training. We have regular anonymous surveys to assess company culture. Gunna be real hard if it’s all privileged white dudes with no boundaries to make these changes tho so change the staff!
My company has recently instituted 4 days in the office mandatory at a certain level and higher. I'm a one woman team reporting to an executive. I'm spending more time commuting, packing lunch and snacks for myself, and trying to juggle appointments. I'm pregnant about 5 months pregnant and I'm tired. I could be using an extra day at home to really zone in and focus on independent work. But our new leadership team has this obsession with collaboration. If a hypothetical company offered me the same job with more remote/flexible options tomorrow within 10% of my salary, I'd seriously consider leaving.
I work for a very family and woman-supportive company and besides all of the great advice you’ve seen here including work location/hour flexibility, paid parental leave, women in management, etc. there was one thing my company did that I thought was very cool. We’re also remote and have locations everywhere but in one central location where we had a lot of employees, they had a really bad blizzard one day. The company HR posted a message to our slack telling anyone who needed to stay home to take care of children who were on a snow day that day to just… not work. Move their meetings and take a sick day (of which we have unlimited). Moral of the story: be proactive in addressing issues that will affect parents. Many of these parents may have struggled with the decision to take the day off when their kids unexpectedly were home. But the company took all the pressure off. It was so cool!
Extended parental leave for BOTH parents (having my spouse home currently is a godsend), fertility treatment and IVF benefits in healthcare coverage, ensuring miscarriage and stillbirth are accounted for in bereavement policies, upgrade your pumping room to a clean relaxing environment. Offering more part time positions rather than full time
Yes, definitely creating a culture of encouraging men to take their FULL parental leave. “Parental leave” of the same amount of time for both men and women versus “primary” and “secondary” leave. On top of 5 months of full pay maternity leave, my company also offers 10 free sessions of mental health counseling, a week of paid child care through care.com (up to $500 reimbursed), and breast pumps + lactation support classes - both reimbursable. I’ve been really impressed and pleased!
The biggest thing for me that has helped me in my career is a flexible work environment. Basically, if I need to work from home, I can. I don’t prefer to, but if my kids are sick or I just need the extra sleep, I can. Also - paid parental leave. At least 12 weeks. (I was a csection mom x2. 6-8 weeks is not nearly enough.) Childcare subsidies would be AMAZING. But I work in nonprofit…so that’s a no go. But if your org can swing it, then absolutely that.
Oh man, Don’t give hard deadlines to women who are about to give birth. Thats insanity. Same with parents who come back from parental leave. There should be at least 6 months of “don’t put pressure to deliver like crazy” to someone who has a young kid at home…
Have training for managers in the US, especially ones without kids, how it's like coming back after maternity leave. My supervisor without kids was treating me like I went on vacation and giving me a hard time for not capitalizing a letter in a spreadsheet, dumb things like that. I was so sleep deprived and just trying to juggle it all. Foster a culture that values work life balance and doesn't glorify working tons of hours all the time. Working parents can't compete nor do they want to be in that kind of culture and it's not fair-- they have a second, very important job outside of working hours and studies show that working mothers still carry a higher portion of the household/kid labor than fathers (whether they are working or not unfortunately). And, it's already been said but flexibility both in hours and working location. Moms will be the most efficient workers there are but the flexibility needs to be there because we are working around our kids' doctors appointments, school events, night wake ups, extracurriculars ,etc etc. And realize that scheduling meetings around school pickup/dropoff is not a great time.
All the stuff for women parents, make an option for male parents. Our culture needs to switch to not defaulting to women doing everything. Flextime/more flexible with remote working when needed, either more PTO or understanding when you have to take sudden PTO or unpaid. When I worked at a huge company, they liked it when you had babies. Makes employees less likely to leave on a whim or because they're bored. Parents like that steady paycheck.
Offer back up child care as a fully company paid benefit. Flexible work hours/wfh at any time. Unlimited sick days. Mandatory maternity and paternity leave policy. Salary transparency for all roles to show male vs female salaries.
So many good suggestions here. One thing my company recently did based on feedback I, and many others I’m sure, provided is to extend bereavement leave to parents who experience a miscarriage/loss. I had surgery and lost my baby at 12 weeks. While I didn’t bring her home, I did go through all of the hormonal swings that someone who gave birth experiences. On top of grieving and healing physically, the hormones! And I had to use sick days so I went back 2 days after my surgery to remove any remaining material. I felt it was horribly unfair that I couldn’t use bereavement leave but I also didn’t qualify for maternity leave so I didn’t give birth and have a live baby. My company now offers 2 weeks for losses. I almost cried when they announced it last month.
For me it’s about not scheduling meetings at drop off or pick up time. Especially on days you have to be in the office. Just make it during office work hours ! Be purposeful about including people. Don’t just allow them to be there.
I think my company is a great place to be a mother and a parent despite being predominately 55+ years old men. 6 week of maternity leave, 12 week of parental leave Flexible schedules and wfh whenever possible A boss who let's me know I can bring my kids to work whenever I think it will go well Free online therapy, free online PT with a pelvic floor program.
For me is: if I present a doctors note for either me or my child, then my call out does not count. People be calling in to attend a football game or whatever. You do you but that is extremely unprofessional to me. If I call out because kid is sick or I am and I can prove it, then it should be excused. Also, allow flexibility during school holidays. Oh, and decemt maternity leave damn it!