Moms Rising has a blog. Like the rest of the world. But I read it (yes, at midnight) because I often stumble across something really interesting there, something I've been wanting to say but lacked the time or eloquence for, or something I'd have never thought of. In this case, it was a twist on something we recently wrote about here on Activistas: the Working Mother Top 100 Family-Friendly Companies.
I didn't expect to find anything about Working Mother's idea of progressive workplace policies all that thought provoking, to be perfectly honest (as usual). But Morra Arrons-Mele (thank you, wherever you are) made some very interesting points and raised some excellent questions in her post, What should companies do to retain new moms? She wrote it after attending Working Mother Media's 2009 Work-Life Congress (maybe the real Congress will catch on).
Among the points and questions I found intriguing, she wrote:
- Perhaps the most powerful idea around mentorship came from an idea to shift the mentorship model: What if more experienced mothers mentored new Dads? [Activistas Says: Working dads absolutely need more support - from public policies, bosses, and progressive cultural shifts. I'm happy to fight on their behalf because it's a critical piece of a family forward economy. And I'd love to see dads step up and fight for it - any. day. now.]
- I was left with the takeaway that absent public policy changes (paid sick leave, affordable quality childcare) the best solution companies can help with is to change paradigms of working. This means changing schedules and expectations that being in the office is the only way to be effective. [Activistas Says: I hate to imagine the future without public policy changes - they're long-overdue and essential to make the now-normal 2-working parent system work, to "retain" new moms; and changing schedules and teleworking are actually good ideas and very helpful, but companies can actually go ahead and offer benefits like paid sick days and paid family leave BEFORE they're forced to by law. Some actually do.]
- Lots of firms have informal brown bag lunches for new parents, new parents networks, and online information sources. [Activistas Says: That's like getting the sprinkles but no ice-cream and no cone. Sorry guys, fluff ain't gonna cut it. We're a little more demanding than that.]
[Thanks to Flickr CC & FotoDawg for the very worky image]
Comments