The first Boo-grown baby will be arriving soon. Has Amy felt supported through her pregnancy at work?

I joined Team Boo fresh from maternity leave when my son was six months old.

Actually, the word ‘fresh’ seems inappropriate. In my first year anniversary blog I described it as ‘emerging from maternity leave with the fog of relatively new motherhood still clinging to me in tendrils.’ Better.

Weirdly, I was unsure at first about working part time. I had never worked part time before, didn’t I need to work full time? It panicked me, and yet what it has given me has been the best of both worlds. I get to raise my child and I get to be someone else other than Mummy and contribute to the world in different ways.

I am exceptionally lucky that I have not had to battle to achieve this balance. Nor have I had to request flexible working (by law, employees are allowed to request flexibility but it’s often refused). It was simply offered, by someone who has been there and understands, and understands business too – and is determined that the needs of a business and its people can both be met.

Our policies are designed to get the best out of the team by keeping us happy and healthy. I feel valued at work and this has encouraged me to believe that all the ways in which parenthood might compromise my contribution to the workplace are balanced out by the new strengths I have acquired.

When I say ‘designed’ I don’t mean that they were set, with the best of intentions, when Boo opened its doors and they’ve remained that way ever since. They are regularly reviewed, reaffirmed, and co-produced.

As our first ever pregnant employee, I helped to co-produce a maternity policy for Team Boo. My previous employer reacted incredibly poorly to my previous pregnancies and found themselves facing an expensive sex and maternity discrimination tribunal as a result. Such organisations end up in these situations because they have failed to provide even the most basic protections required by law. This is all too commonplace. At Boo we wanted a thorough understanding of what is required by law but also wanted to go further than that to ensure safety, wellbeing and comfort for the expectant team member for as long as they wanted to continue to work.

This meant that we looked at the (very few) hazards of our working environment but we also:

Thought about what might be important to the pregnant person
Thought about what might be new to them if they’ve never been pregnant before
Considered what they might be worried about
Left space to add anything else brought up in consultation with them.

Becci has also worked out the most generous maternity compensation the company can afford – not wanting anyone to feel forced back from maternity leave before they are ready, due to financial pressures.

As an organisation we will soon be looking at policies around other women’s health issues – loss of a pregnancy, menopause… we want to be ahead of the game here. After all, the idea of maternity leave, pay and rights was probably sniggered at once upon a time not too long ago.

I’m signing off now until August, feeling a modicum of self-imposed guilt for abandoning the team in order to complete my family, but also feeling supported and indulged and safe in the knowledge that I’ll be returning to the best possible working environment for a parent.

If I could use just one anecdote to contrast my experience of having babies at Boo to having them in my previous employment it would be this. In early pregnancy last time, I started having some pains whilst I was at work. I rang maternity triage on the verge of tears. I’d lost the previous baby before we even made it halfway through the pregnancy, was classed as ‘high risk’ and was understandably anxious. I was told by the hospital to go in for a scan (although warned there might be a long wait as they would be fitting me in around appointments) and off I shot. Later, I was accused by my managers (in writing) of swinging the lead, because of how long I was away from my desk that day.

This time, when I started to feel anxious before I had the date for my first routine scan, I booked a private one. I was in the office and the clinic was just around the corner… so I asked Becci to come with me.

And so it was that the first people to see my youngest son on a sonograph and hear his heartbeat were me and my boss! And that’s the difference.

Wish me luck, and see you sometime after the August break!

Amy x

p.s for more on the added value that parents can bring to the workplace, have a read of this guest blog by Charlotte from Power of the Parent.

The first Boo-grown baby will be arriving soon. Has Amy felt supported through her pregnancy at work?