Work, Breastfeeding and Paid Maternity Leave - New Research

Unsupportive work colleagues and inflexible employers are causing women to stop breastfeeding, even when they return to work only part-time. In what researchers say strengthens the argument for a national maternity leave scheme, an analysis of almost 3700 women with six-month-old babies showed that the rate of breastfeeding was lower not only for those who had returned to work full-time. It was also lower for women who returned part-time.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-04/uom-epw042608.php

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/parttime-work-no-friend-of-breastfeeding/2008/04/27/1209234656192.html

http://news.theage.com.au/govt-must-act-on-maternity-leave-survey/20080428-2906.html

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23606938-421,00.html

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/news/national/maternity-leave-even-more-out-of-reach/2008/04/28/1209234761952.html

Great Product - Great Mumpreneur Business - mumi&bubi

My son is just starting solids. This is a process that I am sure all of you more experienced mums out there will understand is filled with laughter, smiles, fights, scream and mess. What I have found recently is a great product that helps in the process of making nutritious home-made food for your babies. It called the 'Solids Starter Kit' and is a great product created by an Australian Mumpreneur Business, mumi&bubi. While I am no expert on nutrition or baby health, I know that with the growing childhood obesity epidemic that it is critical to teach children from a young age good eating habits. This kit provides two pre-measured freezer trays with lids plus a instruction/recipe book that gives you eveything you need to know to get started including directions on what foods to start when, recipes, shopping lists and details of the food nutritional benefits. This is a great product . You can buy it online or at a number of stockists including Babies Galore and selected Woolworths stores.

Also another recipe book I have found to be useful is the Women's Weekly 'Fresh Food for Babies & Toddlers'. This is a great book that provides quick and easy recipes for babies from ~6months to 24 months. It also provides recipes for family means (meals that appeal both to adults and toddlers) and party food and birthday cakes. You can buy it online or at most good newsagents.

Being Bold - Words of Wisdom

I was reading the daily words of wisdom by Rev Run and thought they were very appropriate for any Mums ... especially those starting out on a new enterprise whether that be starting a new business or a new work arrangement at home, starting studies or being a new mum.

Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid. - Basil King..... Fortune and love befriend the bold. -Ovid. “I heard he's vain, and guess what mommy I heard the same, you heard the name” - (Jigga)

Working from Home - Employment

If you are currently on parental leave, your option with greatest degree of success is with your current employer Why? Because your manager knows you and understands the type of worker you are. Many organisations have not worked out how to measure people’s performance outside of the office walls so trust and familiarity play a significant role.

If you are not currently employed or would like to change direction, you just need to be alittle more creative in your approach. Consider

• Identifying your key skills and market yourself as a consultant with a home office.
  
• Or secure a part time role and demonstrate your abilities before requesting the opportunity to work from home.

Often, the best leads for employment come from people that you know so communicate your plans to your friends, family, work colleagues, and local businesses. Consider

• Joining or update your details on business networking sites such as LinkedIn.
• Join employment websites (some sites below)
  
• Deisgn a flyer

The main thing is get out there and advertise yourself.

Some places where you can start your search for work at home jobs (including part-time) are

• Career Mums
• Part-time Online
• Your Part-time workforce
• Stay at Home Mum
• Work at Home Mums
• Mums
  

Benefits of the "At Home Workforce"

I have made some claims in previous posts about the benefits of Working At Home being good for families, communities, businesses and the environment. I thought it was about time (since it is one of the central premises of this blog) that I expand on it

What are the benefits of work at home employees/contractors/freelancers?

Some of the benefits are for ...

Business

• Access to a larger employee market - Telecomuting allows to select candidates from a wider geographic region and also makes it easier to meet requirements to support people with disabilities.
• Increases attractiveness to highly skilled and educated labour workforce including at home mums.
• Reduced turnover and retention costs (according to Teletrips.com, teleworking improved retention of key employees by as much as 22%)
• Reduced absenteeism (1999 Telework America National Survey)
• Increased morale and employee satisfaction
• Increased productivity
• An Australian study (Sensis, 2005) found that 17 per cent of employers experienced improved productivity
• Improved public relations (reductions in business carbon footprint and employment opportunities for disabled applicants provide good examples of Corporate citizenship)
• Reduced costs (The costs of heating, air-conditioning, car parks, lighting and more)
• Increased competitiveness (decreased overheads, extended hours, flexible recruitment practices, global hiring talent pool)

Environment

• Less cars on the road meaning
• less petrol and other car related products used (ie tires)
• less wear and tear on transport infrastructure
• Reduced traffic congestion
• Reduced need for large office complexes
• Less people in our over crowded cities durig the working week

Families

• Increased family time (it helps families spend more time with each other because there is no commute time)
• Allows for flexibility around family commitments (it allows parents to work around their family commitments with children and household duties)
• Increased quality of life (work/life balance)
• Reduced costs (Savings can be made from not having to spend as much on vehicle fuel and maintenance or public transport, lunches, work clothes and more)
• Improved health (Less stress and avoiding the possibility of sick building syndrome could mean that teleworkers experience improved health).

Communities
* it encourages people too live, work, play and pay (spend and therefore invest) in their local communities
* encourages and supports local business to support at home workers


Papers
* Remote working better for staff and employers - Tom Jowitt (Techworld.com) 23/11/2007 05:10:20
Working from home (or teleworking) is better for workers and bosses, as it boosts morale and job satisfaction, and cuts stress levels, researchers have shown

* Contact Center Costs: The Case for Telecommuting Agents 01-07-2006
In any contact center, labor costs are typically the largest annual expense component, exceeding 60% of total operational costs. This paper looks at how establishing a telecommuting or home agent program can lower costs and be competitive differentiator.

* Sensis Insights Teleworking Report 2005
Overall, the study found an overwhelmingly positive impact for teleworking, both from individuals and businesses. However, on balance, businesses reported even higher levels of satisfaction with teleworking than individuals, with individuals facing some negative consequences, while the business experience had almost no downside. Coupled with the higher performance levels of businesses that teleworked, the case for introducing teleworking in the business environment is particularly strong.

* Telecommuting: The future of work, corporate culture, and American society - Journal of Labor Research, Volume 24, Number 1 / March, 2003

* Telecommuting and Perceived Productivity: An Australian Case Study - Journal of Management and Organisation (Volume 8 Issue 1 - 2002)
Thecase study demonstrated that, overall, telecommuting had been successful and brought benefits to both the employees and the organisation. The results also indicated the presence of strong positive links between the relationship interactions telecommuters had with their supervisors, and the telecommuters' perception both of their own productivity, and their levels of satisfaction with the telecommuting experience.


Additional Sources

• Telework Australia
• Teletrips.com

RESULTS - Annual Child Care + Workforce Participation Survey

Results are in from the 2008 CareforKids.com.au Annual Childcare and Workforce Participation Survery and it is definitely worth a read. This is the third survey completed and it encourages parents to provide insight into their specific child care arrangements and have their say about our child care system and whether it is working for them. The 2008 survey was completed by 1506 parents with pre-school age children, 75 per cent of whom currently have their children in some form of child care, 25 per cent are currently looking

Click here to read a summary of the results

Roxanne Elliott, founder of CareforKids.com.au® said that the survey results show that parents are still very unhappy with the escalating cost of child care and despite child care vacancies, parents often still can’t find the right type or days they need.

Some key points

• Cost is king of child care gripes with 42 per cent of parents paying over $200 per week and 30 per cent believing the cost of child care outweighs their net income.
• Money still main motivation for return to work - 77 per cent said they went back to work out of financial necessity, followed by career progression and independence.
• Motherguilt still causing return to work angst for around two thirds of women (63 per cent).
• The maternity leave debate: Seventy-five per cent think both the government and employer should jointly foot the bill to the tune of 50 per cent salary for six months. Twenty-two per cent think government should have sole responsibility.
  
• 43 per cent believe 50 per cent salary for maternity pay is fair and sustainable; 35 per cent think paid maternity should be 6 months; 16 per cent think 9 months and 40 per cent think 12 months

When reading studies like this it encourages me even more in my beliefs about Work at Home Mums. I think that all families should be supported in doing what is right for them. If women wish to return to work for career progression or independence then they should be supported to do so and affordable quality childcare should be available. However I get very angry when you see that many women are returning to work simply because of financial necessity. I am not saying that it will work for all professions and roles but I think that more and more business, families and communities can benefit from looking more broadly at work and flexibility.

Earth Day 2008 - April 22 - Do your part

Earth Day 2008 is approaching.

Think Global Act Local

Sometimes it seems when you read literature or watch environmental documentaries that the problems with the environment seem so big and you wonder what one person can do to influence change. However it is in exactly at those times that I try to remember that all changes comes about by individuals and groups of committed individuals looking at a situation and saying "stop ... what can I do to change this" and making changes with their own actions.

There are lots of things that can be done to help reduce your negative impact on the environment. Use Earth day to look at your own footprint on the world.

Some ideas you can do for change

• Switch off lights and appliances when they’re not needed. Simple but very effective.


• Install energy-efficient compact fluorescent lamps. They can save up to 80% of your lighting bill and last up to 8 times longer.


• Cut hot water usage by installing a 3-star, water-efficient showerhead, taking shorter showers and using cold-water clothes washing.


• Switch to a GreenPower electricity contract. Get the maximum % of GreenPower you can afford. For the most competitive rates go to our survey www.planetark.com/greenpowertable/


• Switch to low greenhouse impact transport options like your legs, bicycles or public transport. Use phone, email or video conferencing wherever possible.


• Make your home more pleasant to live in and reduce your need for home heating and cooling and by installing insulation, draft-sealing and shading.


• If you have a heating or cooling system set the thermostat appropriately. Each degree you turn it up summer and down in winter can save you 10% in energy.


• Divert garden and food wastes from landfill to composting (either at home or through a Council scheme - if they don’t have one ring them up and ask for one to be set up).
  
  

(Source: Planet Ark)

Make Noise

Let our leaders know if they want to keep their jobs, they have to do something, something big and bold, to solve climate change.

Earth Day is on a Tuesday this year! They are in, they are at their desks, CALL THEM, go visit them, email them, let them know you are out there, watching!

Words of Wisdom - Daily inspiration in your inbox

If you enjoy reading something inspirational in your inbox in the morning .. I recommend subscribing to Rev Run's Words of Wisdom. I find that reading this first thing in the morning helps me to put everything that follows in the day into perspective.

I have put the last 2 up as examples.

Apr 15, 2008 - You can make more friends in two months by becoming more interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get people interested in you. -Anon

Apr 14, 2008 - Good morning. Be efficient! The main cause of failure is doing too many things in a inefficient manner, and not doing enough things in a efficient manner. Every action is either strong; or weak and when your actions are strong, you are acting in a certain way which will make you successful. - Wallace D. Wattles

Charity begins @ Home

Alone we can do so little;
together we can do so much - Helen Keller

Australia has a proud tradition of donating to charity. But sadly, having a baby can put constraints on the family budget that prevent many Australians from donating as they have done in the past.
However online there are many ways that with the power of a click you can help charities.

Check out the following charities that with your help (and no expense) you can help some charities (if you are a skeptic .. check out the Snopes review of the Hunger Site)

Portals

• iDonate - By participating in their "click-for-a-cause" opt-in electronic direct marketing and market research response program, you will earn iDonate credits for your nominated partner charities for each email that you read and for each survey that you fill in. Charities supported include Starlight Foundation, Save the Children, Lifeline, RSPCA and Guide Dogs Association
• The Hunger Site - The Hunger Site was founded to focus the power of the Internet on a specific humanitarian need: the eradication of world hunger. This site also works on other issues including Breast Cancer, Child Health, Literacy and Animal Rescue. This site also has a email reminder service.
  
• Care 2 - Care2 helps causes through clicks for children sponsourship, breast cancer, environmental causes and many more
• Daily Free Donation Reminder - Sometimes the hardest part of Free Donations is remembering to do it. This email service sends you every 2 days an email with a different click to donate website

Children's Charities

• Donate minutes for education
  
• Give 2 Days' Access to Education- The Oaktree Foundation is currently raising money to help build schools in East Timor, one of the poorest nations in the world. $25 will cover the cost of opening up a full 7 years of primary school education for a child at one of the schools built by Oaktree and its partners in East Timor. This equates to $3.55 for one year of primary education for a child and 2c (the lowest amount raised per click) equates to 2 days of primary education.
• Give Food, Medical Care and Necessites to a Needy Child
  

Breast Cancer

• Climb to End Breast Cancer - Help The Breast Cancer Fund's to identify and eliminate environmental causes of Breast Cancer

World Hunger

• Free Rice - FreeRice has two goals: to provide English vocabulary to everyone for free & Help end world hunger by providing rice to hungry people for free. For each word you correctly identify the correct definition, they will donate 20 grains of rice through the UN World Food Prgram to help end hunger.
• Solve Poverty

Animal Causes

• Donate Pet Food for a Shelter - Donates pet food for animal shelters
  

Soap Box - Paid Maternity Leave - Is Australia going to catch on?

How Australia compares

• Australia and the United States are the only 2 OECD countries without statutory paid maternity leave
• French women are entitled to a years paid leave and across Europe there is a growing movement to increase maternity pay
• In Britain women are entitled to 39 weeks paid maternity leave (recently increased from 26)
• Ireland last year increased their paid maternity leave to 26 weeks
• Mexico, Turkey, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Greece have paid maternity leave between 12 and 26 weeks paid at varying rates
• Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, the Slovak Republic, Spain and Sweden have statutory entitlements too, paid at more than 50% of earnings (in most cases up to a ceiling)

Resource: Canberra Times

• In Canada, there is an incredible 50 weeks paid leave - of which 35 could be taken by either partner.

The WHO recommends that women should breastfeed their children for six months. Breastfeeding makes for healthy babies; it helps reduce the chances of sudden infant death syndrome and reduces chances of a child getting asthma. Yet Australia and the United States are the only countries in the OECD that do not provide any form of paid parental leave to allow this to happen. And even the current discussion around the Federal Government's productivity commission inquiry into paid maternity leave focuses on 14 weeks' pay for women. So much for six months' breastfeeding.

The Australia government has been traditionally dropping the ball in regards to paid maternity leave .. this is despite the Australian government encouraging us to have more children. Change is greatly needed and needed now. Australian mothers are being neglected and undervalued. It's terrible that women are being forced to be parted from their newborn babies simply because they can't afford to stay at home. The consequences for mothers, babies and families as a whole are endless. It just doesn't make sense when the government says it wants more women to have children to increase the population.

It is time to provide a system of paid maternity leave for working mothers. Such leave needs to deliver wage replacement for women who, because of their responsibility to care for their children and breastfeed their children, cannot work. Such a system would have significant public health benefits, because encouraging breastfeeding would help produce healthier children. Yet proposals on the table are only for minimum wages to be paid, rather than the wages needed to pay mortgage or rent, living in a city with a housing crisis

Business and Paid Maternity leave
While the federal government (whether that be labour or liberal) seem to be either against paid-maternity leave or just sitting on their hands, some business are voluntarily stepping up to the plate.

Paid maternity leave is increasingly seen by employers to benefit their organisation by:

• Increasing the number of employees returning to work after maternity leave;
• Reducing recruitment and training costs;
• Improving staff morale and productivity;
• Providing a cost-effective means of retaining skilled staff; and
• Improving organisational efficiency through the benefits of long service, eg, institutional memory, industry knowledge, networks and contacts.

Although, in a labour market where unemployment is at a 30-year low and where employers are looking to trim costs, particularly the expensive inconvenience of staff turnover, it's a wonder paid maternity leave is still relatively rare in Australia.

Some examples of paid maternity programs by employers in Australia

• Myer - 6 weeks paid maternity leave
• ALDI - 14 weeks paid at 50 cent of average wages
• Westpac - 12 weeks paid parental leave (or 24 weeks half pay)
• AMP - 14 weeks
• Monash University - 14 weeks paid maternity leave, with an additional 38 weeks at 60% pay
• AMEX - Six weeks parental leave at 50 % pay, plus an additional six weeks at 50% pay if the carer returns to work.
• National Australia Bank - 12 weeks pay, which can be distributed in a lump sum, or over a six-week, 12-week or 24-week period.
• Macquarie University - 26 weeks paid parental leave, plus an additional four weeks paid leave for the partner at the time of birth - based on service
• Australian Catholic University - 12 months paid maternity leave, including 12 weeks at full pay and 40 weeks and 60% pay
• University of Sydney - 14 weeks paid maternity leave, plus 38 weeks at 60% pay

The time for action is now.
What can individuals do? ... Lots

• Register with the Marie Claire Push it Campaign
• Support businesses that support families.
• Voice your opinion to your local member and other members of parliament.

Useful Links
Articles
Canberra Times - The Mother of all battles - 29/3
SMH - Women's day talk won't take care of the babies
ABC - Maternity push: Rudd urged to fund 6 months' leave
HREOC - Unions, business and HREOC: paid maternity leave vital for Australia’s economy and working families
Westpac - War for Talent

Websites
HREOC - Paid Maternity Leave and Pregnancy
Marie Claire - Push it Campaign
What Women Want

A Beginning

About 6 months ago I gave birth to our beautiful son. I had an idea that the birth of our first child would make a significant change on our lives ... I know now that really I did not have a clue. I knew it was going to change how we operated as a family but I really did not consider or comprehend the changes that it would have on me ... on how I would change my outlook on the world and especially my position in it. Almost from the moment that he was born my ideas on my role changed immediately. Beforehand I had a clear idea that I wanted to do about 6 months maternity leave and then return to full-time work ... doing the same job as before ... just with a baby that would attend childcare while I was at work. After seeing him for the first time it changed and has been changing since. I just wanted to hold him and spend so much time with him. (Something I am sure that this is not a unique feeling). So my ideas then started spinning about what I wanted to do .... part-time work was a definite but how. Childcare? So I started on the adventure to look at childcare.

Looking at childcare I found to be a very interesting thing. We had moved to Sydney's Inner West in the third trimester of my pregnancy and in the process of moving I had not looked at childcare and left if for after he was born. However, to my pleasure, when I went to my first Mother's Group I found out that many where at the same point as me in their review of childcare options. On our 2nd or 3rd meeting we had someone from the local council come to talk to us about childcare options. They did not come with a positive message. They started the talk by saying that there was a crisis in childcare in the Inner West (great start) and no matter what your plans are that it is best to put your name down on a waiting list ... so when you finally would get near the top you then have options. I then went out to start looking at childcare centres ... (Before I start on my findings please note I have worked as a high school teacher and one of my parents is a teacher ..Also I wanted a centre that could offer something to my son that I could not .. .for it to be more than just somewhere he went while I worked.)

1. Childcare places are limited for children under the age of 2. The reason being is that from a NSW licensing perspective centre must have a maximum of 5 children (though most centres work at 4) per childcare worker.

The NSW staff to child ratios in the Children’s Services Regulation 2004 are
1:5 for children 0 - under 2 years of age
1:8 for children 2 or more years of age but under 3 years of age
1:10 for children 3 or more years of age but under 6 years of age (FAQ on NSW Childcare Licencing)

Due to the difference in ratio between the ages this makes this age group very expensive as far as running centres and therefore they either don't support this age group or have limited places. Additionally those that have places give priority to people who have older children in the centre to have their children to attend the same centre.

2. Most centres allocate staff with University level training to the older children (3 years and over). The staff who are primarily responsible for the care of 0-2 are have completed TAFE certificate level training.

3. Childcare places charges have a wide range of charges. Especially those that have places in the under 2 years category. What unfortunately does not appear to be the case is any relationship between quality of care and cost. More often it is between cost and availability of places.

4. There are some childcare centres that have really interesting programs and appear to be an exciting place for learning. In my search 1 fit this description. Unfortunately it was the first one I looked at and really did not help when I looked at the others. It is a council run centre that has interesting children lead programs that have a focus on art and creativity. I really felt that the children enjoyed their time there. My nervousness (and guilt) were overcome when visiting this centre but as you can expect the waiting list is ~2- 2.5 years.

5. There are commercial childcare centres that seem to be in some sort of time void and really have not progressed at least in the last 30 years in regards to programs and teaching (at least for the under 2 years groups). I was little depressed when at a couple of the centres did not have any clear program planning for the 0-2 years.

6. Childcare placement and charging models really only support people working in standard employment. One thought I had in the back of my mind for either now or the future was to consider teaching. I thought with the school holidays that would be nice and I childcare costs reduced. What I discovered was that childcare does not really support that. You get charged by most centres for ~50 weeks a year if you want to keep your place. If you take holidays (including school holidays) where you can provide notice in advance some will reduce the fee to half for the days that the children are not attending but most charge full rate ... whether they are there or not and no matter what notice you can provide.

So after looking at alot of centres and speaking to even more on the phone I was very depressed about the whole situation with childcare and it got me thinking. I knew what my preference was ... to be able to look after my son myself. However for a number of reasons including a desire to contribute to the family's income and to have something that can help keep my mind active I started to explore options for part-time work telecomuting from home. In past roles I have completed at least part of my work from home. After much though I realised that I could be very effective working from home ... working around my family commitments if I had an open mind about the work I completed and the hours (times of the day) that I worked.

The more I thought about it the more passionate I became about the issue and started to think beyond myself and my own experience to the wider community. I started to wonder how many women (or men who are the primary care-givers of their children) that could benefit from working from home and how also the community and the environment would also benefit.

So as part of my getting up on the soapbox about this I wanted to write this BLOG and create a website containing information on issues, concerns and campaigns that affect the at home mum (including part-time at home mum)

I hope to include topics on

• Work at Home Mums - Employment and Mumpreneurs
• Study at Home Mums
  
• Shopping for at Home Mum
• Cooking by at Home Mums
• Relaxing for at Home Mums
• Campaigns and Issues affecting at Home Mums
• Rewards and Free Stuff for at Home Mums