[WiLT] Voluntary sector employees on maternity leave need better support say HR chiefs

[WiL Admin]

Voluntary sector employees on maternity leave need better support say
HR chiefs

Voluntary sector employees on maternity leave receive insufficient
adjustments to salary and working hours and are offered little
emotional or psychological support, according to a group of human
resources directors.

HR directors from organisations including anti-poverty charity
ActionAid and health and community safety charity Cri met to discuss
how maternity leave is managed.

They concluded that adjustments to salary and working hours were not
sufficient to meet the personal needs of employees going on or
returning from maternity leave.

Organisations tended to place considerable focus on how mothers coped
with returning to work as opposed to trying to prevent the emotional
difficulties people could face in leaving their positions and then
returning, they said.

Duncan Fraser, managing director of training organisation the Way
Ahead Group, which hosted the discussion, said neglecting this area
was detrimental to organisations.

"The cost to a company of badly managed maternity leave can be
financial and psychological and can have a bad effect on performance,
organisational knowledge and goodwill," he said.

http://ecm.hbpl.co.uk/re?l=evzrzgI450l1k5I19