fbpx
Health Quick Tips

Employers, Here’s How You Can Be More Supportive Of Breastfeeding Mums

Earlier this year, a survey conducted by LinkedIn revealed that more and more women are joining the workforce with more working mothers holding leadership roles at the office. Unfortunately, the survey also revealed that at least 32% of women believe that their gender is holding them back from advancing in their career. With August being National Breastfeeding Awareness month, we decided to speak with several mothers to gain input on how employers can be more supportive of working (and breastfeeding) mothers.

#1 Adequate Nursing Room

Being a mother to two beautiful girls, Nabilah Zawawi relayed that she had two different breastfeeding journeys with her daughters, and emphasised that what contributed to the difference was a designated space to pump. “With my first daughter, my employer didn’t provide us mums with a designated space to pump. So, I had to pump breastmilk in the surau or sometimes in my female manager’s room,” and stressed that both conditions left her feeling uncomfortable.

But, the multinational Oil & Gas (O&G) company she works for  has since provided a designated nursing room for working mothers. However, she believes that the room can still be improved. “Because stress affects milk production, I think employers should make the room more comfortable instead of just giving us a room with sofas and a mini fridge in it,” she opined, and added that there is no harm in investing in a proper freezer that will ease all mums’ fears of spoilt breast milk or adequate lighting and ventilation.

#2 Teaching Employees About Breastfeeding

Meanwhile, Catherine Lee strongly believes that employers should help educate new parents about breastfeeding. Catherine deduced that teaching new parents about breastfeeding will give employees a sense of support — which is immensely important amongst new parents. Speaking from experience, the mother of three mentioned that, “I felt extremely stressful and questioned my capabilities as a working mother when my former boss said that pumping breast milk at work is a huge time-waster.”

With that, the seasoned consultant proposed for employers to not only educate new parents about breastfeeding, but to also encourage them through various courses such as safe breastfeeding positions or how husbands can lend a helping hand while the wife is nursing or breastfeeding. In fact, Catherine underlined that this will save new parents the hassle of searching for healthcare institutions that provide breastfeeding or lactation courses, and foster loyalty amongst employees.

#3 Allowing Flexible Schedule

Perhaps the biggest form of support that employers can give their breastfeeding employees is permitting flexible schedules. Mavinia Raj emphasised that she, and a lot of her other fellow working mum friends, sticks to a routine schedule when it comes to pumping breast milk as it helps boost milk production. With that in mind, Mavinia recommends for employers to be flexible with their working hours for breastfeeding mums. “If you’re unable to grace us mums the luxury of coming to work after 10am, then maybe you can consider giving us a flexible lunch time to accommodate our pumping schedule,” she suggested.

The new mum highlighted that she is not asking employers to allow breastfeeding mums to work less hours, but to merely give them the flexibility to complete their 8-hour requirement without compromising their pumping schedule. As she understands that sometimes ad hoc assignments occur, she too believes that it will be beneficial for companies to invest in a proper nursing room.

#4 Revise Your Company Policy

As we brought all these suggestions to a retired Human Resource (HR) professional who worked with an international O&G company for over 30 years, the retiree strongly encourages all companies, regardless the scale of its employees, to look into their policy that addresses all matters that fall under the maternity spectrum. From gracing employees with sufficient maternity and paternity leaves, maternity and paternity benefits, the retiree relayed that it is important to ensure these perks and benefits are in line with our Employment Act as well as the labour law.

“It is advisable for companies to check with the labour department and the HR ministry of their maternity and paternity policies,” he encouraged, and said that by doing so, it ensures that employees are graced with the perks and benefits that they are entitled to, and are utilising their rights. He then added that by always ensuring that their policies adhere to the law, it assures employees that the company does indeed care for its employees, and would never deprive them of their rights.

In conjunction with National Breastfeeding Awareness month, we call upon employers to be more supportive of its employees, and assure all mothers that their choice to breastfeed their children is respected. We see you, and know that you have our support.

For more  tips and articles, check out our Facebook page and our Instagram page.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *