Dana Speaks Up On: Celebrating Parenthood

Mother’s Day always represents an opportunity for me to reflect on the biggest, hardest, most rewarding job I’ve ever taken on; motherhood. As a member of the working-mom community, I have had countless conversations with my peers about the challenges of juggling both work and family. Oftentimes, us working moms feel like we’re failing at both; our attention always being pulled in two directions. My joke has always been that nowadays woman can ‘have it all’, but they have to ‘DO it all’ too, and that’s really hard. I’m thrilled to see stories like this one in AdAge about companies, like our friends at HUGE, who recognize the emotional and financial value of investing in employees who become Moms…and Dads! I know so many woman who loved their jobs, who kicked ass at their jobs, but felt forced to quit just to get an extra couple of months with their newborn, or because the abrupt transition back to a fulltime work schedule just seemed too daunting for them and their child. The more companies can do to recognize the needs of working parents, the more they’ll reap the benefits of this strong and loyal class of individuals.

The article below was originally published by AdAge.

Why This Agency Believes Investing in New Moms Is Good Business

Huge’s New Program Allows for Flexible Schedule After Maternity Leave

By Ann-Christine Diaz

 

New moms at Huge Credit: Huge

Over the years, the company worked ad hoc with new mothers to negotiate schedules that made sense for their family situations. Now Huge has updated its benefits package to formally include the phase-back plans so they are available to all new moms in the company’s U.S. offices, with international offices to follow. It will allow all new mothers to work with their managers to customize a return plan, which could mean “choosing among flexible hours, shorter workdays or remote work in the six months following parental leave,” said Huge President and Chief Operating Officer Shirley Au (pictured far left in picture).

The move follows telecom giant Vodafone’s decision in March to give female employees at least 16 weeks paid maternity leave and full pay for 30-hour work weeks in the six months following their return. The company determined that not only would the plan allow new moms proper time to bond with their babies and adjust to their new lives, it would also “mean less recruitment and training costs and the ability to retain talented women whose knowledge and experience at the company are not easy to replace,” said a Vodafone spokeswoman. The company released the “Maternomics” video below following its announcement to help further explain its decision.

“Our experience is that making it easier for mothers to transition back into full-time work allows more women to continue their careers at Huge rather than put their professional development on hold,” Ms. Au said. “I also want people to feel like when they’re pregnant, it’s great news, not news that you’d want to hide.”

For Huge, in particular, that thinking is key to retaining the shop’s top talent, many of whom are new moms. Ms. Au herself has a three-year-old son and a four-month-old daughter. Other female leaders with young children include VP-Technology Gela Fridman, VP-User Experience Emily Wengert, and Creative Directors Megan Man and Jessica Bauer-Greene.

The agency already had a generous parental leave program in place. It includes twelve fully-paid weeks for mothers or main caretakers, plus six fully-paid weeks for fathers or secondary caretakers.

Other agencies are also seeking to lessen employees’ new parenting burdens — Wieden & Kennedy, for example, gives four months of paid leave to new moms, two months of paid leave to new dads or families going through adoption, plus $500 to be used to cover expenses, including food, in the first month of a new child’s arrival.