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After all these years of companies not being all that supportive of mothers, I was happy to read today about businesses that are trying to keep new mothers working for them.

Now, I’m a work at home mom and happy to be so. I think it’s wonderful when one parent can be at home to raise the children. But I also know that it isn’t what every family wants and it isn’t always practical.

And then there are the times when a woman has lost her job essentially due to being pregnant. The reason is often enough disguised as something else to make it not appear to be discrimination, but it happens. Just look at the experience of Elizabeth at Career and Kids, where I found this article. She lost three jobs during pregnancies. Hard to consider that a coincedence, as she says.

It amazes me to see how hard some companies are working to keep valuable employees from leaving. It also pleases me tremendously. I’ve read enough complaints from feminists about women who “make other women look bad” by leaving their work to raise their children; it’s nice to see companies doing something to make that prospect more pleasant for the mothers.

Not all companies have been bad to pregnant mothers. One of my sisters was actually hired by Microsoft during her pregnancy… and yes she did tell them before the final hiring (but not during interviews). She still got her maternity leave just fine.

I think things like this will prove to be key in helping mothers return to work. Yes it can be seen as an expense to the company, but it can also pay off in terms of keeping productive, experienced, valued employees on the job.

Technorati Tags: working mothers, employers, jobs, maternity leave

Filed under: Business