Why employers can benefit by taking maternal mental health more seriously
This week marks the start of Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week, and businesses are being encouraged to play a greater part in ensuring employees get support in talking about mental health issues they might experience before, during and after pregnancy.
Leading the calls is Keeley Lengthorn, a crusading solicitor who has been campaigning on this topic for the past two years.
Keeley, a partner at London law firm Taylor Rose MW, has suffered child loss three times.
Now she is lobbying for the creation of George’s Law, named in memory of her son who died when she was 22 weeks pregnant.
Her proposed change would allow parents who lost a baby under 24 weeks to have a statutory entitlement to three days’ paid leave from work.
Keeley says: “It’s vital all businesses do more in this area because statistics surrounding this issue consistently show employers have a long way to go. According to a recent Fertility Matters Network survey, only 1.7 per cent of respondents felt their workplace had fertility policies in place which met their needs.
“Currently just over one-third of organisations, have a policy concerning pregnancy loss/miscarriage. And, alarmingly one in five people have previously said they don’t receive any support from their employer. This has led to one in four employees considering leaving their jobs because of how their employers inadequately dealt with their pregnancy loss.
“So the facts are there for all to see. If employers step up in this area they will not only ensure the wellbeing of their employees. They are more likely to retain them as part of their team long into the future.”
Here Keeley outlines the steps which can be taken by businesses in this area.
What can you do as a business?
- Develop a standalone baby Loss policy framework
- Make this policy easy to locate
- Appointment of a fertility officer
- Offer Baby Loss training. You can get this for FREE via an organisation called Briefed!
What can you do as a manager or colleague?
- Do not ignore the employee or what is happening to them
- Talk to the employee
- Diarise one-to-ones with the employee
- Set realistic performance expectations
- Follow their pace
- Talk about their baby
What not to do or say
- If an employee suffers a loss don’t say everything happens for a reason, or ‘you’ll have another baby’
- Never refer to the baby as ‘it’
- Avoid religious references
- Try not to post questions about future plans
When you are supporting an employee who has lost a child Keeley says:
“When you get that call, WhatsApp message or email from a colleague saying they have lost a baby it’s important that the above has been done and is in place so you as an employer know what to do, but more importantly so the employees feel supported.
“Make sure as a business you have the baby loss policy in place and that it’s easy to locate. Put it on your desktop as a business icon. The last thing the bereaved parent wants to do when they lose a child is to be scrabbling around the firm’s intranet looking for the document.
“Have it to hand for them and then effect it. It might not seem like it at the time, but it could make a huge difference to the employee and ensure they get help when they need it most.”