There is a lot of misunderstanding in the marketplace about what kind of support working mothers need.
Most maternity benefits revolve around two factors: the length of maternity leave and payout percentages. These are important conversations that need to continue, but they completely bypass critical discussions about maternity benefits that help working mothers balance the personal and professional.
Teresa Tanner, chief administrative officer at Fifth Third Bank, discovered just this after assembling a team to investigate the bank’s female attrition rate. They found that within a year of returning from maternity leave, new mothers at Fifth Third were exiting the workforce at twice the rate of other women.
What is a Maternity Concierge?
A maternity concierge is like having a personal assistant for employees who are pregnant, on maternity leave, or who have returned to work – up to a year after their babies’ births.
The Maternity Concierge program provides female talent with a customizable, proactive one-stop-shop of support from pregnancy to post-maternity.
Watch this overview to learn more about maternity services and the impact it’s having on working families.
How does a Maternity Concierge Program Work?
“When someone asks me, what is covered by the Maternity Concierge program, I tell them it’s like having a personal assistant for anything I need until my daughter turns a year old. People are blown away that a company recognizes how thin working mothers are stretched and offers this level of support.”
BEST places an expert concierge at your organization, typically at a corporate headquarters, to serve eligible employees directly (in person) and/ or remotely for any employees located offsite or in satellite offices.
The program’s customization works in two ways: the services are tailored to meet the unique needs of your organization while working mothers can utilize the program in the ways that fit them best.
Our concierge becomes a confidant and source of constant support, and as a result, they also serve as a barometer for your company’s success in supporting working families.
Are Maternity Benefits Worth the Investment?
Over 75 percent of expecting mothers plan to return to work, but an overwhelming 43 percent end up resigning. In fact, close to half of expecting mothers are afraid to reveal their pregnancy to leadership – period. With women comprising almost 50 percent of the U.S. labor force and a third having children under the age of 18, this poses a substantial problem.
Millennials, now the largest share of the American workforce, are attracted to and retained by organizations that place a premium on work-life balance, a concept that for this generation includes maternity benefits.
Simply put, our current trajectory isn’t sustainable.
Program Impact
A year after implementing the Maternity Concierge Program, Fifth Third reported that women who participated had an 86 percent return-to-work rate compared to a 62 percent return-to-work rate for non-participants.
When Forbes learned of BEST’s Maternity Concierge Program they immediately made the connection between working mothers and business imperatives: “Businesses aren’t just doing this for the PR or to be kind. They believe it’s in their business interest. Attracting and training talent is expensive, so investing in keeping great employees can be good for their bottom line.”
Are the challenges of balancing the demands of parenthood and a career driving talent out of your organization?