Check out 16 Return-To-Work Programs In India For Ambitious Women Like You!
Crèche was a necessity in my life! Especially a workplace crèche, on joining work, all my fears came true; the babysitter was irregular, the pumped milk was insufficient, and many other unseeable emergencies kept popping up.
A crèche is a child care facility where young children are looked after while their parents are away because of work. Workplace crèches have become a necessity for working parents.
In this article, I will share my story of how me and my colleagues built a crèche facility in the workplace.
In January 2022, I was all set to join back to work. Even so, being a new mother, I was full of trepidation. I had hired a babysitter and had a supportive husband, but was still worried.
Throughout my maternity leave, I was practically attached to the baby and was being used 24/7 as a human pacifier. Apart from this, the baby was used to being breastfed every few hours, and I wasn’t sure how I will manage this while at work.
On joining work, all my fears seemed to take life. The babysitter was irregular in her work, many a time the pumped milk was insufficient for the baby, not to mention many other such emergencies dotted my first month back.
However, my issues were nothing compared to that of my staff members. Due to lack of any support in the workplace, some were forced to either quit or take extended child care leave, while others opted for less important side-posting/work roles.
I kept thinking that there has to be an easy solution to all of this. And then it came to me. Only if we had a working Crèche at our office!
Mothers could leave their babies and work stress-free, even for long hours. They could breastfeed and monitor their babies at regular intervals. More importantly, this would have increased their productivity and efficiency by manifolds.
Interestingly, there are various judicial pronouncements highlighting the significance of a Crèche in the workplace. Also, the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017 mandates every establishment having more than 50 employees to have a crèche facility.
However, due to a lack of awareness of this provision, as well as a weak bargaining position among employer-employee, the employees are often unable to assert this right.
The employers, due to lack of guidance and false notion that a crèche is expensive to operate, are also not proactive in providing daycare services to their employees.
The Ministry of Women and Child Development has issued an office memorandum dated November 2, 2018 on National Minimum Guidelines to Establish and Manage Crèche Facilities, which provides a step-by-step guide to employers on space, equipment/materials/staff required for operating a crèche.
A crèche compliant with these guidelines is not only inexpensive to set up, but fairly economical to operate.
With the help of supportive seniors and like-minded colleagues, I was able to prepare a proposal for crèche at our workplace as well as obtain the requisite financial sanctions. Within two months, we had an operational crèche!
The enrolment in the crèche has been steadily increasing since then, from 3 to 15 today. Slowly, the staff members who had quit are now returning to work. The officers who were forced to take child care leave are also returning to work.
The officers are now confident to take up any role, including those requiring round-the-clock attention.
A small effort has transformed my entire workplace scenario. It has become a positive workspace, which understands the struggles of motherhood and tends to support gender inclusivity!
Image Source: NIDHI via Getty Images, Free on CanvaPro
read more...
Women's Web is an open platform that publishes a diversity of views, individual posts do not necessarily represent the platform's views and opinions at all times.
Stay updated with our Weekly Newsletter or Daily Summary - or both!
UP Boards Topper Prachi Nigam was trolled on social media for her facial hair; our obsession with appearance is harsh on young minds.
Prachi Nigam’s photo has been doing the rounds on social media for the right reasons. Well, scratch that- I wish the above statement were true. This 15-year-old girl should ideally be revelling in her spectacular achievement of scoring a whopping 98.05% and topping her tenth-grade boards. But oddly enough, along with her marks, it’s something else that garners more attention – her facial hair.
While the trolls are driving themselves giddy by mocking this girl who hasn’t even completed her school yet, the ones who are taking her side are going one step ahead – they are sharing her photoshopped pictures, sans the facial hair, looking nothing less than a celebrity with captions saying – “Prachi Nigam, ten years later”.
Doctors have already diagnosed her with PCOD in their comments, based on photographic evidence. While we have names for people shamed for their weight – body shaming, for their skin colour- racism, for their age- age shaming, for being a female- sexism, this category of shaming where one faces criticism for their appearance has no name. With that, it also has zero shame attached to it.
Please enter your email address