Back To Career News

New Site Offers Information on Leave Policies for 100s of Companies

Topics:

Wouldn’t it be amazing if there was a way to see which employers offered the most generous leave options for employees, before you accepted a job offer? Well, now there is. Read on to learn more about a new site that provides a transparent look into companies’ leave policies so that working parents can make a more informed decision about their next employer.

tired parents

(Photo Credit: Dylan Meconis/Flickr)

It started out as a job board dedicated to professionals looking for more flexible work options, but Maybrooks is now adding a new extension to its offerings: a database to help working parents see the leave policies from hundreds of companies. The information being compiled for each company ranges from percent of women at the organization, length of maternity leave (if any), pump room availability, childcare options, flexible schedule options, and other applicable information that provides working parents a snapshot of a particular company’s leave policy.

Do You Know What You're Worth?

Why is this important? Considering the fact that more women are returning to their careers after having children and value job flexibility just as much, if not more, than money nowadays, having the option to scout out a potential employer’s flexible work options before signing on the dotted line is a huge plus, not to mention a time saver.

Think of Maybrooks’ database as the equivalent of an online dating profile that allows working mothers to skim through company profiles and see who is and isn’t a potential perfect (career) match. Honestly, would you bother wasting your time going on a date with a complete dud whom you know cannot offer what you’re looking for in a partner? We didn’t think so.

“You can be really strategic in making good decisions about where you’re going to work before you even work there,” explains Maybrooks’ founder, Stacey Delo, to ThinkProgress.

Delo originally started the site out of her own necessity as a working mother. Like many working parents, Delo underestimated the demands of parenthood and the time she’d have to take off to care for her children. After her second child, Delo wanted to return to work, but this time, she wanted a more flexible work schedule to allow her to spend time with her kids. However, upon searching around online for opportunities that fulfilled her flexible requirements, Delo quickly discovered that such options were simply not available. This is how Maybrooks was born.

The idea of the site is to not only help working mothers (or working parents) make more well-informed decisions about their potential employers, but also to encourage companies to construct leave policies that “keep women in the workforce,” Delo says.

Research shows that women are extremely beneficial to the workplace, whether as team members, managers, or leaders.

What’s more, “Companies that have women in high-ranking positions prove to perform better than those that are absent of female leadership,” according to this PayScale post. With Maybrooks’ help, working mothers now have the information they need to find an employer that offers the flexible work options necessary to be a mother and a career woman simultaneously.

If you wish to add your company’s leave policy to Maybrooks’ database, do so here. You can also see a full list of the companies that are already cataloged, here.

Tell Us What You Think

What is the most important leave option an employer could offer you? Share your thoughts with our community on Twitter and join the conversation.

Leah Arnold-Smeets
Read more from Leah

Leave a Reply

avatar
  Subscribe  
Notify of
What Am I Worth?

What your skills are worth in the job market is constantly changing.