Christine Sanders has had three kids in eight years—and knows
firsthand how workplace parental benefits can make the difference between
surviving and thriving at the office.
Each
of Sanders’ children was born while she was working at the Nashville-based tech
company Asurion. In addition to paid maternity leave, employees also have
access to a leave of absence coordinator to answer any questions about
paperwork relating to medical leave or health insurance. “It can be really
overwhelming going through this, especially as a first-time mom,” Sanders says.
Sanders
and other parents who work at Asurion share how the company has made their
lives easier, both while waiting for the baby to arrive and upon returning to
the office after parental leave.
The Women’s Initiative Network is a Voice for Working Moms
Sanders
is a member of the Women’s Initiative Network (WIN), an employee resource group
that inspires and empowers women to achieve their full potential by promoting
personal and professional growth.
“The
group is a place for women to come together and have open and honest
conversations,” says Sanders, Director, HR Business Partner at Asurion. “It
also enables us to share ideas, thoughts, and frustrations that come with being
working moms.”
WIN
and other employee resource groups have successfully advocated for enhanced
parental leave, including domestic partner and paternity leave.
Pregnant Employees Feel the Support—Even as Applicants
When
Caroline Iacono applied for her current role as HR Technology Content Manager
at Asurion, she was six months pregnant. “I was really nervous about job
hunting while pregnant,” she says. “I did a search for companies in Nashville
that were open to pregnant candidates, and Asurion popped up.”
Not
only did she get the job, but her team also went out of their way to be
supportive. “They threw me a baby shower after I’d only been there for a few
weeks,” she says. “And when I came back to work, they made it an easy
transition, allowing me to work from home a lot.”
Iacono
had another colleague who was hired at six months pregnant, and she says, “It
was nice to see someone else also join my team who was in the same spot in
life.”
A Coordinator Makes the Hard Stuff Easy to Navigate
When
you’re about to have a baby, the last thing you want to do is deal with
paperwork—that is, if you can even remember you have to fill it out in the
first place. That’s where the leave of absence coordinator comes in. For
Sanders, it helped to have someone available who could make sure she was
checking all the boxes before going on leave.
“The
coordinator helped me navigate the entire process, from filing documents to
making sure I knew to initiate my leave once the baby was born and adding my
newborn to my health insurance,” she says. “On her advice, I saved the right
number in my husband’s phone so he could call and inform the company when I
went into labor.”
Asurion
continuously looks to improve its benefits programs and will be launching a new
set of benefits to support families through their parenting journey, including
online apps for fertility tracking, healthy pregnancies, and support for
newborn health tracking.
They Don’t Forget About Dads and Partners
Pierre
Delinois, Senior Manager of HR Product Development, was instrumental in researching
and testing various benefit policies including expanded maternity and parental
leave. “We worked with the benefits team to do an internal research cycle
wherein we talked to about 70 different employees with different elements of
our policies,” he tells us.
Not
only is his team responsible for designing the employee experience like paid
time off, but as a father of four, Delinois recently used the parental leave
policy himself after his son was born last fall. “I have really appreciated the
support I’ve received here,” he tells us. “My team even went so far as to
provide some meals to help ease the transition.” He adds that the flexible
schedule after returning to work has been a huge help to his family as well.
More Perks and Resources
Nursing
rooms in all U.S. office locations? Yep, they’ve got those. But the company
also goes above and beyond to show their support with perks including expectant
mother parking.
Employees
have also taken it upon themselves to create additional support systems. For
example, there’s a group on Workplace at Facebook for working parents at
Asurion. “I’ve found it helpful because I can ask about things like childcare
recommendations,” Iacono says. “And it’s a nice place to post pictures without
feeling like you’re inundating people who don't have kids.”
Flexible Schedules Are Encouraged
Even
19 months after giving birth to her son, Iacono continues to work remotely
about three days per week—which has taken a lot of the stress out of going back
to work. “As a parent, things arise unexpectedly and having this flexibility
makes me want to work a lot harder,” she says. “I’ve even had to take meetings
with my kids in the room, and people have always been gracious about it. It
makes me feel like we’re all in this together.”
Sanders
couldn’t agree more. “Having a flexible schedule is one of my top reasons for
staying in this job,” she says. “Oftentimes I work from home once or even twice
a week just to keep my head down and get stuff done. But if I stay home because
my baby is sick, nobody holds it against you. And that goes for employees
without kids, as well.”
She
also adds that managers are not watching the clock on the days she does come to
the office. “If I show up at 9 AM instead of 8 AM, it’s not a big deal,”
Sanders says. “They know I’ll deliver the work. Nobody has once batted an eye
at my ability to do my job despite having to take time to be with my children.”