When I left full-time employment last year, one of the questions posed to me at my exit interview was: "What can be done to entice mothers like yourself to stay on?"
While I had no major complaints, I did think it would have helped immensely if provisions had been made for a small space in which breast-feeding employees could express their milk in peace. Nothing fancy.
Just a broom closet-sized room with a power socket, and a sign outside that says: "Mums at work, do not disturb."
After all, I'd been expressing mine in a dark, humid toilet cubicle for six months, prior to my leaving.
Once, I tried to use an empty office, only to have a male colleague walk in on me with one boob bared. Another time, I ducked into a vacant conference room, but had to emerge red-faced 10 minutes later, when people started pounding on the locked door as I was holding up their meeting.
After relating my cat-andmouse search for a lactation room, I was told that the company had considered and reviewed that option, and decided that it was not necessary.
The reason: There were plenty of meeting rooms and other spaces that mothers could use, so there was no need to set aside a special room.
Much later, I wondered if the reluctance to provide a nursing mum's room was a subtle deterrent against wasting office hours with lactating activities. But the fact that I had to dart here and there looking for a safe place to relieve my milk ducts wasted more time, didn't it?
In view of the recently-announced baby benefits to encourage citizens to have more kids, I wonder if things will change. After all, the Government is sending out pro-family signals, which is good news indeed for parents.
But pro-family legislation would need to be fully and sincerely embraced by employers to work.
While it is understandable that companies still need to look out for their bottom lines, sometimes all parents are asking for is that their employers think about meeting their longerterm needs through attention to tiny details.
It would be a shame if the Government's parent-friendly message was diluted by privatesector employers who follow the letter of the law grudgingly - rather than out of goodwill and corporate responsibility - and end up edging out their child-bearing workers.
There is a cost involved, too, in retraining someone else to replace an otherwise-loyal female worker, whose "mum" status means she no longer fits as comfortably into the corporate environment.
Perhaps, you are thinking I gripe too much, or am a greedy want-it-all. But my choice to have a child wasmade independent of financial gains or any tax breaks I would get.
All I'm saying is that it often doesn't take much to make working mums happy. Consequently, with their needs met, they become more motivated and are able to pull their weight alongside single or childless colleagues.
Making the working world more mum-friendlywill takework.
On my part, I doubt I'll be having another child anytime soon, as I do harbour hopes of returning to full-time employment.
The thought of juggling a newborn, and, at the same time, lobbying for things tomake a difference in mums' lives in the workplace, already sounds tiring.
But someone has to do it. A friend told me recently about her colleagues requesting a baby changing room (the initial response to their request was: "Do it in the toilet, lor"). After many months and protracted e-mail exchanges with company headquarters, they succeeded.
