smallbusiness.co.uk: Helping your business think big

At last some sense is being spoken and the government need to listen - most businesses simply cannot sustain the adverse affect 39 weeks maternity leave will have them. But what about an issue that is equally damaging - the fact that employers are quite often left hi and dry when maternity leave returnees decide that they aren't coming back after saying they are, return but only for a short time and then leave or demand that the employee adopt flexible working hours for them as they don't wish to work the hours they were originally contracted for. Some employers can accommodate flexibility but some can't and employees do not have a divine right to insist they get everything they want.

I am a mother of a newborn who is now 7 weeks old. I had an unplanned pregnancy....but my employer has been very supportive and I have made a request for partial flexibility towards my work with serious consideration to my employers operation and my colleagues as a whole but with clear business sense for my request. However considering other parts of Western Europe particularly countries like Sweden....it seems their parental leave for mums and dads not only pays nearly as much as you earn when you are in full time but the length of it as well. Money as businesses like to make it look with comments like- it is always not enough, we cant accomodate as this is disastrous to our cash flow....but think about this human life and our emotional stability is worth more than millions in real money and a good foundation of a family starts early and furthermore there is enough wealth to go around in this world by many times. I have worked as a professional in nearly all my adult life and succeed in my chosen career in finance and IT...in a competitive environment but I would not hesitate for one moment to emphathize and be supportive when my employee says I am sorry I cant come back or change my mind during or after their maternity leave because as a mother of a child I know my priorities and I have sought to reprioritize and adjust my new way of life to accomodate this new member to our family and I would rather make sure she grows up to be a caring and kind person so that she would one day be just to her fellow kindreds. To sum it up we live in a world where we help each other and rely on each other so why dont we try to be nice to each other??? Is it too hard or because others dont treat us nicely we throw it back at others when we have a chance....the UK needs to change before it becomes a highly sophisticated barbaric nation.