Todd Raphael, Editor-in-Chief, ERE Media

Employer Branding Today is proud to welcome guest writer Todd Raphael, Editor-in-Chief of ERE Media. In his article, Todd explains that despite your written policies, your employees still have another perception or understanding of your workplace. The question is: How can you, as an employer, identify and address all those unwritten policies that create an atmosphere of uncertainty? 

By Todd Raphael, Editor-in-Chief of ERE Media

I was recently on the phone for ERE.net, talking to a company president about our website, conferences, and so on. He said it’d been an emotional day: an employee told him she was pregnant with her third child, and that she was scared.

He told me he wasn’t 100% sure why she was scared, but a small part of it, he thought – written policies or the law aside — was a fear she’d somehow lose her job or wouldn’t be wanted anymore. (“I’ve decided to keep it,” she told him – almost as if she thought he was going to tell her she shouldn’t!) Read the rest of this entry »

• Despite generous parental leave, the Swedes are delaying parenthood
• Women feel stressed in job interviews, when asked about plans to have children

In Sweden, the average age of having the first baby is 29. In some parts of Stockholm women wait until they’re 40 to become mothers. The reason: they’re afraid that their career will suffer, according to research conducted by Uppsala University.

Here are some quick facts from the research:

Read the rest of this entry »

Three questions to employers on their opinion of parental leave and working moms

1. Do you believe that working moms perform less than non-working moms?
2. Are you open to the idea of your employees taking leave and do you provide flexible working time to allow them to cope between the demands of the job and family?
3. Are you prepared for when your top performers take leave?

These are some of the questions that employers should ask regarding their approach to parental leave. This topic is a difficult one to approach as the policies differ between counties. There are pros and cons to having generous parental benefits, but whatever one’s opinion, we must certainly all agree that it’s a human right to have a family – one which employer, government and society should not hinder or forbid. Read the rest of this entry »

UK coalition government passed new laws to allow dads to take an extra four weeks paternity leave. Yet UK men are worried about the stigma of taking the daddy month – taking time off to spend with your family gives the message to your employer that you’re uncommitted to your career. Does it? Well, at least UK men feel so. Read the rest of this entry »