SPECIAL REPORT MENTAL HEALTH MATTERS
Mothers can face a number of challenges on returning to work
forward for part-time and full-time parents,” says Belasco. “Companies are becoming more
aware and open around this. It reduces work and home life stress, which can also have an effect on relationships within family networks.” Flight Centre approves about 98%
of flexible working requests. Jeavons- Wright adds: “It’s a big thing that we promote and encourage people to apply for if they need to”. Co-operative Travel offers
phased returns to work. “We’re still a female-dominated industry and that’s reflected in the colleagues that work across our retail estate,” says Turner. “We have a lot of colleagues who
return to work on a part-time basis because it’s easy for them to juggle home and family life. Part-time colleagues are invaluable. Tey’re a large proportion of our workforce.” Hays Travel offers 10 ‘Kit’ (keeping
in touch) days. “Employees can come into branch, if they want to catch up on their emails or just have a coffee with the manager,” says Katie Motram, human resource graduate.
travelweekly.co.uk Inductions are also used to
gradually reintroduce staff to the environment. Motram says these are particularly useful if staff and systems have changed. Hays Travel extends this support
to homeworkers. “We offer them the same level of support,” says Motram. Other needs to consider include
breastfeeding. Te Midcounties Co-operative society has a breastfeeding policy for new mothers returning to work. It’s among the policies that Turner says are paramount to helping new mothers back into the workplace and an example of “thinking about the needs of that individual when they return to work to try and accommodate them”.
CONTRIBUTE If you would like to contribute anything to T
ravel Weekly’s
Mental Health Matters series, email
natalie.marsh@
travelweekly.co.uk
“
MY STORY Rhiannon Walsh,
travel consultant, Hays Travel, Didsbury, Manchester I had my daughter
two years ago. I had a horrendous pregnancy and birth. I started to have awful feelings and thoughts and I didn’t want to deal with her. I had her in the September and I
was meant to go back to work in the January, but physically and mentally I couldn’t go back. I was diagnosed in December that year with postnatal depression. They put returning to work back to May that year and I couldn’t even face going outside at that point. I didn’t know how to look after my daughter, even though she was nearly a year old. It was quite stressful, and I took just over two years out of work. I started this job with Hays in August. I have spoken about this a lot
because it’s not something that’s often talked about. It’s normal to take this
long to get back into work. I now live six minutes from work. I’m a lot happier in a workplace than I am at home and it seems a very supportive company. There’s only four of us in the
shop and we’re really close. I know I’ve not been here long, but we talk about a load of things. I’m comfortable talking to them about this. They are as well. Speaking about
m a ut
things helps a lot. Mental health among my generation is widely spoken about on social media, but not postnatal depression.”
10 OCTOBER 2019 17
One in seven mothers suffer from postnatal depression
PICTURES: Shutterstock
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