PREGNANCY AND MATERNITY AT WORKPLACE: A QUALITATIVE STUDY TO KNOW THE EMPLOYERS PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

Background: - In the recent years, women have been bestowed a considerable number of paid positions in the labor market and continue to work even during periods of pregnancies. Even though, women form a large part of the labor force, they are being discriminated against at the work place just due to their unique biological ability to bear children. The main objective is to take point of view of employers regarding pregnancy at workplace, their concerns and challenges and how they place themselves in the whole scenario of changing environment for a worker.

Methodology A qualitative study design is selected that seeks in depth interviews with employers at different levels in institutes of Lahore.

Result: - Employers display unfavorable attitude towards the employment of childbearing age group women in the first place and pregnancy at workplace is not a welcoming event at all. All this negative attitude is due to the cost and HR issues raised by the absences and maternity leave of a pregnant worker. There is a great chaos regarding workload shared by the colleagues in pregnant women’s absence. For maternity leave, cost of hiring a new person and training are the issues raised by the employers especially in small organizations.

Conclusion: -There is great need to increase the understanding of the employers regarding the unique phenomenon of pregnancy. They should be given ample knowledge about balance, between work and personal life of an employee and how to handle the sensitive situations like the pregnancy in a moral and ethically correct way.