Recent Eurostat statistics indicate that the nubmer of employed women in the Czech Republic reaches 56%. In the case of women with children under six years it is even a fifth less, which leaves the Czech Republic in last place in the European Union. That is alarming because Czech women make decisions on purchases amounting to about 9 billion higher than men. A poll after poll confirms that mums are keen to work and return to work before they can take their children to nursery schools but the current system of care for preschool children in Czech Republic offers only very limited options for them.
This situation is perceived by employers who are coming up with programs to support mothers and fathers on parental leave and facilitate their return to work in recent years. One of these employers is Ceskoslovenska obchodni banka (CSOB), a major banking company. The Program for moms and dads in CSOB was awarded the HREA - Excellence Award ® 2011 at the professional HR Know How Conference 2012.
The main impetus for the CSOB program came with the nationwide baby boom in 2008 when twenty mothers on average were leaving on maternity leave a month. Today, approximately 200 parents are involved in the program 120 of whom work part-time. The bank prepared workshops and consultations on labor law, e-learning, coaching and individual approach to planning the next career for the parents. Internal magazines and informal meetings of parents help parents to maintain contact with the bank their colleagues. All this is covered by an online portal.
A similar program operates at mobile operator Telefónica Czech Republic. Parents who decide to return to work earlier are offered a financial contribution to secure e.g. babysitting. Under the Diversity program, Telefónica organizes two-day workshops for parents on how to combine their work and private lives. "This spring, intensive discussions between mothers who returned from maternity leave to work and managers of Telefónica took place in Prague and in some regions of the Czech Republic within the so-called focus groups. Within these discussions, the participatns were trying to find ways to further improve this difficult process," said the company's spokesman Hany Farghali in a press release.
Parents in Telefonica can use a specialized portal called Mama & Tata (Mom & Dad) launched in February 2011. The portal contains a public part and a private part designed for parents. In the private part, employees on parental leave can find information about current events in the company, electronic version of a corporate magazine, offer jobs and benefits. During the first week after the portal was launched, more than 100 parents registered to the portal. Today, 74 parents per month visit the portal on average.
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