Motherhood is a significant rite of passage for many American women but for those who keep their jobs after baby, so is learning how to balance parenting with the demands of a 21st-century work schedule.
Enter Fairygodboss, a new website that works a little like company critique site Angie's List does for contractors and plumbers, except in this case it's for workplace policies that can make life harder for new moms.
Users log on to anonymously rate past and present employers and their policies that factor into a parent's performance such as quality of maternity leave, vacation and overall attitude toward employees (especially women) who make their families a priority.
Ladygoogler207, for example, warns against the getting sucked into accepting the "unspoken" extra hours working at Google.
"A lot of the pressure to be in the office 10 hours a day is unspoken ... either from managers, coworkers or ourselves. Don't buy into it and set that tone," her review said.
So far, the site has used anonymous user data to graph strong correlations between companies that are more flexible about parents' needs and workplace loyalty and happiness, according to the Atlantic. That matters, Fairygodboss founders say, because it helps new moms especially answer the all-important question of whether their job respects the importance of their lives outside of work, while offering data companies can use to better accommodate employees.
"Theres a lot of debate over whether gender-diversity programs or considerations are really worth pursuing, Fairygodboos co-founder Romy Newman told the Atlantic. Does it really return to your bottom line? And I think what that statistic says is yes.
While the site also includes a resource center that focuses on maternity leave for women, Fairygodboss founders say the reviews should be used to assess a company's attitude toward employees with families overall.
"Maternity leave is only a finite amount of time," Fairygodboss Georgene Huang told CBS News. Would a company be a fair place to work in the future ... and would I be negatively judged and mommy-trapped?"
Enter Fairygodboss, a new website that works a little like company critique site Angie's List does for contractors and plumbers, except in this case it's for workplace policies that can make life harder for new moms.
Users log on to anonymously rate past and present employers and their policies that factor into a parent's performance such as quality of maternity leave, vacation and overall attitude toward employees (especially women) who make their families a priority.
Ladygoogler207, for example, warns against the getting sucked into accepting the "unspoken" extra hours working at Google.
"A lot of the pressure to be in the office 10 hours a day is unspoken ... either from managers, coworkers or ourselves. Don't buy into it and set that tone," her review said.
So far, the site has used anonymous user data to graph strong correlations between companies that are more flexible about parents' needs and workplace loyalty and happiness, according to the Atlantic. That matters, Fairygodboss founders say, because it helps new moms especially answer the all-important question of whether their job respects the importance of their lives outside of work, while offering data companies can use to better accommodate employees.
"Theres a lot of debate over whether gender-diversity programs or considerations are really worth pursuing, Fairygodboos co-founder Romy Newman told the Atlantic. Does it really return to your bottom line? And I think what that statistic says is yes.
While the site also includes a resource center that focuses on maternity leave for women, Fairygodboss founders say the reviews should be used to assess a company's attitude toward employees with families overall.
"Maternity leave is only a finite amount of time," Fairygodboss Georgene Huang told CBS News. Would a company be a fair place to work in the future ... and would I be negatively judged and mommy-trapped?"
