{"id":24331,"date":"2020-10-30T11:07:47","date_gmt":"2020-10-30T18:07:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comparably.com\/blog\/?p=24331"},"modified":"2020-10-30T11:07:47","modified_gmt":"2020-10-30T18:07:47","slug":"medela-is-on-a-mission-to-improve-the-support-offered-to-working-families","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comparably.com\/blog\/medela-is-on-a-mission-to-improve-the-support-offered-to-working-families\/","title":{"rendered":"Medela is on a Mission to Improve the Support Offered to Working Families"},"content":{"rendered":"

An Interview with Medela EVP, Americas, Melissa Gonzales<\/em><\/p>\n

We spoke to Melissa Gonzales, executive vice president for the Americas at Medela, about how the company\u2019s focus on supporting breastfeeding families is innately linked to its concern for the well-being of its own employees. The culture at Medela is built on the desire to amplify compassion and access for breastfeeding moms. In the US, this is quite an undertaking, as paid leave is not universal, and only part of the issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that breastfeeding alone significantly reduces the incidence of the foremost common and costly childhood problems in the first year of life,\u201d Gonzales says. \u201cBut there’s growing evidence and data about the benefits of breastfeeding for maternal health outcomes as well, including both breast and ovarian cancer rates.”<\/p>\n

A 12-year veteran of Medela, Gonzales says she\u2019s always had an interest in people\u2019s health and wellbeing. Her career began in nursing before transitioning to medical devices.<\/p>\n

When she happened to come across an opportunity at Medela, she was immediately struck by the company\u2019s passionate, mission-driven culture.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur employees have this great passion for what they do,\u201d Gonzales says. \u201cWhether on the human milk side or on the healthcare side of our business, we’re here for the mission and that mission is to advance human health and wellbeing through innovation in breast milk feeding and medical vacuum technology.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Gonzales says putting the customer first is a focus of Medela\u2019s, and it\u2019s founded in listening. Listening, most intently, for the gaps where people may be struggling.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe breastfeeding journey is complex and really personal,\u201d she says, \u201cAs a leader, I\u2019ve committed to fostering a constant quest for learning, and encouraging our teams to apply those learnings to \u00a0innovations that can make a difference to support the breastfeeding journey of every mother.\u201d<\/p>\n

While it\u2019s true that the basic elements of mothering a baby don\u2019t change, Gonzales says that opportunities for new mothers and attitudes towards breastfeeding are constantly shifting in ways that don’t always favor this critical bond between mother and child.<\/p>\n

Medela focuses its efforts strongly on three frontiers in the battle for rectifying that inequality to support breastfeeding families:<\/p>\n

ADVOCATING FOR POLICIES <\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s common knowledge that gaps exist in the knowledge of many new parents and that those gaps are sometimes fostered by social inequalities.<\/p>\n

“We got intensely interested in this in 2010 with the Affordable Care Act. This landmark healthcare legislation offered an opportunity to close some of these gaps for moms,\u201d she says of the opportunities the ACA afforded Medela to help people. \u201cThere was a big focus on opening up lactation support, supplies, and services for parents. But there’s no universal approach. There’s no way to monitor or enforce it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, we started to ask, \u2018What can we do through legislative vehicles to create more awareness around the importance of human milk as a kind of a low-cost, high-impact opportunity for health and wellbeing?\u2019 As a result, we have worked to provide education to help to reinforce the opportunity the ACA affords working families.”<\/p>\n

PARTNERING WITH EMPLOYERS<\/strong><\/p>\n

Medela leadership soon realized that a major problem for working moms was that employers didn\u2019t know how to support them in the early months of parenting.<\/p>\n

According to research, working women today want to balance becoming a new parent\u00a0and\u00a0growing their career, but research shows that 43% of women leave the workforce within three months of having a baby.<\/p>\n

\u201cLegislation exists that says employers need to provide support for breastfeeding moms and employers wanted to support breastfeeding moms but they often don\u2019t know what to do. And that is why we introduced New Moms\u2019 Healthy Returns <\/strong><\/a>with Mamava as a leading partner. Now we can say to organizations, \u2018Let us be your solution to help you best support your mom in a way that is simple for you and everything she needs.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

For Medela, this initiative helps address the gap of supporting new working moms in the workplace, offering a comprehensive solution that includes Medela breastfeeding products and resources, easy-to-place Mamava suites to pump in, 24\/7 virtual support from pregnancy through baby\u2019s first year, and breast milk shipping for traveling employees.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe offer these benefits and more to Medela employees,\u201d says Gonzales. \u201cThe data shows that\u00a0companies that provide lactation support programs see an average retention rate of 94%<\/a>, and we are able to show how supporting breastfeeding mothers in the workplace has a positive impact on employee retention, engagement, and the bottom line.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n