Department

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Dept. of Psychology

Publisher

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Place of Publication

Chattanooga (Tenn.)

Abstract

With the influx of women into the workplace over the past few decades, researchers have often focused on how women struggle at work due to pregnancy and the physical changes their body goes through (Draper, 2006). Working women who become pregnant are often perceived as not dedicated, distracted from their work, and more likely to not return to work. Furthermore, they are often overlooked for promotions, bonuses, and awards because they are perceived as uncommitted (Wiese & Ritter, 2012). However, researchers have often overlooked the extent to which career encouragement and career engagement can impact a women’s career, especially for working women who plan to become pregnant while working or have returned to work post-partum. I believe the career encouragement women receive over the course of their pregnancy can affect their career engagement along with many other factors including job satisfaction. This survey will ask participants to complete a variety of scales including the ISA Engagement Scale (Soane et al., 2012), a career engagement scale (Ragins & McFarlin, 1990), a job satisfaction scale (Warr et al., 1979), a pregnancy identity scale (Little at al., 2015), and a return-to-work regret scale (for those who are post-partum; Wiese & Ritter, 2012). The participants will be recruited through social media and flyers at various doctor’s offices. The options for participants will include: “pregnant but not disclosed to supervisor”, “pregnant and disclosed to supervisor”, “on maternity leave”, and “have returned to work and within two years of most recent birth”. The scales will be followed by a series of demographic questions, also including how visible their pregnancy is (i.e., are they working from home where it is often forgotten because the pregnancy isn’t visible). I expect to see a positive correlation between the perceived supervisor support and the participant’s engagement in their work. I also expect to see differences across the stages of pregnancy, with those who are pregnant and disclosed to boss experiencing the least amount of career encouragement. I believe understanding perceptions of and changes to career encouragement and career engagement for pregnant women can be translated into workplace policies to best support women who have children or want to have children. Along with translating these findings into the workplace, I believe this study provides a basis for future studies of pregnant women in the workplace and what changes take place throughout the course of a pregnancy in an office place. The study is currently being reviewed by the IRB.

Date

10-16-2021

Subject

Industrial and organizational psychology

Document Type

posters

Language

English

Rights

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

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Retaining employees through and beyond pregnancy: The importance of career encouragement and career engagement

With the influx of women into the workplace over the past few decades, researchers have often focused on how women struggle at work due to pregnancy and the physical changes their body goes through (Draper, 2006). Working women who become pregnant are often perceived as not dedicated, distracted from their work, and more likely to not return to work. Furthermore, they are often overlooked for promotions, bonuses, and awards because they are perceived as uncommitted (Wiese & Ritter, 2012). However, researchers have often overlooked the extent to which career encouragement and career engagement can impact a women’s career, especially for working women who plan to become pregnant while working or have returned to work post-partum. I believe the career encouragement women receive over the course of their pregnancy can affect their career engagement along with many other factors including job satisfaction. This survey will ask participants to complete a variety of scales including the ISA Engagement Scale (Soane et al., 2012), a career engagement scale (Ragins & McFarlin, 1990), a job satisfaction scale (Warr et al., 1979), a pregnancy identity scale (Little at al., 2015), and a return-to-work regret scale (for those who are post-partum; Wiese & Ritter, 2012). The participants will be recruited through social media and flyers at various doctor’s offices. The options for participants will include: “pregnant but not disclosed to supervisor”, “pregnant and disclosed to supervisor”, “on maternity leave”, and “have returned to work and within two years of most recent birth”. The scales will be followed by a series of demographic questions, also including how visible their pregnancy is (i.e., are they working from home where it is often forgotten because the pregnancy isn’t visible). I expect to see a positive correlation between the perceived supervisor support and the participant’s engagement in their work. I also expect to see differences across the stages of pregnancy, with those who are pregnant and disclosed to boss experiencing the least amount of career encouragement. I believe understanding perceptions of and changes to career encouragement and career engagement for pregnant women can be translated into workplace policies to best support women who have children or want to have children. Along with translating these findings into the workplace, I believe this study provides a basis for future studies of pregnant women in the workplace and what changes take place throughout the course of a pregnancy in an office place. The study is currently being reviewed by the IRB.