The General Manager of Australia’s biggest radio company has revealed she does not support legislation allowing new mothers to return to work part time – and that she gives free condoms to her employees to discourage them from taking maternity leave.
“I don’t agree with the union push at the moment that women coming back to work, automatically should be allowed to come back part time. I’d love to, but I’d be lying if I said that was wonderful. It’s an idealistic and anti-commercial stance.”
As reported in Mumbrella, Linda Wayman, GM of Southern Cross Austereo Perth, was speaking to a conference on recruitment and diversity when she complained that 35% of her staff were either on maternity leave or on maternity leave contracts.
“We do have a big jar of condoms at work. I’m not lying, I’m not exaggerating. I do encourage people regularly, to have sex with condoms. That is a big area of focus for me, encouraging people to have sex with condoms.”
She also said that work-life balance is a myth and that new mothers should not expect their employer to support them in managing their return to work.
“There’s no such thing as work-life balance, it’s bullshit, you just do it. Make the decision to do the best you can.”
“I’ve been in the same position myself twice. It is very very tough. You have to make a decision, ‘I’m going to have a baby and then I’m just going to go for it’.
She implied that women must take responsibility for their own decisions to leave the workforce to have children and not expect employers to take the pressure off.
She then acknowledged that having staff on maternity leave can open up opportunities to other staff members by making a questionable reference to Angelina Jolie’s decision to adopt her three children rather than have children herself:
“Our acting brand director for Hit 929 at our Christmas party last year received the Angelina Jolie Award, for the person who has benefitted most for other people’s pregnancies. Her substantive position is as integration coordinator. If women weren’t pregnant then she would not have got this turbo-charged career opportunity.”
Wayman has also been a vocal opponent of the Abbott government’s paid parental leave scheme in recent months.
Fellow panelist at the conference Alison Ray, Head of Strategy at the Brand Agency Perth, agreed with Wayman that work-life balance is a myth.
“It’s hard, there is no work-life balance,” she said. “It’s a very hard thing to manage.”
Ray said that she returned to work productively after having children.
“I had this idea by the time I had kids I would be out of this industry. But The Brand Agency has been extremely supportive for me,” she said.
“Initially, I worked part time from home. By six months I was in three days a week, by eight months four days a week. They’ve been very good to me. I realised I’m much better at advertising than I am at staying at home.”
Some, like Ray, are lucky to find supportive employers in rigorous industries like the media, but while there are still bosses offering women free condoms to discourage them from taking time out of the workforce to have children, it’s clear there’s still a long way to go before women are truly supported at work.