Being pregnant can be a challenge. Being pregnant and a service worker can be even harder. As a whole, the tourism and hospitality industry significantly lacks support for women during and after pregnancy. This creates labor challenges that disrupt the industry’s growth and contributes to high female employee turnover post-maternity. 

However, some hospitality businesses with work-family support policies have seen benefits such as employee loyalty and increased retention.

Laurie Wu and colleagues studied how working mothers in the hotel industry experienced maternity leave and return to work transitions. The findings provide insight into how motherhood instills resilience, positivity and development in female employees. Plus, the researchers demonstrate how motherhood can enhance an employee’s capacity in time management, prioritization and networking and improve soft skills like understanding and perspective-taking.