Pregnancy related portal makes working postpartum easier

Melbourne: Monash University has collaborated with MacKillop Family Services to generate a portal for women that are either pregnant or postpartum. Women in professional environments can now avail the opportunity to access the portal for all pregnancy and baby-related issues

Managing workplace issues around pregnancy and having a new baby can be tricky and complicated, especially when you may be feeling tired and overwhelmed.

This can also be a major source of worry in the increasingly difficult economic climate faced by young and growing Australian families today.

Monash University, in partnership with MacKillop Family Services, has come up with an efficient solution to make things easier for both staff and managers.

The Health in Preconception, Pregnancy and Postpartum (HiPPP) portal is an online portal for workplaces that provides a one-stop shop for resources and information about pregnancy and having a baby.

According to Dr Briony Hill, project lead at Monash University, “This is believed to be the first workplace portal globally that has been co-developed with researchers to support the wellbeing needs of women during pregnancy planning, pregnancy, postpartum and the return to work.”

The portal has been up and running at MacKillop Family Services since March this year. This is a large organisation with over 1400 staff around Australia.

“The HiPPP Portal was co-developed with direct input from MacKillop staff and management, and provides a simple, accessible solution to common pregnancy planning and return to work issues that are typically difficult to navigate,” said Dr Hill.

MacKillop Human Resource Change Manager, Donna Meechan, believes her organisation is ideally positioned to be piloting the portal, as 76 per cent of the workforce are women.

“At any one time there are at least 50 MacKillop employees who are pregnant or on parental leave. We are a family organisation and seek to provide flexible working arrangements to support staff with families, and to promote healthy child development,” she said.