Six Months Fully Remote Got Me Through Pregnancy: How NowVillage Supports Expectant Parents

Hello. I am Sogame, a marketing consultant at NowVillage. I learned I was expecting my first child around October 2021, and with the birth due in early June 2022 I am taking maternity leave from mid-April.

Here I want to write about my own experience, going through a first pregnancy while working at a start-up in only its second year, and about NowVillage’s remote working arrangements that made it possible.

NowVillage is still a young company, founded in October 2020.
I joined in February 2021 and work as a marketing consultant.
It is a company of seven permanent staff, founded barely a year before, two of them women.
There was therefore no precedent for how to work through a change in a woman’s life stage like this one. Maternity and parental leave existed, but little else had been established. (In other words, I am the first case.)

1. A first pregnancy, and difficult morning sickness

I am 30, and this is my first pregnancy.

I had always thought of myself as tough, and I had heard that my grandmother and my mother had no morning sickness, so I rather assumed I had inherited that too.

But from around week five or six I began to feel unwell, there was less I could eat, and I became sensitive to smells.

At that point I was still going into the office,
and I got through it by enduring the packed trains each morning, the smells in the office after lunch (lunch boxes, coffee) and the nausea that came over me without warning in meetings, while nibbling on pickled plums and preserved lemon from the convenience store.

Then one day I could not hold it in and was finally sick in the toilets. I had not yet reached the stable period and did not want anyone to know, so hiding to be sick out of sight was hard going.

2. NowVillage’s first fully remote arrangement

I had told the president early on that I was pregnant, so one day I said to him, I have been sick. May I leave early once the meeting is over?

He replied, this stage is hard, isn’t it. Your health comes first, so don’t push yourself; from now on you can switch to working remotely every day.

I was extremely grateful.

My commute took about an hour and travelling was hard, so I took him up on it and from the start of November worked full time remotely from home.

And because the company was young with few staff, we decided it was better to tell everyone and have their understanding than to keep quiet until the stable period, so at the end of October I announced the pregnancy and that I would be working remotely. Everyone accepted it readily, and I am deeply grateful to them all.

With the long journey gone, and with a kitchen I could reach straight away when the sickness came, without worrying about being seen, it was a great weight off my mind.
We had talked about my returning to the office once I reached the stable period, but the sixth wave of the pandemic coincided with it, and in the end I worked from home for about six months, right up to the start of my maternity leave.

The president and everyone at the company showed me a great deal of consideration, for which I am very grateful. (Thank you, everyone at NowVillage.)

3. A day working fully remotely

Working fully remotely, the work itself was exactly as before.
I have put one day into a diagram, covering both the work at NowVillage and life while pregnant.

Broadly, once I had seen my husband off to work, I worked the normal hours, nine to six.
Some days I worked a little late.
The pattern was to get the housework done and, if something had to be finished that day, work for another hour after dinner.

But during the pregnancy I could not work late very often, so I tried to finish during the day and rest properly in the evening.

One downside of remote working was fewer conversations with colleagues, but on the other hand I could work quietly on my own and concentrate a great deal.

Partly thanks to that I met my targets through the pregnancy, and I think I worked very efficiently.

4. How I will work after returning

I am currently due to return from parental leave in April 2022 (assuming I can find a nursery place for an infant).

In a conversation with the president before my maternity leave, we agreed to hold an online meeting about three months before I return to discuss how I will work.
In that meeting we will talk through how things are with the baby, what I would like to do, and how I would like to work, and decide from there.

At this point I cannot judge whether full-time work will be possible as before or whether shorter hours would be better, which made me anxious, but hearing before my leave that we would work out the arrangement together according to the situation at the time was very reassuring.

Personally I want to deepen my knowledge and experience in marketing, so I would like to work as I did before; but I also want to look after my family, so I hope to balance both well.

My own challenge from here is to find better ways of adding value at NowVillage.
I accept that I will not be able to put in the hours I used to.
So I will have to keep thinking, and keep moving, about how to produce high-quality work in less time than before, and how to keep growing as a marketer.

5. In closing

Anyone who has been through pregnancy and birth will know that, while pregnant, your body very often does not do what you want.
The small physical troubles that crop up everywhere are a considerable strain too.

Among women thinking about pregnancy and birth, many feel real anxiety about whether they can combine it with work.
And for men and women alike, life events such as marriage, pregnancy and birth are closely bound up with how you and your family work.

At NowVillage the environment is one that can support each person flexibly through the changes life events bring. Arrangements that reflect what staff ask for will keep being added and improved.

It is a workplace where it is easy to raise things with the president and with colleagues, and that makes it a very good place to work.
If NowVillage interests you, do apply.

～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～
Thank you for reading to the end.

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If our mission of making the world happier through marketing resonates with you, or if you want to grow your skills in digital marketing, do apply.

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