Pregnancy and work

Did you know that The Netherlands ranks in the top 10 when it comes to premature births in Europe? This is something you wouldn’t expect from a prosperous country with relatively high-quality healthcare. Unfortunately, there is still much uncertainty about the rights of pregnant women at work. The taboo surrounding discussions of pregnancy-related issues that make work more challenging doesn’t help either.

Women often ignore the signals from their bodies and continue working tirelessly. After all, they chose to become pregnant and don’t want to burden their employer and colleagues with extra pressure. But what many women don’t realize… Ignoring these signals negatively impacts the baby’s growth curve and increases the risk of premature birth.

It’s high time to address this! In this podcast, we speak with occupational physicians Maritsa Buijs and Freek Broekman about the topic of pregnancy & work. We go through the warning signs and discuss what both employees and employers can do to minimize the risks at work, so that pregnant women can work healthily until maternity leave. This is an urgent topic and a responsibility we must bear as a society!

Speakers:

• Maritsa Buijs, Occupational Physician
• Freek Broekman, Occupational Physician & Medical Director
• Rik Nijkamp, Director at Amplooi