Commenting on the joint survey released on Thursday 29th March 2007 by the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) and Netmum’s which found that 4 in 10 pregnant women think their employers knows how to manage pregnant staff and the launch of the EOC pregnancy toolkit designed with the help of small businesses to fill this knowledge gap, David Frost, director-general of the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) said:

“We welcome this initiative by the EOC to help small businesses better understand the needs of their pregnant staff and their responsibilities to them. Businesses are increasingly adapting to meet the needs of their most important asset - their staff. This survey highlights that small businesses in particular can sometimes find it difficult to meet the varying needs of their pregnant staff either due to lack of awareness of current legislation or the financial cost of temporary cover. We therefore support the EOC recommendation for more support to be given to small businesses with a pregnant employee.”