Six months after her baby was born, Amanda Sanchez stillcouldn't imagine returning full-time to her job inmarketing at Adobe's Lehi, Utah, offices. Her family'sfinances depended on it — but 40 hours a week away from her baby?"You become so attached, it’s so hard to think of being away for anhour at a time," she said.

Related: Flexible work schedules hurt women'scareers

She hoped to return to work with a more flexibleschedule, working from home at least a few days a week, but shehadn't discussed it with her manager before going onleave. She figured she'd push for it once she got back."If it wasn't going to be offered, I’d look elsewhere for it,because it was important for me," she said.

Luckily for her, while she was on leave, Adobe Systems Inc. hadbegun piloting a new program that lets any U.S. employeereturning from at least three months' leave work anon-traditional schedule at full pay for at least four months, oncethey're back.

Under the program, employees such as Sanchez don't have tostress about asking for a flexible arrangement — or the guiltor stigma that might bring. That's becauseall returning employees must meet withtheir managers and with HR to discuss thepossibility.

"I'm a very guilt-prone person as it is," said Sanchez, whois now working from home two days a week. "It's hard to have aconversation asking for more, when you feel like you've alreadytaken so much."

Many women drop out of the workforce after maternity leavebecause the rigid 9-to-5 schedule interferes with child care. Anentire industry of services such as the Mom Project, which matchesmothers with flexible work, promises the flexibilitythey want. And researchers have argued that lessconventional work hours could close the gender pay gap.

But if new parents don't take the flexibility that'savailable, none of that matters.

Related: Parents value flex time over money, surveysays

Despite the growing popularity of alternative workarrangements and the proliferation of employers offering themto new parents, many people still feel stigmatized foreven asking about their options. A survey by the Family and WorkInstitute found that two out of five people worry about using theflexibility their employers offer, fearing it could jeopardizetheir jobs. (People also fear taking paid family leave in the firstplace, a major Pew survey found recently.)

As a result, employees either decline to take advantage offlexible schedules or else hack their own. A 2015 casestudy of an unnamed, high-profile consulting firm found thatrather than ask for formalizing flexible schedules, men at thefirm simply made their own schedules without telling their bossesor coworkers. (Women, by contrast, didn't feel ascomfortable bending the rules to their needs.) Lesssurreptitiously, people at some companies might take one day ofparental leave each week, over a period of months, to work areduced schedule without losing out on pay.

Related: Flexible schedule beats out PTO for Americanemployees

Alternative schedules are "still not seen as the normal waythat people work," said Ellen Galinsky, the president of the Familyand Work Institute. Many companies, she said, have foundthat regular conversations with a third party or a manager canhelp employees adjust back to full-time work fromextended leave. "We’ve made a big transition in the workforce,from people saying, 'If you can't manage it, don't come back,'to 'This is a normal transition, and it’s a hard transition,and we'll try to help you with it.'"

Adobe's program to ease that transition officially launchedin February and, coupled with its generous parental leave policy,could help it retain employees — especially women. The companysays that after it expanded paid parental leave in 2015 (to 26weeks for new birth mothers and four weeks for secondarycaregivers) its attrition rate for women went from a little abovethe industry average to below it. Adobe declined to sharethe numbers.

Dan Berthiaume, Adobe's director of corporatecommunications, had an employee, Carly Listman, coming backfrom maternity leave this month. About three weeks ahead of time,he got a call from human resources reminding him of the company'snew program, plus an email with a template to help managershave conversations about flexibility.

Listman returned last week. The next day, she andBerthiaume sat down to discuss her options. She has yetto decide what arrangement will work best for her. "I assumedI had just gotten six months — it's time to get back to work,"she said. "Then I see this, and it’s another 120 days offlexible schedule. I was shocked knowing that this was availablewhen I got back."

Previously, any Adobe employee returning from leave had toapproach their manager about their options. Often, theynever would.

"You've maybe gone to a house party before, and there are horsd'oeuvres on the table, but the host never says you should trysome. Should I take it, or should I not?" said Berthiaume."Without that extra level of awareness, you could still haveemployees who are like, 'Well, should I do it?' This is thehost being clear about what’s available to you."

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