How Does a Babies in the Workplace Program Work?

Babies in the Workplace sounds like a great title for a far-fetched suspense movie, something like “Snakes on a Plane.” Instead, it is the name of an initiative to convince corporate America to allow mothers or fathers of young babies to bring them to work instead of taking them to a child care center. The programs have been successful in the companies that introduced them, saving the business and the employees a lot of money in the process.

How it Works

The program deals mainly with children less than six months old. This is because older children are often crawling and that presents a safety issue. Parents can keep their offspring beside them in their workspaces, even if that workspace is a cubicle. Moms and dads utilize baby slings and carriers to keep the children in their laps while they work at the computer. Some companies use an informal agreement with the employees but more often it a written statement of policy. The main provision seems to be that the child may not be disruptive. Parents are also still required to carry their full workloads. The agreements also detail where mothers can breastfeed, where they should take their baby if it cries for more than a few minutes and how and where to dispose of wet or dirty diapers.

An article in the New York Times says that the basis of the program is that corporations treat it as any other issue: they anticipate problems and attend to them beforehand. One company saw that it was going to be hard for parents to care for the children every minute and they asked the parents to choose “designated alternative care providers.” These are co-workers who will care for the infants for short time spans when the parent is unable to attend to them.

Why it Works

The average cost of out-of-home infant childcare runs between $4,650 and $18,200 dollars per year, according to a Forbes Magazine article. That is a big chunk of change and represents a hardships for most parents. Then, too, parents concerned about children at daycare don’t give full attention to their jobs.

For the employer, the program means less sick time used to care for children when child care fails, higher morale in the workplace and less employee attrition. It also means less money spent on costly maternity leave. The parents get the security of knowing their children are cared for and well. In addition, the program gives the employees a social network system and increases their camaraderie. There is practically no cost involved in starting a program.

Why All Companies Don’t Have the Program

There are a lot of misconceptions about allowing employees to take small infants to work. One is that the baby will cry all of the time. That has not proved to be the case. That may be because children that young sleep a great part of the day. It could also be because the children are more content. Corporations also may believe that they will have to build facilities to house the programs. In fact, although rooms may be “repurposed” as cry rooms or feeding areas, the programs need no extra area at all.

The experience of companies that have tried the programs is that they greatly add to the morale of the workplace and reduce the time parents take as maternity leave. When business giants like Forbes and Business Week come out in favor of the program, corporations have to believe that Babies in the Workplace is a good idea for parents and a great idea for business.

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