Babies at Work
There’s no question where babies come from. But there are plenty of questions about where they belong.
In a bar?
With a nanny?
Starting a new life with someone else?
Your recent comments here on other posts show there’s lots of spirited debate about responsibility when it comes to how and where we care for our kids.
So, do babies belong at the office every day?
Yes, say employers at more than 80 companies across the U.S., where parents are allowed and encouraged to bring their babies to work on a daily basis—keeping, feeding, and caring for them right at their desks.
Bosses who back the controversial new trend say it helps them retain vital employees who might otherwise not return after the birth of a baby.
After four employees at an Austin advertising firm got pregnant at the same time, the company’s president feared they wouldn’t come back. So she turned the workplace into nirvana for new parents. Baby mamas—and daddies—are offered private offices in which to work while tending fulltime to their infants, who are welcome to clock in every day until about nine months, when they usually start crawling. Babies regularly attend meetings and are frequently fed on the conference table.
The company says having babies on board is good for morale.
Not so for everyone, critics counter. They say babies at the office bring increased distraction and decreased productivity for both co-workers and parents, who can’t possibly focus fully on the job. And those without children, a job recruiter notes, “often come to resent the perception of coddled working parents.”
Tell us what you think: They say it takes a village to raise a child, but should it take an office, too? Do babies and work make a responsible mix?
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Comments
Well actually
My ex DID walk out on me and my two boys. I paid for a babysitter, and even a live-in nanny, at one point, when I was in school and working. I paid for it, because I was responsible – me, not my boss, not my co-workers. When my 2nd hubby and I were married, he took the responsibility of a father for not only my two – whom he adopted – but his daughter, too.
Pleading that a single parent has the right to infuse his or her children into the workplace because one parent won’t take the responsibility is simply excusing and encouraging irresponsible behavior. Having children is a choice – and the responsibilities that go with that choice are not transferred to the workplace (or fellow employees) just because a parent doesn’t want to take responsibility for that choice, dies, or another life occurrence happens. Life happens – and it is a parent’s responsibility to ensure that the children are not damaged by it, as well as that others are not forced by changing mores, morals or laws to take that responsibility.
Bea Jones | 1 year, 7 months ago
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Re: Well Actually
1: Having children is a blessing.
2: How can you say that a single parent trying to do what she/he can do in order to provide for her/his family WITHOUT becoming a burden to the state, is excusing and encouraging irresponsible behavior? You must be financially comfortable in order to NOT see the few choices given a single parent of low or moderate income.
3: This discussion started because AN EMPLOYER chose to NOT lose a valued employee by allowing her to bring her INFANT to the office. He provided an office for her so that the other employees were not distracted or disrupted when she had to feed, change or quiet her baby.
4: I agree with you that it IS a parent’s responsibility to ensure their children are not damaged by the consequences of someone else’s choices. Hence, if a parent cannot afford to pay for a safe, caring child care service, the next best thing is to take the child with her/him to work.
I rest my case.
Margarita Morales | 1 year, 7 months ago
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Response to you resting your case
No one is disputing what kind of blessing kids are or are not. They do not belong in the work place no matter what MY financial situation is. When a person takes the job there is no question on the application that says. Are you gonna have children? Would be ridiculous to ask anyway. But like I said. If that valued employee didn’t ask anyone their opinion on having a kid then its her responsibility not everyone at the office and you know it as well as I do..that there will come a circumstance that someone other than the mother will have to bounce the baby for a minute while she goes to do her valued work. I assumed that this was not Jack in the box we are talking about, but some kind of corporate office situation. In any bcase, bringing baby to work might be okay for a while but then it will get in the way of others. And I see it all the time outside of work. LOL Suzi needs to go to the store so she goes to Debbie to have her watch little Johnnie while she runs and gets milk or something. And why is it just for single mothers? All mothers are not single and raising kids alone. I rest my case.
deidre davis | 1 year, 7 months ago
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"Must Be"?
No I was NOT financially comfortable; I was broke most of the time – but the care of my children was MY responsibility. I well know what it is like to try to decide whether to pay the heating bill or to buy food, especially when I was single. Responsibility is not dependent on income!
An employer that provides a specific working environment for a single employee and not for the others not only runs the risk of losing other employees (there is no cubicle that prevents a screaming child’s voice from being heard) or even a lawsuit from another employee who can’t get the same considerations. “Hey, boss, I’d have much better productivity if you would let me work 4 ten-hour days” – “I could do so much better if you’d let me work from home” “I have NO children and don’t plan on having any; why can’t I have six weeks vacation instead of maternity leave?”
Having children is a choice, and it is not the responsibility of the employer, co-workers, or anyone else to be responsible in any way for that choice.
Bea Jones | 1 year, 7 months ago
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Simply my experience
It’s been interesting to see just what kind of vehement emotional responses were created by my answer to the questions posed on this blog. I simply stated what had been my experience, and my fortune in having done so. Making accommodations for my newborn children was not something I expected either of my employers to do (it was two different law firms on two different occasions), and something that both offered to do based on decisions made by the partners in private discussion and then presented to me.
And no, to respond to several speculations, there was NO instance in which I pawned my child off on someone else while I made copies, etc. There were times, however, where the attorney to whom I was assigned or someone else ASKED to hold my child. My children were carried in a baby sling that allowed them to feel me constantly, nurse in privacy, and sleep in comfort. Consequently, they very rarely fussed, and never created a problem in the work environment – which, by the way, included a courtroom. Considering my work week averaged between 50 and 60 hours a week, it was something that worked amazingly well for all of us, and a decade later, I’m still grateful that those employers valued me enough to find a creative, workable solution for us both.
There are currently large corporations that permit their workers to bring pets to work, even in an environment where co-workers deal with allergies. In this day of diversity in flex time, 4-day weeks with 10-hour days, etc., it seems that any number of accommodations can be made in a manner that’s positive for all if the employer is willing to be creative. Unfortunately, there are those co-workers who want the employer to be accommodating for them, but have little willingness to do the same for another colleague in return, and those are usually the first to criticize the loudest.
Marney Cullen | 1 year, 7 months ago
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Re: Simply my experience
Thank you for sharing your experience. You were indeed blessed that your employer allowed you to do this.
Margarita Morales | 1 year, 7 months ago
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Ravenna
This might not be a good idea for some companies due to safety. I see that is not a good policy at a machine shop.
Why not at an office type atmosphere or small tech business?. I think the boss or owner should be commended on thinking out of the box. That idea may keep good knowledgeable people and in turn save them money on daycare. Some big companies and federal employees have use of in house daycare. The fact is those companies let fathers do it too is just awesome! That gives mommy a break and both keep their jobs. For some reason, I think the work might be a little better too as the parents brain is moving faster at work. Don’t get caught sleeping.
Thanks.
Raymond Kelly McElhiney II | 1 year, 6 months ago
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Depends on alot of factors
My dentist’s children I have seen in another room when I have a late night appointment. My dermatologist, however, chose to have her son in the examining room, even talking to him at my appointment. It doesn’t matter how simply the procedure was; this was my appointment not her son’s day care and I have never gone back.
animal_lover | 1 year, 6 months ago
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Children In The Workplace?
In an ideal world I think women should not have children until they – or the child’s father – are able to stay at home for the first 3 years. Because our lifestyles have changed so greatly over the past 30 years, parenting, which I believe is one of the MOST important jobs there is, has taken a back seat to careers, paychecks and self-image. I am currently working on a book whose topic is the myth of “quality time”; it will no doubt not be popular with those people who believe that one can squeeze parenting into an already over-scheduled lifestyle.
I work in an office where the boss’s daughter has brought her son every day since he was born; it has interfered with everyone’s productivity because as an infant he was colicky and we took turns trying to comfort him; as he grew older it was apparent his mother was quite willing to allow the rest of us to care for him, and the poor boy was bombarded with mixed signals. One employee’s method of correcting him was to scare him with tales of monsters in the closet; another brings him treats and “surprises” all the time and he has become a rather greedy and ungrateful child. I spoke to the mother, suggesting that perhaps she should set guidelines for the employees as to how to discipline and/or praise her son, but she never did so. We – and by this I mean the other employees and I – potty-trained him, we taught him the alphabet, I’ve tried to teach him to use his “inside voice” instead of shouting, especially when others on the phone. We’ve all grown to love this little guy, but he is demanding, frequently obnoxious, and I think confused as to which one of us is actually “in charge”.
Now he is in school and his parents are divorced; they have 50-50 custody, so he comes to the office after school 3 days a week; the first day back after being with his father and stepmother he is angry, demanding and out of control. He is disruptive to the entire office. He has also missed out on the normal social interaction with other children his age as he was growing up, and he has difficulty making friends at school.
Providing child care for preschool children and infants is certainly convenient for the parent, but is it the best thing for the child?
Helen Neubauer | 1 year, 6 months ago
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No children should be at work
Young children should not be at work unless the business is a child care center. Children’s routine presence distracts from the purpose of the business, and is unfair to other employees.
Before someone chooses to have children, child care needs should be taken into account.
Cecily | 1 year, 4 months ago
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