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| Babies at work | ||||
| Dream scenario or complete nightmare? | ||||
 Earlier in the year Marisa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo, angered employees by setting up a nursery in the office so she could bring her baby to work. Her move infuriated some stay-at-home Yahoo staff, following her demand that all remote workers report back to the office.As reported in the UK's Daily Mail, the high-flying executive took the demanding top job at Yahoo when she was five months pregnant and stirred up controversy when she took only two weeks of maternity leave after giving birth the previous year. But at her own expense, Mayer built a nursery adjacent to her office to be closer to her son. Having your baby in the office would seem like the perfect solution for many parents, particularly for the first year. And also as employees generally have the standard 20 days annual leave, this is the annual dilemma – what the hec do you do with your kids for the 6-8 weeks of the summer vacation? Of course older kids can usually get by with some vacation care, play dates, sports camps and the like, or if they have to come into the office they can sit there with gadgets, books or drawing quite happily for most of the day. They might even be a bit useful. During the holidays you quite often see harassed looking parents leading bored and unenthusiastic kids into their offices. Some companies do now assist with vacation care by organising office-based activities for employees' children. A relatively unused boardroom can easily become an activity room for a few weeks. With babies and pre-schoolers however, it's not so easy, but last year in the UK, international taxi company, Addison Lee, took kids at work to a whole new level by introducing a Babies at Work Scheme. Addison Lee was the first company in the UK to trial the revolutionary 'Babies in the Office' scheme that allows employees who would otherwise be on maternity leave to bring their babies into the workplace - not in a crèche or a nursery, but right next to them at their desks. Already implemented in the US, the scheme was the focus of a two-part BBC2 documentary in the UK. It sounds like utter chaos and a recipe for complete disaster, but it has actually been very successful. The pilot scheme was run in conjunction with the TV show, but following feedback from staff and an evaluation of the trial period, the company implemented the scheme on a permanent basis. Below is an outline of how it works (taken directly from Addison Lee). Firstly before the scheme is entered into, both HR and parents must meet to establish clear expectations and guidelines, including that the parents must be the sole person responsible for the child. The main expectations are that parents must not leave the building without the child, and they must not bring a sick baby to work. They must agree on necessary supplies and materials to be stored at work, such as nappies, and where nappies should be changed. The scheme only covers babies from four weeks old until one year old, although the company is planning to introduce a crèche for babies over the age of one. If the child is crying for a long period of time, the parent must take them to a separate quiet room. If the child is unable to settle down after 30 minutes, the parent must remove them from the workplace. Prolonged time away from work will be deducted from the employee's leave allowance. Parents must select three colleagues who can take over care of the baby for a short period of time, for example to allow the parent to go to the toilet or attend a meeting. The employer must provide a baby-free zone, so co-workers can request to be in an area away from babies. Before the scheme is implemented, all employees must be consulted and a complaint procedure established. Although some employees (and we imagine those without kids) may not be so keen on this scheme, it has proven to have great benefits for parents, the business and the babies. Addison Lee says that as well as improved staff loyalty from the mums and dads, "we found that morale across the whole company was really boosted by the scheme. Because each parent has to have a couple of 'buddies' committed to helping them with their baby, the scheme really fosters a sense of teamwork and creates a great atmosphere in the office". For the parents it means they have the worry of finding child care in that first year taken away from them. They have lower childcare costs and greater financial stability. For mums and babies it means valuable bonding time need not be lost, breast-feeding can continue and from a career perspective there is reduced career interruption. The mums on the scheme have also reported less stress and better job satisfaction. And for the dads it enables working fathers to be more involved with their babies. The company says that the scheme has had "no negative impact on the company's revenues, and in fact has resulted in a more happy and motivated work force". They also say that they envisage long-term benefits as a result of staff retention and loyalty. Realistically this probably only really works while babies are young and relatively immobile. Once they start moving on their own, it's a whole other ball game!! We can't imagine how you could contain a toddler or even a crawler in a normal office space. But even if Babies at Work could be implemented for the first six months, it would really help employees with a bit of extra time to find that child care place, bond with their babies and work at the same time. The next step of course is the introduction of the company crèche. And all companies should look at the possibility of a company crèche if they have the space, particularly for under 2s. You'd think it's really a no-brainer. It would provide so much less stress for parents that it couldn't help but increase motivation and job satisfaction. Plus it encourages real loyalty toward a company that actually puts its money where its mouth is to do something practical to help parents with small children. |
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Do you think Babies At Work could work in your office?
Really with some planning and proper thought, there should be no reason why this can't work – for babies, that is. We'd love to hear what you think about the babies at work scheme. Jump onto our forum below and tell us your thoughts or ideas.
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