The old adage, “It takes a village to raise a child,” is under construction. With over 150 companies adopting programs to accommodate babies in the workplace, it now takes an office to raise a child. As president of the Parenting in the Workplace Institute (PIWI), Carla Moquin has studied the baby/workplace relationship for six years. Moquin highlights some of the top tactics for implementing infants in the office.
- Set up specific guidelines ahead of time for all parents and coworkers to follow.
- Only allow babies into the program that have not yet learned to crawl.
- Ensure that all parents procure a baby station within their personal workspace, complete with all necessary infant accoutrements.
- Select a designated coworker as the “alternate care provider” who may step in to monitor the child if the parent has a meeting or must leave the office.
- Allocate specific “baby-free” zones and assign strategic areas where parents can take particularly fussy children away from coworkers.
Under such plans, Moquin explains that companies and workers alike can reap a surplus of benefits. Businesses experience higher employee retention rates and faster returns from maternity leave. With the influence of a giggling infant on the premises, morale and teamwork in the office have been shown to increase. Meanwhile, parents no longer have to play tug-of-war with their professional and home lives and can save money on child care expenses.
According to Moquin, the situation even benefits the babies themselves. She explains that studies have revealed workplace babies to be more content and social, due to the high levels of daily physical contact. Because babies’ brains develop most rapidly within the first six months of life, this period is a crucial time for them to pick up social cues and observe social interactions.
Babies in the workplace can now be found at consulting firms, government agencies, credit unions, retail stores and software companies, to name a few. If you’re looking to ditch the daycare and bring your baby to work, visit parentingatwork.org for more info. iBi