The phone number and emails for the Institute will stay the same; the new address (for now) has been updated on our websites. Once we're settled, I anticipate greatly expanding this work.
The phone number and emails for the Institute will stay the same; the new address (for now) has been updated on our websites. Once we're settled, I anticipate greatly expanding this work.
Would you like to live in a world in which:
You've just welcomed a new baby into the world. You take a few months off from your job after her birth and then, like millions of other parents, you return to work while your baby is cared for by somebody else--often a stranger--for dozens of hours each week. After all, that's "what you do" in a recession economy, when paid maternity leave (if you even have any) only lasts for a few weeks or months and most people need to work outside the home in order to support their families.
But what if office and retail businesses actually welcomed new parents and their infants into the workplace--with parents caring for the babies while doing their jobs--until the babies were six to eight months old?
Successful babies-at-work programs have been featured in recent months in the New York Times, Workforce Management, USA Today, People Magazine, Time Magazine, and dozens of other major media outlets worldwide. The Parenting in the Workplace Institute has identified more than 120 companies with existing babies-at-work programs and has helped several companies to start successful baby programs from scratch (including DreamSacks, HometownQuotes, and W.S. Badger, which were all featured in news articles about their programs (KDRV News--DreamSacks; NewsChannel 5--HometownQuotes; New Hampshire Public Radio--W.S. Badger)). In fact, even the management consulting firm The Ken Blanchard Companies (founded by the author of the best-selling management book, The One Minute Manager) has had a highly successful babies-at-work program for many years. Our Institute has worked with a broker to create an optional babies-at-work business liability insurance policy. We have a book available to enable successful proposal and implementation of baby programs, How to Start a Babies-at-Work Program. In spite of all this, however, our society remains highly skeptical of the viability of this concept; most people assume, "It would never work at my company." There are even people who claim that the Parenting in the Workplace Institute's database of baby-friendly companies isn't real, because it's "impossible" for a successful business to have babies in the workplace. It's just incredibly difficult for most people to visualize how these programs could possibly work.
So, the Parenting in the Workplace Institute is going to show you.
We are going to document every step--from bringing management and personnel on board with the idea, on through the months in which babies are coming to work--and we are going to show the transformation that occurs in every company that sets up a formal, carefully structured babies-at-work program. We are going to do this through our websites and blog, through Facebook and Twitter, and through other outlets--and we anticipate that many of the hundreds of websites and media organizations that have expressed support for our work will help to spread the word. We are going to show--through interviews, pictures, and video--how skepticism (and even hostility) shifts to acceptance and, often, enthusiastic support for continuing to allow babies at work.
The Parenting in the Workplace Institute is actively seeking companies in California or the Intermountain West (other parts of the country will also be considered) to be participants in The Great Babies-at-Work Challenge. We are confident that these programs will be successful (however, a promise to continue a babies-at-work program long term is not a requirement for participation). The only requirement is that a company be open to the idea and willing to allow the progress to be documented (details will be agreed upon with each company and individuals within a company can remain anonymous), and that at least one parent be permitted to bring their baby to work for at least four months, within the policy provisions (for example, babies cannot be disruptive to coworkers and parents are still responsible for completing their work).
The Parenting in the Workplace Institute is going to prove--company by company--that we can set up a successful babies-at-work program from scratch in virtually any corporate culture (assuming the work environment is physically safe for babies)--and we are going to answer the following questions:
How would babies affect morale?
What about productivity?
How would the company be affected if parents brought their babies?
How would employee retention be affected?
What about stress levels?
How would coworkers react?
Would people want to work for a company with babies at work?
What effect would babies have on corporate culture and teamwork?
What about customer reactions?
Would babies be happy while at work with their parents?
What if bringing babies to work was no big deal?
(The following quotes and stories are from the book Babies at Work: Bringing New Life to the Workplace. They are from executives, managers, coworkers, and parents in companies with structured babies-at-work programs. And these comments are mirrored by people in more than 120 other companies--in law firms, credit unions, public relations firms, government agencies, consulting firms, schools, retail stores, and on and on. More than 1,400 babies have successfully come to work with their parents in companies ranging from 2 to 3,000 employees, generally until the babies are 6 to 8 months of age or starting to crawl.)
How would babies affect morale?
"[It is] such a morale boost. The parents who use the program love it. And everyone on staff loves having little ones around. It’s very uplifting. And it doesn’t distract from doing excellent work for our clients."
"[The call center manager said that] it did so much for the morale of the department. A call center environment is high stress sometimes, and everyone seems a lot less stressed out [because of the babies]."
"The men in the organization will actually get most attached to the babies. When a baby graduates [from the program], it’s the men who tend to say things like, 'I’m really going to miss that little guy or little girl.' The single men say, 'I don’t hold babies,' but when the babies come in, they’re the ones walking around with them. They’ll carry the baby around. People say things like, 'I can be having a really sucky day and look over and see a cute little baby, and pick her up and walk her around for a few minutes, and my whole attitude changes.'"
What about productivity?
"People can be productive and run rings around their job if they want to. And probably most people could do their job in 80% of the time without much difficulty. People gave 110% because they could bring in their babies. If they lost some productivity during the time the baby was there, they gave 110% later."
"If there’s one thing about this whole business, it’s that the mother is so thrilled to have the freedom of bringing her baby, that she would stand on her head to make sure that all the work is done. As a matter of fact, sometimes I have thought that productivity has increased because they are so conscientious about making this work."
How would the company be affected if parents brought their babies?
"It’s a dynamite program. I get the employee back a lot quicker. When an individual is out on maternity leave, under California law, I can’t replace them. I’m short-handed for the whole time. But this way, I get the mother back in eight to ten weeks and I have coverage again. And the mom is happy because she has time to bond with her baby. It’s a win-win for both employer and employee."
"I got my employee back six times faster than I would have. I didn’t have to worry about covering shifts. It’s much easier to stop maybe six times a day to cover for an employee with a baby than do it all day long."
How would employee retention be affected?
"For us to replace a person because they aren’t satisfied with their child care arrangements, it would cost 30% of their salary to find someone new, and their history on accounts can be irreplaceable. But being a little less productive for a few months evens out in the end."
"I can go out and get a Fortune 50 company as a client. That is not a problem. My problem is finding good employees who care about customers--employees who care about the freight, about a shipment that has to get there by 5:00 a.m. If I show my employees that I care about them and their life, they, in turn, care about my customers and about New Age."
"If you’re a first time parent, you may be debating how does one manage all of this. It can be intimidating. [Bringing the baby to work] affords a trial period. The six months is a good demonstration to a parent that they can juggle both family and work obligations. If that’s a positive experience, it might suggest to them, hey, I can successfully manage this."
What about stress levels?
"[Having babies around] is a stress reliever for people. Stuff happens--there’s pressure and deadlines. If clients are not happy with something, it can be really, really stressful. But if you can walk down the hall and pick up a baby, you feel better instantaneously. I can’t explain it, but it’s just remarkable. If you’re having a bad day--I know other people have ways they deal with stress; they take a walk or something. But all you need to do at [our company] is walk down the hall to a baby and you’re fine."
"We’re driven by some pretty crazy deadlines, and people can be stressed out. The minute you walk in with a baby, everyone just kind of forgets everything, and they relax, they talk to the baby, and everyone forgets about stress for a moment and refocuses. I think it’s refreshing to people. We’re all stressed out, but we have this baby giggling and laughing and loving life. We reevaluate--you say, these schedules really aren’t that bad. It sounds silly to say, but that’s the effect."
How would coworkers react?
"A married couple in the company had recently had their first child. The supervisor was talking to the husband and asked if the couple was planning on splitting their time with the baby at work so that the baby’s presence wouldn’t inconvenience their respective project teams. To the supervisor's amusement, the husband said that the decision was actually a big controversy because their work teams both 'wanted to have the baby all the time.'"
"Employees want the baby to be there. They love having a baby around. Usually folks are chomping at the bit to take care of the baby while [her parent goes] to a meeting."
Would people want to work for a company with babies at work?
"[I] think there are people who, when it came to a decision as to whether they would accept our offer to work here or a competitor’s offer, they accepted ours. I think [the baby program] was one of the selling points for the agency to get bright talent."
"As clients found out about the baby program at [our organization], a lot of them said to [me], 'I wish I could work for your company.'"
What effect would babies have on corporate culture and teamwork?
"The babies were not a disruption for other employees. It was kind of a team-building thing. It got infectious--everyone pitched in. If the baby was getting fussy and the mom was busy, we backed up the moms. It brought the team effort into play."
"New bonds get set up. People have said that to me. Someone they never had contact with--like someone in the accounting department who wouldn’t interact regularly with someone in graphic design--suddenly the graphics person comes by to see the baby and a relationship develops--they now have a bond. In that regard, there’s more camaraderie. People will naturally reach out to a person with a baby."
What about customer reactions?
"Customers thought it was the coolest thing they ever saw. They thought it was great to have someone ringing up a sale with a baby in a sling on her hip, or a baby laying on the hearth asleep in a bassinet."
"Three credit union tellers all independently commented that they noticed credit union members deliberately choosing longer teller lines in order to see a baby when they finally reached the teller window."
"The babies in the bookstore created a ‘warm, fuzzy atmosphere,’ and the owner said that 'women wouldn’t cross the threshold of the store without making a fuss. Working mothers, especially, liked the idea of being rung up by someone with a baby.' The owner explained that he got 'all kinds of reinforcement that we had made a good decision and that people appreciated it.'"
Would babies be happy while at work with their parents?
"[The workplace] is a great environment for babies. They are comfortable with people as a result. They were passed around at staff meetings. They’re all bright, happy kids who got to be with their moms for the first six months."
"One baby was pretty fussy for the first week, and we thought we would have a problem. But he became socialized, and there were lots of people around and cooing at him. For the next week and from then on, he was absolutely fine. I think [being in the workplace] helps babies become better adjusted. It was a huge thing I noticed--being around lots of people makes babies happy."
How would it affect the parents?
"A lot of different parents have created their own community and trade stories. It’s like a support group in here--especially for the first kid. People ease each other’s fears."
"Sometimes I think that if you work full time and then come home, you’re too tired to want to do a lot of playing with your child. But if you can fit that in, in little bursts throughout the day, it makes them happier and you happier."
"There’s something to be said for the ease with which you can pick a kid up and tend to them, and you realize it’s not interfering with work as much as might be thought by someone who hasn’t done it. Particularly when they are teeny tiny, which is when moms most need a connection with humans that can talk back to you. I had a tough time with ‘eat, sleep, nothing else.’ It was just as easy to be at [work] nursing him as at home nursing, unshowered, and not having human conversations."
What if bringing babies to work was no big deal?
"[Upper management] was very supportive of the program, so I needed to keep an open mind. But to myself I kept thinking, 'No work will get done while there’s a baby in the office.' But as it turned out, that’s simply not the case. Yes, people stop to visit the baby from time to time, but overall it has little or no impact on our employees’ overall productivity. That’s probably the thing that surprised me the most. It only takes a short amount of time and the baby becomes a fixture of the environment--it's not a big thing."
"It was more exciting when the first couple of babies arrived, but now it’s commonplace--you just see babies. The baby becomes part of our day-to-day life."
But the fact is, this concept is incredibly difficult for most people to wrap their minds around--until they see it for themselves.
"When they first announced it--when it went live--I was thinking, 'That’s ridiculous. How do they expect me to run a branch with babies?' I just couldn’t see it working. But they sold me on [the program], and I’ve been really happy with it."
"People were worrying about the baby screaming or whether they would be able to get work done. But it became a joy for everyone."
"The managers were really concerned, especially in branch locations—about the money, the members, the teller lines. They said it wouldn’t work. But it does work."
The Bottom Line
As we pursue The Great Babies-at-Work Challenge, we are going to save families thousands of dollars on day care and improve the morale, teamwork, and productivity in businesses whose employees are demoralized by layoffs or simply by this difficult economy. We're also going to attract free publicity for participating businesses who are willing to just try this "new" idea (albeit an idea that was the norm for most of human history) and to show their dedication to their employees in the process.
Beyond the Bottom Line
If you wish to be part of this cultural revolution--"day care's new frontier" as USA Today put it--please sign up or nominate a company for our Challenge or consider supporting our work. The Parenting in the Workplace Institute has the knowledge, the credibility, and the experience to transform our economy and our culture. We are grateful for any assistance or encouragement you can provide and we look forward to sharing with you the excitement and progress of this project.
My books about babies in the workplace are now available directly from Amazon (Babies at Work: Bringing New Life to the Workplace and How to Start a Babies-at-Work Program. They are also available from Barnes & Noble's website (Babies at Work, How to Start (and a number of other distributors. They are also available for the Amazon Kindle (from the same Amazon pages).
On another topic, the babies-at-work seminar registration is closed. I'll announce when the next one is available.
Registration is now open for a babies-at-work seminar in Massachusetts on March 14, 2009. Registration is limited to the first 25 paid participants. The seminar will feature a baby (with parent) for firsthand illustration of concepts. More details are on our Babies in the Workplace site.
PARENTS:
Save thousands of dollars on day care, bond with your baby, and make breastfeeding easier by learning how to successfully bring your baby to work for their first six to eight months of life.
EMPLOYERS:
Easily and inexpensively implement a successful baby program that will:
Get new parents back on the job sooner (and happier!).
Increase morale, teamwork, productivity, and retention.
Lower health care expenses by enabling mothers to breastfeed.
Attract new customers and build customer loyalty.
Result in highly-content and quiet babies.
LEARN:
How to overcome skepticism and convince management to start a program.
Why structured babies-at-work programs result in unusually happy and calm babies.
How to set up a sustainable program that will be enthusiastically supported.
Effective methods for keeping babies happy while efficiently getting work done.
All the benefits of babies-at-work programs for businesses, families, and society.
RECEIVE:
Template documents to streamline setting up a new program
Baby development resources for parents for happy babies and efficient work
Two Valuable Books: How to Start a Babies-at-Work Program and Babies at Work: Bringing New Life to the Workplace
Questions: Contact Carla Moquin at (801) 897-8702 or Email Me.
In other news, we're in an article in the January 4, 2008, edition of the New York Times, in the Business Section: Maternity-Leave Alternative: Bring the Baby to Work. I'm hoping that this article will help to jump-start the seminar effort and really bring this concept to the general public. Especially given the current economic situation, I think this is an idea that could dramatically, immediately benefit thousands of parents and businesses--particularly now that we have the liability insurance policy available to virtually eliminate that potential concern.
A big thing that I am recommending to companies (especially given the current economic situation) is to consider asking participating parents to help out with the cost of the insurance. In many cases, the entire cost of the policy could be covered by what parents would otherwise be spending for a few weeks of day care for their baby (in larger companies, there are more participating parents to spread out the cost).
I hope to get the policy application form and details onto the babies-at-work website for download later this week. If you are interested in seeing the details in the meantime or have any questions about the policy, please contact me directly--(801) 897-8702 or email me.
I am heading to the San Francisco area this morning and will be there until late Wednesday--if anyone has suggestions of organizations or individuals that might be interested in meeting to talk about parenting in the workplace, I'd love to hear about it!
1. Complete template babies-at-work policy (as one document and as individual parts)
2. Detailed description of business benefits
3. Explanation to be distributed to other personnel upon starting a policy
4. Sign for parent-participants' desks (for bank tellers and others that interact with the public)
5. List of issues for HR to discuss with parents prior to a baby starting to come to work
6. Description of representative baby-friendly companies
Enjoy!
For those who haven’t been following this movement, I’ve spent the past three years analyzing babies in the workplace--business programs in which parents can bring their babies to work with them every day and care for the babies while doing their jobs, generally until the babies are six to eight months of age. I founded the Parenting in the Workplace Institute in December of 2007, and we’ve had tremendous media and public interest in this work since then (Time Magazine, People Magazine, USA Today, and many others--and there are a couple of huge pieces to come in the near future). We now have a list of more than 115 companies that actively allow babies to come to work (affecting more than 1,300 babies to date)--and in every organization with even basic guidelines, these programs work incredibly well and provide extensive benefits for businesses (and for families, of course) with almost no costs for the organizations.
We have all the materials and resources ready for businesses to use to start successful programs. We’ve already helped several companies to start new, highly-effective policies. My books about babies in the workplace are finally done. We have the attention of the media. Put simply, we have an inexpensive, proven solution for core work and family issues that could make life dramatically better for millions of families and thousands of businesses--particularly in the current economic climate. Parenting in the workplace--and the fact that it works when structured well--could quite literally revolutionize work and family balance around the world.
The problem is that I have no idea how to get support for this work so that I can really make this take off. I stumbled onto the babies-at-work concept three years ago. It became my passion because of tremendously painful experiences in my own family that would have been avoided if I had had this option. I want to do whatever I can to prevent other families from experiencing the difficulties we did. Our Institute is in a position to help millions of people. And it’s driving me crazy that we have this tremendous opportunity to change the world--but I’m spending 90% of my time working on other things. I’m working as a legal secretary and doing freelance transcription--because those things pay the bills and enable me to support my two daughters.
I’ve been talking to major organizations around the country for months trying to find one that wants to partner with us (and that wants to share in the media interest that is almost certain to come once we help more companies to start babies-at-work programs) so we can launch our babies-at-work pilot initiative on a large scale. I’ve had lots of interest and made lots of great contacts, but they haven't been in a position to offer funding. I have a detailed proposal all written up and ready to go--I just don’t know who else might be interested in it and be in a position to get this going. If I could figure out how to effectively market my books, that would help solve the problem, since income from the books would free up more time to focus on this work. But I’m at a loss. I understand babies in the workplace and I understand how to help companies to start successful programs. But I apparently don’t understand how to raise money.
So, I’m kind of putting this out there. I don’t usually talk about problems--I tend to focus on the positive in life. But I am running out of time, for various reasons--as are millions of families and businesses that could benefit from adopting these programs.
I would be immensely grateful for any ideas.
Google's Project is a "call for ideas to change the world by helping as many people as possible." Over the next few months, Google will be choosing the top 100 ideas from the submissions and then opening the contest up to worldwide voting on January 27, 2009, to select the top 20. A team of experts will choose the best 5 ideas from there, and Google will then devote
ten million dollars to funding the organizations that are best positioned to successfully implement the ideas.
My overall description of the concept (for the Google submission) is:
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Concept Idea:
Helping and encouraging businesses to set up sustainable, low-cost programs in which parents care for their children at work while doing their jobs.
There is growing evidence that millions of today's jobs can be done successfully while parents are simultaneously caring for children. At least 100 organizations in more than 35 states in the United States (and several in other countries) have established programs allowing employees to bring their pre-crawling babies to work every day, involving more than 1,300 babies to date. Baby-friendly businesses (which range from 3 to 3,000 employees in more than 20 different industries) have discovered that, within a well-structured program, allowing babies in the workplace costs an organization almost nothing and provides extensive business benefits, including employees voluntarily returning to work earlier after a baby's birth, higher workplace morale and long-term productivity, increased retention, better recruitment, and higher customer loyalty.
These businesses have demonstrated that babies thrive and are highly content in structured workplace programs and invariably end up creating a community parenting dynamic in which many coworkers bond with the babies and voluntarily assist in their care for brief periods. These programs have proven successful even though many people were highly skeptical of their viability prior to implementation (these same people often became staunch supporters of structured programs after seeing how well they worked in practice).
The keys to widespread implementation of these programs are (1) grassroots and media outreach to mitigate skepticism about program viability and to provide education about program benefits for businesses and (2) assessing and disseminating information and resources to businesses (on a worldwide scale) to enable effective program implementation. The first component is already happening considering that, just in 2008, baby programs have been discussed in Time Magazine, People Magazine, USA Today, and U.S. News and World Report, as well as in media pieces in Australia, Hungary, Denmark, Brazil, India, the United Kingdom, Ireland, South Africa, and Canada.
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Views of and comments on the video are appreciated, to help illustrate that this concept does have widespread interest!