Babies at Work?

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One of the major problems employers face is motivating and engaging younger workers to remain with the company long enough to develop and contribute expertise—something they are losing rapidly as baby boomers retire.

The millennial generation, as they are called, are in high demand and one of its defining characteristics is there unwillingness to make great sacrifices they way their parents did. They want to work fewer hours. They work on the go, electronically connected wherever they are. They change jobs, companies and careers more often and with less provocation than their predecessors.

A USA Today cover story for yesterday, March 31, 2008, by Stephanie Armour highlighted the efforts of some companies allowing new mothers, and in some cases, new fathers, to bring an infant to work, usually until they are old enough to crawl. It stands to reason, younger people are, in general, the ones having the babies and if they are going to take time off work to do so, they are more likely to simply quit their jobs knowing that in a few months, they can easily find another one.

MAYA Design, last years recipient of the Pittsburgh Human Resource Association’s (PHRA) People Do Matter award, was featured as being a pioneer in the babies at work program development. In a presentation made at the PHRA conference last year, their test mother actually work more billable hours after giving birth than she had the previous year. Is it possible that having a baby in the office motivates more productivity?

There are pros and cons like any other work-life balance program instituted in an organization. When companies are considering such programs, there are some fundamental questions they need to ask before consulting the lawyers and trying to set about creating the rules and procedures for the program.

Before considering the cost of implementation, companies should think through and evaluate the cost of NOT implementing a program. How many employees are likely to miss work, quit, be distracted or less productive without it. This sort of calculation is part of projected Return on Investment (ROI) but is often left out because it’s difficult if not expensive to measure in it’s own right.

How will other employees react to the program? Will they see it as showing favoritism? Will it seem inequitable to them? Can this program be presented as part of a suite of equalizing benefits?

Then, and only then, should we consider the design of the program and the inevitable discussions with the lawyers. The lawyers will nay-say and unless there is visionary leadership to push the lawyers into taking the extra steps to make such programs work, there’s no point in the discussion.

The designers also have to keep in mind that no matter how hard they work at the design and implementation, something somewhere will go wrong. There are lessons to be learned but they shouldn’t stop us from facilitating work-life balance.

What do you think? Should new mothers be permitted to bring infants to work?
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