Babies in the Workplace

down on the floor to play with him. No one feels like they have to, but a lot of customers interact with him quite a bit." She said that as a consumer herself:

   It wouldn't bother me a bit to have a
   salesperson with a baby. I might even be
   more inclined to shop there--just because it
   looks like a place that supports families.
   That's important to me. And it's a place that
   obviously cares enough about its
   employees.

   Ted Gerber, the owner of Foris, corroborated Alicia's impressions, saying that having children there was:

   almost like entertainment. It gives a "family
   farm" aspect to the business--makes it not
   corporate. It's like using [the baby] as
   advertising or marketing for the winery. It
   also adds a warmth that comes through as
   a result of having kids around.

Christine Bierman of Colt Safety said that she has never had a negative comment from customers, and that her customers see that "we stretch the limits and we'll do anything we can for our employees."

After implementing a baby program, companies should easily be able to publicize the program and get at least local media attention (or national, depending on how large the company is and how extensive the program is). This is free publicity that helps advertise the name of the company to potential customers, along with extremely strong positive associations that will make people feel good about
patronizing the business. Babies are pretty much a gold standard for making people feel happy. Sandy Jaffe, owner of The Booksource, explained that, "the baby policy at Booksource has been one of the most successful PR strategies we've developed over the 32 years in business." He said that "the customers loved the