Babies in the Workplace

employee is working from home. When a mother explains the baby program, Wendy said, "nine out of ten times, [the member] says, 'That's another reason why we love your organization.'"

   Wendy said that anyone in the credit union can bring babies (with the option to temporarily transfer to another position if their primary one isn't appropriate for a
baby). Several tellers have brought babies with them and the babies just "hang out" behind the counter. Wendy pointed out that:

   Members love it; they coo at the babies and
   say things like, "You're so family-friendly.
   You're already involved in the community,
   but this drives it home why you're a great
   organization."

   Of course, not everyone approves of babies in the workplace. Several organizations said that they had received a few negative comments over the years from

a customer who believed that babies were "inappropriate" in a work environment, but that they received many, many positive comments from people who were enthusiastic supporters of the idea. Wendy Zanotelli said that, since 2003, she is aware of only two complaints from members about crying babies. But, she said, she has "lost count of how many positive comments" they have received from customers. It is impossible for a business to operate in such a way that its actions please everyone in the public; large corporations are learning this the hard way in this era of well-connected activists pushing for change in the corporate world. All the companies with a baby program that the public knew about said that negative comments were either rare or nonexistent, and that they received a large amount of positive feedback. None of the companies with a current program had any plans to terminate the program because of an occasional isolated complaint.