Babies in the Workplace

Brent Roper said that when they planned to implement a baby program at the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, "three of my top managers--all women--came into my office and said, 'Brent, you've gone too far with this baby program.'" Cathy Weatherford, the NAIC's CEO, had previously brought her daughter to work at another organization so Brent "knew it could be done," but he said that his managers "even convinced me for a minute." So, just in case, when they wrote up the policy for the baby program, Brent said, "we wrote PILOT at the top of the policy so we could end it if it didn't work." But, as in dozens of other companies, Brent said that the NAIC discovered that "it was fun, it was easy, and it worked." As of June, 2007, 70 babies had come to work at the NAIC.

Susan Matthews of Borshoff Matthews explained that if a baby did cry a lot,

   business aside from where it may pose a
   safety issue or if the parent is in a very
   active job. Even in a retail environment, it
   could probably work.

Detailed Procedures and Expectations

Though an informal arrangement has worked for some small companies, there are a number of benefits to having a clearly written policy detailing the parameters of a baby program. Angel Rimbault, a mother from Schools Financial, thought it was very important to have a "very specific, black and white agreement saying what could and could not be done." She said that, for example, Schools' policy makes it clear that credit union members are not allowed to hold the babies. She said that, as a parent, she didn't want to walk into this kind of program not knowing the rules. Having a written policy helps make parents more comfortable bringing in their babies.