Babies in the Workplace

work environment can be maintained, baby programs are more likely to be successful long-term.

Parent Is Primary Caregiver

All of the profiled companies found it important to specify that the parent is to be the main caregiver for the baby. This was to prevent parents from asking coworkers to babysit for long periods of time while the parent was engaged in a complex project. Although these companies didn't experience problems with parents not taking care of their children, as baby programs become more widespread, there may be times that a parent isn't able to successfully balance baby care and work responsibilities. If this occurs, one option may be that the parent takes her baby to day care on an occasional basis while she catches up on work that she can't get done with the baby

baby to come in will minimize the chances of parents being confused or feeling like they're being treated unfairly, especially if the company documents the disruptive influence a particular baby has had on the work environment or on the parent's productivity. Again, this kind of situation is likely to be rare, but having the provision in a baby policy will help improve the outcome if the problem does occur.

A baby program offers lots of benefits for businesses, but maintaining a work environment in which everyone is able to concentrate still needs to remain a priority for a business implementing this sort of program. Companies should not, however, feel that they need to eliminate an entire baby program because of the occasional problem situation. By accepting that sometimes the program won't work, and being proactive about addressing the situation with parents so that a positive