Babies in the Workplace

   A babies-at-work program is a formal business policy in which parents can bring their babies to work on a regular basis and care for them while doing their jobs, generally for the first six to eight months of life or until crawling begins, whichever comes first.

   The key to success for these programs is setting them up just like any other workplace policy--with clear rules and expectations to guide people's behavior and to prevent potential problems. In well-structured programs, parents are highly responsive to their babies' needs, which results in the babies being very content. These happy babies transform the work environment and coworkers frequently bond with the babies as individuals and become invested in helping to nurture them. A community parenting dynamic invariably occurs in which coworkers and executives frequently and voluntarily "pitch in" to help with the babies' care by holding or playing with the babies for a few minutes at a time or by taking them for short walks. In essence, structured workplace programs replicate a "village" model of working and caring for children, and even many coworkers and executives who were highly resistant to these programs prior to implementation find themselves enthusiastically supporting the programs once they see how well they work in practice.

   Read more about how and why well-
structured babies-at-work programs benefit businesses, families, and society, as well as how to successfully implement them.