NPR: Bringing Up Baby ... at Work

Bringing Up Baby ... at Work

Ksenia Kozlovskaya/iStockphoto

After my son, Liam, was born, I started taking him to the office with me on Fridays so my wife could get some work done. Liam would spend most of the day sleeping in his carrier, but he would also come with me to meetings and crawl around on the floor in my office playing with toys. His Friday visits lasted about six months, and aside from a few bumps, the system worked pretty well.

Turns out that maybe I was ahead of the curve. A growing number of businesses are experimenting with on-the-job parenting, The Boston Globe reports. Some are allowing parents to regularly bring babies to work. A larger number are allowing employees to bring their children in if the nanny is sick or the school has a snow day. A national survey by the Virginia-based Society for Human Resource Management found that companies with policies for those emergency situations increased from 22 percent to 29 percent over the past year.

However, a baby on the job can raise concerns about distractions for a parent's co-workers. So consultant Carla Moquin recommends companies implement specific policies to handle kids at work, such has having the option to decide a baby is too much of a disruption to be at the office.

When I wanted to do the same Friday routine with my daughter, a fellow worker told me privately that she felt uncomfortable with the idea. So I didn't do it. I felt I needed everyone to be OK with the visits, or they would only cause problems.

1:57 PM ET | 11-14-2007 | permalink

Comments (Send a comment)

Im lucky that my employer allows me to bring in my children (10 and 8) to work when my after school childcare is not available. I set them up in the conference room, they do their homework and then it is time to leave. Very lucky...works out for all!

Sent by Janine Prestegaard | 2:40 PM ET | 11-14-2007

I used to work in an office environment where people would bring in their kids whenever they couldn't get a sitter. The parents would get busy and the kids would be SO bored. They were noisy and wandering the halls looking for things to do. The parents seemed to expect that the office staff would entertain/babysit their kids. All this in addition to the staff's regular (and already heavy) workload. It was extremely annoying!
Personally, I don't have a problem with you bringing your kids - as long as you the parent take care of them - and the noise/mess level doesn't interfere with other workers/employees.

Sent by MB | 4:25 PM ET | 11-14-2007

I took all four of my children to work with me over the years, not all at the same time, but often there were two and sometimes three with me. Otherwise, I could not work because I could not afford child care. Since they came with me every day beginning as infants, they were well used to the work environment and to entertaining themselves. Plus, they were a great source of labor for ditz work such as stuffing envelopes or stamping things.

They started out with menial tasks such as picking up things off the floor or sorting. Once they learned to write, they could take phone messages, and once they learned to count, they could run the box office or help with other things such as putting nickels into those paper wrappers. In general, they enjoyed being part of the team.

There was plenty of play time, too, as there was a safe outside environment. When they were very small and could not talk so well, I would write their name and my work location in indelible ink on a piece of fabric and pin it to the back of the shirt, then convince them that they did not want to take off their shirt. They always came to meetings and played under the table with their bag of "little people" things. They were famous for sleeping just about anywhere. Once in a while they would find an obscure place and it was difficult to find them - also scary for me.

All in all, I would say that my children grew up knowing what it takes to make a living in the world and being part of that process with their family. They know how to get things done. Today, the youngest is 18 and already a junior in Biology in college; the next one is 21 and directs a program he founded when he was 18 to work with street youth in Cochabamba, Bolivia; the next one is 28 and married to an English girl, working there on his own projects until he gets residency and can enter the university; the fourth one is 32 and has her own practice as a conservator of books and paper. So, I would say that their early lessons coming to work with mom were valuable to them in creating productive lives as adults.

Sent by Suzanne Jamison | 8:14 PM ET | 11-14-2007

Employers need to find ways to give people more vacation, and not bring kids to work. Get a sitter please and leave everybody else do work.

Sent by Trendafile | 3:58 PM ET | 11-15-2007

Please, please, PLEASE leave your kids home! I work for a state agency (I don't feel free to say which one) where one of the people in position of authority brings her kids in frequently due to child care problems. Guess whose underlings have to take time away from their own work to watch the kids and escort them to and from the bathroom. You guessed it! Is this really how you want your tax dollars spent? I sure as hell don't!

Sent by Suffering State Worker | 8:07 PM ET | 11-18-2007

No companies in THE WORLD have such stupid holidays as America. Leave you home issues, diapers and baby food at HOME.

Sent by koz | 12:19 PM ET | 11-19-2007

I think there is definitely a world of difference to bringing a baby vs. bringing a child to work. An infant, especially one that is under a year old, could easily be integrated into a workplace like an office setting without major distractions or interruption in productivity. Once children become mobile though, and especially older children who would be bored to death, then it is time to find alternative care.

Sent by Jessica | 1:10 PM ET | 02-28-2008

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