A Missouri-based company is trying a progressively popular perk in order to attempt to boost employee morale: allowing employees to bring their newborns to work.
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) recently announced their program titled “Infants in the Workplace”, hoping that it would ease the burden often placed on new parents.
It should be noted, however, that the program is not available to everyone at NAIC; it also stipulates rules in regards to duration. Namely, parents must have worked at the NAIC for at least six months prior to bringing their baby into work, and they can only bring in their babies to work everyday for the first six months.
In addition, employees must have notified the NAIC in advance, and must be deemed to be in good standing with the company.
This trend of being able to bring young children into work has been rapidly picking up steam. Many mothers worry that they will have to go on maternity leave— or even quit their job— upon giving birth; this option provides relief to many women in this situation.
This experiment has taken place across the board— within governmental and non-profit firms, along with the private sector.
Across the United States, around 200 companies have adopted a “babies at work” policy, and there is even an organization supporting employees who choose to bring their children to work, named the Parenting in the Workplace Institute.
Still, many employers put restrictions on areas in which babies can stay, along with the noise levels they can make.
Ultimately, the parent needs to be productive at the end of the day— workload expectations are rarely changed.
It will be interesting to see if this new trend is a fad or something longer-lasting.
