It was reported in July that many U.S. firms have begun allowing employees to bring their infants into the workplace.
Schools Financial Credit Union, a California-based firm, has been in the news for exactly that. A recent piece in USA Today details how the credit union lets employee parents bring their infants into work until they are either six months old or begin to crawl.
It should be noted that Schools Financial has offered this program since 2001. Alyssa Palomino, an employee at Schools Financial, has 8-week-old twins that she brings to work daily, an arrangement that makes them the 129th and 130th babies to be part of the company’s program.
Palomino explicitly sought the program in her job hunt, saying, “It was one of the reasons I was interested in coming over here. I knew we were going to start a family at some point, and a huge benefit was being able to bring our babies to work for six months.”
Lisa Mackay, Schools Financial’s VP of Human Resources, acknowledged that part of the reason for creating the program was because “even though you get to have time off under the law and all that, some people can’t afford to take off as much time as others.”
This forces new parents to put their children in childcare, regardless of their preference for care.
Schools Financial doesn’t expect parents with infants at work to be able to give 100% at all times, but they don’t look at this as being a problem. They seem surprised that more companies don’t offer the program they do.
Overall, they’ve found that the program has allowed parents like Palomino to return to work earlier, making it a win-win.
