Bringing Baby to Work
by Francine Gemperle
Of course, not everyone should go back to work after the birth of a child. I had several reasons for continuing to work at MAYA after the birth of my son.
First of all, I like working at MAYA; I like the work, the challenges and the people. I had previously spent time as a homemaker and during maternity leave attended enough Mommy and Me classes and La Leche League meetings to know that I wouldn’t get the same kind of intellectual stimulation as a stay home mom. The money and the benefits also allow me to continue the comfortable lifestyle and independence to which I have grown accustomed. Finally, I needed to be a person in order to be a good role model for my son. My work as a designer and researcher is part of who I was before, and who I am now. I want my son to know me as that person in the world, in addition to being his mom.
MAYA allows for 6 weeks of maternity leave, after that it is possible to rely on the Family and Medical Leave for an additional 6 weeks. This however would not have helped me accomplish the goal of transitioning back to work. In the 6 weeks after my son was born, I spent all my time recovering and learning how to mother him. I used the subsequent 6 weeks to learn to be both a mother and a designer. This transition period was incredibly important for both my mothering and my career. During this transition period I worked on fewer projects, I worked only 30 hours, and I kept an extremely flexible schedule. I brought my infant son to work with me 3 days a week and left him with my husband 2 days a week.
During the first week back, I left my son with my husband on a Wednesday for the whole day. This was the hardest day. At the time I was barely ready to leave him with his dad, let alone a daycare provider. During the transition I got to practice leaving him for one day at a time.
Also during the transition time, my son grew to recognize me (and others). At 6 weeks he didn’t have visual recognition for me, and he didn’t have much in the way of controlled facial expressions. At 3 months he sees me - and smiles, which makes it a lot easier to leave him– knowing he will remember me when I return. The transition period allowed us to establish a healthy parent child bond before starting daycare.
The transition period also helped me remember why I wanted to continue working, there is nothing like being at work, to inspire me to work.
Finally, it allowed me to get used to the idea of day care, and gave me some additional time to find care.
Part 2 Baby at Work
During the transition period my son came to work with me 3 days a week. At first I thought this would be much harder on the company than on me. It seemed that a crying baby, his accoutrements and my breastfeeding had major potential to disrupt the workplace, turn off clients, and create social frictions. In reality none of this occurred and bringing the baby to work was harder on me than anyone else. I was trying (and often succeeded) to do two jobs at the same time. While at work I was parenting a new baby, and working as designer and researcher simultaneously. This was physically and mentally exhausting. I didn’t start out knowing I was doing two jobs at once and in the first week learned quickly that I would need to rely both on multitasking skills (breastfeed and type one handed) and on switching tasks/roles on the fly. Even when I was thoroughly engrossed in writing a proposal, I would have to stop mid-sentence and take an indeterminate length break to mother the baby.
The impact on the workplace has been unexpected. I had guessed that about half the company would hate it, I had anticipated that there would be complaints to HR, and to me. HR was concerned that others would not get their work done because they would be cooing at the new baby all day.
Instead the few people who dislike babies (and babies at work) have simply ignored the whole thing. While dozens of others seem to be really enjoying it. Even the unlikely - young single men (ie. not the stereotype female baby lovers), and fathers with their own babies at home - come by to say hello and check in on the baby. Dozens of people have commented on how happy the baby’s smile makes them. They have said his presence brings a positive energy into the office.
I am pleased to report that nobody let the baby get in the way of their work (well except me). Many people will give him 3-5 minutes of attention, a few will hold him while I run to the bathroom, or eat my lunch. The times when he is fussy, people around me are able to keep working, and I am able to take him to a quiet room. I have been able to schedule babysitters for times when I have client meetings. Overall it has worked out very well.
A few things made this situation work. - knowing the time was limited – that daycare would start at some point in the future - furniture for the baby to sleep and sit in the office - the baby bjorn – so I could wear him - the nap room, for its privacy and darkness - the age of the baby 6-12 weeks (as he gets older its clear this can’t last)
Now that he is 3 months old, I’m ready to drop my son off at daycare next week. Its still not easy, but I feel more certain that we both will be able to deal. After this transition, I am better able to appreciate my time with him and my time at work without him. - - - - -
Francine Gemperle is a designer and researcher in the Human Sciences Group at MAYA Design. Her baby was born in October 2005.
Forming new policies
by Audrey Russo
Problem: Why not bring your baby to work? Simple enough, create an experiment (policy) and test the arrangement. HR was tasked with locating a policy out there in HR world and adapt it for MAYA. Surely this is rampant. Surely this is pervasive. ;)
Discovery: After scoping the traditional affiliations, reviewing laws, searching blogs -- we found daycare, family leave protocols, stipends and breast feeding accomodations --there was nothing about babies in the workplace! No way!
Development: Policy formed through ideas of the returning mother, human sciences director, human resources manager and operations. We ensured that we were eliminating MAYA's liability (hey, we gotta protect ourselves in case of baby tripping, spitting & falling debris) while ensuring we had thought about the mothering /fathering needs of an "at work" in the office MAYAn w/child. The returning mother met with her immediate work neighbors and sent out a note to all. She wanted to be sure she was accessible, aware, considerate & open to feedback about this arrangement. She did not know what to expect and neither did we.....
For info on this initial policy, or to provide your feedback, give our trusty ol' Terry a hollar at pronko@maya.com! (Make sure you don't disturb her while she's watching her Steeler's game, though!)
The saga continues, stay tuned....
Audrey Russo is the Vice President of Operations at MAYA Design. She's considering having another baby to try this out herself. ;)
Inc. Magazine
by Francine Gemperle
MAYA's baby at work experiment appears on page 27 of the July issue of Inc. magazine.
