BBC2 Documentary Babies in the Office
When making the decision to start a family, childcare is one of the major factors affecting when to do it and how many children you have. For some it’s a case of roping in the family to help, whilst others are left counting the cost of nursery or childminders. Staff at London Taxi firm Addison Lee have a third option – they can bring their babies into work with them.
BBC Documentary Babies in the Office, shown on BBC2 this week, followed the trial period of this unusual idea instigated by the Head of HR who was hoping to start a family herself. Participants experienced ups and downs with one pulling out after just one day. Others persevered and even excelled in their work, despite having a baby by their side needing feeding, changing and entertaining.
I am currently out of work as I have three pre-school children meaning childcare costs would leave us worse off as a family. Being forced to make a choice between going out into the world and building a career or staying at home to take care of the children has been difficult. With many in the media depicting women as ‘choosing’ to be a stay at home mum or a career woman, it was refreshing to see it acknowledged that women of a childbearing age have as much right to a career as men and are a valuable commodity that shouldn’t be wasted. It was pointed out that by allowing a woman to bring her child to work for less than twelve months companies can gain a loyal employee for over ten years – and cut out the costs of recruiting new staff when women leave.
Some of the mums on this programme felt unhappy with staying at home too. They wanted to be out there earning and doing their best for the family. Being able to bring their young babies in meant they could spend lots of time with them whilst also earning a living without losing most of it in childcare.
I loved the overall sentiment of the idea that women who have babies are still valued in the workplace and seeing some of them in action was inspiring. But I could not imagine it working with any of mine. Between 6 months and 12 months, which I think is the age this scheme is really aimed at, they were rolling, sitting up and shouting. My twin boys went through a phase of having five poos a day and really fought having their meals. There is no way they would have been contented sitting on my lap at a computer or in a bouncer next to me. When they began to crawl there was no stopping them and in an office with trailing wires and cups of tea constantly on the go I would have worried myself sick about accidents.
No, I don’t think the office is a place for children no matter how much childcare costs or how well staff can perform whilst caring for their babies’ needs.
The real answer is more affordable, quality state childcare and until this happens more and more women will be dropping out at the point in their career when they have the most to offer.
whensevenoclockcomes 