It's been a while since I worked in an office. It hasn't been long at all, however, since I've had young babies around (call it 'ongoing'). And based on my experience trying to write and think with those babies crawling all over me, I find it hard to believe that infants in the workplace wouldn't be . . . distracting, to say the least.
But Carla Moquin doesn't agree. As founder of the Parenting in the Workplace Institute, she's compiled a database of over 70 companies that permit employees to bring babies to work, and she suspects many more allow it even if it's not officially recognized. Although there are obviously some professions less baby-friendly than others (i.e., doctors or teachers), a 2005 study found that babies have virtually no effect on productivity. In fact, babies can actually vitalize the work environment and lead to higher morale among co-workers.
I'm still having a tough time imagining how my kids, none of whom would spend more than ten minutes in the exersaucer, would have fared in an office. Maybe this arrangement works best with those mythical babies I've heard of but never actually encountered - the ones that spend hours contemplating life from the confines of their infant car seats, or sleeping in papooses strapped to their mothers' backs. After all, it worked for Kansas governor Kathleen Sebelius, who took both her sons to work when they were babies. Now over 20 state agencies in Kansas allow workplace parenting. And as we all know, where goes Kansas, so goes the rest of the country.
