Babies in the office

I’d seen it advertised and put a note in my diary to watch Babies in the Office on BBC 2 this week.  As I was out both evenings when the programme was aired I’ve now watched both episodes.

 Successful firm takes on babies

Addison Lee, a London-based taxi firm, with around a humongus turnover, decided to investigate the benefits and otherwise of having babies in the office, an approach that is apparently already working in the States.

Firstly, from an HR perspective I thought it was a well planned and managed bit of HR innovation.  It had all the elements of a successful project – I saw research, planning, collaboration, feedback, interaction, listening, communication, communication, communication.

Granted, Clare Mitchell, the HR Manager, had a personal agenda as she wanted to start her own family, so running a successful pilot with mums, dads and babes at Addison Lee was high on her list.  Her managing director was right behind her – great to see!   As an HR Manager it is so important to have a good working relationship with the top of the chain and to have an influential place on the Board.

Many of the employees work in the call centre taking hundreds of calls a day which can be a stressful, fast moving environment.

 Nice mix

Seven babies took part in the pilot with their parents.  There was a nice mix – men and women, management and non-management, new and experienced parents, single and married.  The experiment was run in different areas of the business from the quiet and focussed finance department, to the high energy, male-orientated sales team.

Crying babies and finance

Mixed feelings about the project was certainly felt and shown.  The sales manager was concerned about targets not being met, finance were concerned about errors that could occur, and in the call centre the sound of babies crying.. Well, besides one unhappy customer that we, the viewer, were told about, it seems that most were accepting and pleased to hear about the company’s innovation.

By the end of the pilot the HR team carried out a poll to find out how people felt so that a decision could be taken about whether or not to dump the idea.  The MD was surprised that was more than 70% positive results, and much to my amazement he decided to, with some tweaks, continue this programme and even went so far as to announce the investment in a workplace nursery.  What a great end!

A play area outside the office?

 Productivity takes a dive

The cost of childcare in some instances is close to £1,000 per month.  What could parents do with that extra money in their pay packets?  Contribute to their children’s education, their own pensions, the economy as a whole.

One of the ladies said that if the company decided to go with this scheme she would not be leaving but would be with the company until she retired.

So what are the business positives?

• Saving on recruitment costs for temp workers
• Retention of employees long term
• Retention of knowledge base
• Impact on morale
• Happier workplace
• Shared focus from all teams
• Community building
• Loyalty
• Profitabiity

and the negatives?

• Disruption in the workplace
• Perceived inequality to those without children
• Managing productivity consistently
• Employing temp workers for a short period
• Errors
• Customer complaints/loss of customers

So Addison decided to think of the employee loyalty and retention, knowledge kept in the company, savings on recruitment costs, that they will be enjoying in the long term.   The MD realises that productivity may take a dive in the short term but longer term there are many more benefits.

 Breath of fresh air

It is a breath of fresh air to see such innovation where I’m sure employer and employee as well as families will benefit.  It won’t be everyone’s cup of tea and each business will have to make their own assessments.  But there have already been changes in the workplace like part-time working, job sharing, term-time working, remote working, and women in what were primarily male-dominated roles!  And still to come – dad’s may be able to share time off to take care of the children.  So if you’re a brave enough business – what’s stopping you from doing something different?

At the end of the day it is about looking at ways to sustain the business by retaining skilled staff and knowledge and making the work place a good place to be.

 

Contact us if you would like help to put in place employee initiatives.  Cecily Lalloo of Embrace HR, is based in Aylesbury, and supports businesses in  Oxford, Thame, Aylesbury, and surrounds, and London, who do not have their own in-house human resources people.  

T : 07767 308 717

E : hr.support@embracehr.co.uk

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