Babies at work

The SST reports:

A SENIOR public servant and mother given permission to set up a temporary creche in the office for her baby has upset other staff, who feel obliged to tend the three-month-old when she is busy or steps out of the office.

I have to say that in my experience, many office staff will crawl over broken glass to look after a baby for a period, and see it as a bonus, not an obligation! Seriously at times one almost needs a roster as they all want their time with the little infant.

Monique Dawson, a deputy secretary at the Department of Labour in Wellington, returned to work early from maternity leave last Monday. The department has defended what it described as Dawson’s new “flexible work arrangements” but the situation has not gone down well with other staff, who claim the department has repeatedly rejected their requests to establish a creche or child-minding facility over the years.

A staff member, who asked not to be named for fear of retribution, accused the department of double standards. “Different rules are being applied to to Ms Dawson. Not only is she allowed to bring her baby into the office, they’ve set up a special office for the baby, complete with crib. No nanny is being employed though if Monique isn’t around when the baby cries, staff are forced to help out.”

To be fair to DOL staff, a creche would be preferable, but perhaps there is insufficient demand for an in house creche?

Personally I regard it as a good thing, that there is a flexible employer allowing an employee to work and look after her infant. If staff were having to change the baby’s nappies then that would be cause for concern, but I find it hard to believe that there is a shortage of volunteers to occasionally look after said baby for short periods of time.