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CHILDREN IN THE WORKPLACE

kpckpc 2 Posts
in HR Documents Vote Up0Vote Down
WE ARE A VERY SMALL FAMILY OWNED COMPANY. WE AVERAGE APPROX 40-46 EMPLOYEES.
ONE OF THE OWNERS AND SUPERVISORS HAS TWO DAUGHTERS WHO BOTH WORK FOR THE COMPANY. tHEY BOTH RECENTLY HAD BABIES AND ARE NOW BRINGING THEM TO THE OFFICE ON A DAILY BASIS. WE HAVE OTHER EMPLOYEES BABYSITTING, WE HAVE STILL MORE EMPLOYEES WANTING TO BRING IN THEIR CHILDREN, SINCE, OF COURSE, ITS OKAY FOR THE BOSSES DAUGHTERS. WE DO NOT CURRENTLY HAVE A POLICY ON CHILDREN IN THE WORKPLACE. dOES ANYONE HAVE A POLICY THAT WE CAN INSITUTE WITHOUT HAVING A MAJOR EMPLOYEE PROBLEM? WE ARE NOT SET UP FOR A DAYCARE AND IN FACT DO NOT HAVE AN AREA WHERE WE COULD EVEN PUT ONE, LET ALONE PAY A LICENSED DAYCARE PERSON TO WATCH THE CHILDREN! HELP!
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Comments

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  • sandra_dsandra_d 136 Posts
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    If you are looking for a policy to allow the owner's daughters to have their babies on the premises, but exclude others, you won't find one. If you implement a policy about no children on the premises, I assume it will be with an official blessing by the owners. There is no law or legitimate discrimination claim that immediately comes to mind about letting the owners have their grandchildren on the premises, while nobody else is allowed to bring their kids, however, it seems to be ripe with morale and attitude issues to do anything but fair and consistent application of the policy, whatever your policy will be. I would say to base your decision and policy on the issue of workplace safety and organizational liability. What would happen if any of those children (even the grandchildren of the owners) gets hurt, seriously hurt, while on the premises?? BIGTIME liability for the organization. Tough position to be in - good luck!
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  • marcmarc 3,126 Posts
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    60 employees in our company, 56 of them are women, so you can imagine the percentage that have children.

    We do not have an official policy, but we prohibit it unless there is an emergency of some sort. When they are in the office, it is very disruptive, not only for the mother, but everyone in the immediate vicinity. When babies are brought in, they are a magnet for every ee in the building and when you put all of the lost time together, it is significant.

    Our worst offender is one of our senior management who brings the kids in when after school care falls apart for whatever reason.

    It may not sound like based on what I've written, but the overall occurrence level is low.

    If your owners tolerate it, it is their bottom line that will be impacted. Perhaps some discussion with your liability and workman's comp brokers will highlight some of the issues, but other than that, it sounds like you are swimming upstream.
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