Bring Your Child To Work Day - yes or no?

[MumsnetJobsTeam]

Many companies have Bring Your Child To Work Day, where parents can show their children where they work and give them some experience of the workplace.

On one hand, these days can be an opportunity for children to learn, as well as find out more about their parents' lives. They can also make parents feel more supported in the workplace as their children are positively acknowledged and encouraged.

However, some say Bring Your Child To Work Day could be challenging for those who have lost a child, or are struggling to conceive. There are also some who think the practice isn't worth the potential drop in productivity - particularly for childless colleagues who are distracted, whether they like it or not.

We'd like to get your thoughts on Bring Your Child To Work Days. Are they a fun, useful opportunity, or something that should be approached with caution? And if so, what could companies do instead?

Torchlightt I've read the thread and there's no reason to make it about dogs.

I think that was me. I get that people are talking about work experience not childcare, but there are still references to disruption & people getting their work done with kids around. I'm just saying that I think having dogs around would be fun.

Absolutely not, some like mine will not be allowed as it is too dangerous.

It was an interesting thread about social mobility, nepotism, encouraging children to consider different careers and the pros and cons of employers opening their doors to employees children versus targeting other groups.

It seemed a pity to make it about dogs.

Feel free to do both?!!!

It's partly an employee relations thing. Parents like their children to understand what they do.
Ideally schools would hook up with local employers to run visits for all children who may be interested.

You can’t actually do any work because you’re too busy supervising your kids in an environment that hasn’t been child proofed. The company presumably won’t be insured for any accidents? It would be ok if it was a couple of hours on a Saturday, so people could stay home if they wanted to and no work had to be completed.

It's partly an employee relations thing. Parents like their children to understand what they do.
Ideally schools would hook up with local employers to run visits for all children who may be interested.

Setting dogs aside for now, it's two different things really isn't it? My DM worked in a bookshop & my DF was an office manager. I could have seen both of those jobs with them but would have needed outside help to get to see other workplaces.

Hi I need advise

@Alison95 It will be best to start your own thread.

My DC used to come into my workplace quite a lot. It was a very open kind of workplace. But it didn't really help them to understand my job, or my colleagues' jobs (office based). We all did the kinds of jobs that it's hard for children to get their heads round. Some kind of a presentation would have been good. I'd like to see more formal events run in all kinds of workplaces, with all secondary schoolchildren being allowed to choose 1 or 2 to visit. As it is, they have work experience just once before they leave school, and don't necessarily understand what jobs are out there.

On a hopefully sufficiently relevant point, my DSis was part of a mentorship scheme. People mentored children in the care system. The idea was that they provided the kind of guidance and referrals towards the end of the school phase that many parents provide their children with. So helping them to find useful work experience by using the mentor's connections. Not sure exactly what it covered, but you could presumably help with GCSE and A'level choices, applications to higher education, helpful extra-curricular activities, etc.

I'm a vet- we do some school talks, have a family friendly open day for clients and often take on one or perhaps two work experience teenagers at a time, and of course actual vet students seeing practice. Younger children at work all day- no way. I'd have to either drop out of the rota for the day and get paid to do some pleasant but useless fannying about with them, finding nice dogs for them to use the stethoscope on etc- which I can do at home in my own time; or dump them on the lowest paid women in the practice- the junior receptionists and student vet nurses- while I got on with 4 hour blocks of consults and surgery (you need to keep up a brisk work rate- even the best vet students can't help but slow this down). If there was one day when everyone brought their children, again they would end up being "babysat" by the lowest paid women in the building, or quite likely any female older children would end up being landed with the younger ones.

DH is a tree surgeon. They go into schools kitted up and show impressive videos and let the children try on helmets with visors and ear defenders which goes down well, and are always happy to let closely supervised children of clients and neighbours watch from a safe distance and handle the gear and ask questions at tea break time. Actually letting a child of any age loose while there are 2 or 3 people concentrating on not killing themselves or workmates operating chainsaws, chippers, stump grinders and dropping large chunks of timber when they are strapped in 30 feet up a tree with a climbing saw...um no.

Torchlightt the mentoring schemes have been running in some areas for a while - they sound like a really good idea, I wonder whether they show any measurable results.

I agree it would be more of a level playing field if employers and schools teamed up than if parents just took their own children to work, except in some of the large companies described up thread where children of unskilled workers have had equal access to learn about highly skilled and better paid work within the company their parents work at, and been encouraged and informed enough to work towards those careers.

Something more organised and thought out than just having your own children tag along is clearly needed!

DH used to work at the European space agency and they had a family day. Obviously some areas are restricted, but there are viewing windows to look into mission control and they had lots of displays and demonstrations. We pretty much accidentally met the astronaut Alexander Gurst in a corridorand he singled then 8 year old DD out rather than our two sons, to tell her to take physics and maths because more female astronauts are needed! Glossing over the fac that 7 years ont she's chosen to focus on modern foreign languages this was very cool and could have inspired another female child!

My work is in a shortage area and my employer makes a lot of effort with public relations and recruitment in the local community and we're very much encouraged to bring our families in where appropriate, but it's less glamorous work and although my children enjoyed the summer fairs when younger and like knowing what I do, they aren't especially interested in following in my footsteps.

My parents dragged us to their workplaces and seriously put me off their careers! There were no organised information days though, it was just being on your best behaviour and making a good impression on meet and greet occasions or being dumped on the poor secretary primarily for childcare reasons as powershower says.

I don't really understand the point, except as a scenario for a sitcom.

The amount of value the children get out of it seems so dependent on the working environment, which in many cases will be completely inappropriate for children.

But we are thinking about providing resources (a booklet for the student to complete and guidance for employers) to support a "take your child to work day" for years 7-9, where this would be done in the student's own time I.e. School Holiday or inset day.

I'm afraid this just sounds like more work and guilt for parents.

You would be setting up an expectation that many parents wouldn't be able to meet. Plenty of people don't have employers who would take kindly to guidance from their employee's child's teacher. It seems fairer to build relations with local employers (realistically through parent contacts) who can provide experience for all children equally.

Plenty of people don't have employers who would take kindly to guidance from their employee's child's teacher
DH works for a privately owned company and I can’t see the owner giving a shit about people’s kids wanting to come in. His priority is making money, any drop in productivity is unacceptable. And DH is very busy and overworked, I can’t see him taking kindly to being asked to piss about with kids. It would involve extra hassle that truthfully he’d only be willing to do for his own kids.

I don't agree with 'Bring your child to work day' it probably does cause upset for those you are unable to have children, have lost a child o simply those who don't see their child for a various amount of reasons. But also, I feel that some jobs you just simply aren't allow to bring children in.

It seems fairer to build relations with local employers (realistically through parent contacts) who can provide experience for all children equally.

It doesn't have to be through parents - STEM Ambassadors should have links to all schools and can link businesses up, and there maybe other organisations - our county has an education and business partnership, for example, and I would be very surprised if that is unique.

Prefer to work where it wasn't policy. Mine still knew where I worked and what I did without them being there.
The last place introduced it. They were always in the way, and the parents were often distracted because they were thinking about them, or talking to them. Public sector and no money to put into it.

No. Work is for work. Daycare is for children.

I work in Children's services and there's is no way I would want to take a young child to work for the day even if I could!
On a day to day basis I could be picking a child up from a police station, getting thumped or sworn at and then restraining a child. I could be spending the day in meetings , going to the cinema or swimming, making tea, putting on training, going to training, taking a child to their new home, returning a child to their home which is heartbreaking if they don't want to be returned or if us ( staff) don't think it's the right thing, visiting a child in hospital who has tried to commit suicide and so on. The job is too unpredictable to have a child shadowing us.

Ultimately it's not really about the individual kids of specific parents, it's about engineering out bias of one kind or another.

I’m childfree and work at a charity. I’d much prefer work experience placements. We don’t have resources to do events and quite a bit is confidential. I also feel it would be fairer if employers offered placements that were then matched through schools to children which might help a bit more with social mobility.