Workplaces going to be urged for private Breastfeeding areas

[HermyaAndThePomBears]

Here!

The government are going to give mothers the right to Brestfeed at work.

I don't know about anybody else, but I think this is great news.

[onlyonejimmy]

Under current legislation, when I returned to work I was entitled to a private area (not a room they kept just for feeding, just one that was given to me at the time I needed it) to express in and access to a fridge.
I fed much faster than I could express, so bringing DS in would have required less time "off" the job, and tbh I would have thought about taking less maternity leave if going back to work hadn't meant a big reduction in bf - so employers would've got me back sooner if bf made easier (same if they had a creche I could use). So that's to employers' gain, not disadvantage.

[Ryoko]

I'm not arguing against anything I'm simply stating the fact that this is going to employers off employing mothers and increase the likely hood you will be the first in line when they want to sack people.

[Ryoko]

Oh plus I think it's actually the governments way of starting to reduce the amount of Maternity leave people are entitled to.

[wannaBe]

bloody ridiculous idea.

employers may choose to provide an area to express, but making it a legal requirement is just ridiculous.

If women want equal rights then imho you can't have it both ways. either you want to be treated as an equal i.e. have the same perks and rights as your fellow employees, or you want to be treated differently i.e. that special concessions should be made to accommodate you...

So if someone wants to express they should do it in the alocated breaks provided.

Is it any wonder that childless people are so resentful of those with children when this sort of thing is considered - of course there will be resentment, the same as there is resentment towards people having fag breaks (why on earth should they?).

As for bringing babies to work, it's a workplace not a cresche ffs. If you want to feed your baby stay at home and feed it.

employers shouldn't be expected to be supportive of this kind of arrangement, nor should it be considered surprising when employers stop employing women with young children as a result...

[solo]

But resentful childless people stop being so resentful once they've had children of their own don't they?

[Hammy02]

wannabe-well said. You go to work to do a job. Its not the employer's responsibility to attend to your every whim. Most businesses are small and may struggle to accomodate this in terms of time, space and money. People seem to think small businesses are run by people that have loads of spare cash. They aren't.

[GetOrfMoiLand]

To be honest I pretty much agree with wannabee.

I think in most workplaces it would have a detrimental effect. There is no real dire need to continue feeding with breastmilk once back at work. Like I said up thread, either stay off work longer, or use formula.

I really do not see what is so shocking about that.

[tiktok]

Oh, FFS.

They said all this rubbish about the minimum wage.

You were prob against that, too, wannabe, hammy and ryoko.

[Ryoko]

And this is the problem with the world everyone is a selfish git (and all ways will be).

Everyone wants the moon on a stick and thinks they are entitled to it above others, no one cares about any one else's feelings or concerns etc.

WannaBe is correct the more legislation there is aimed at woman, the more unemployable/ undesirable we become, business is about making money, the best break time is no break time, the best maternity leave is no maternity leave etc(why are woman all ways expected to bare 100% of taking care of the kids anyway).

I'm not against woman juggling career and home I'm just saying companies work on the cold hard logic of increasing productivity with the least amount of costs.

[GetOrfMoiLand]

Tiktok I don't think this is in any way similar to minumim wage legislation.

That was necessary in order to prevent exploitation in my view.

Legislation to enforce rights to express is in my opinion not in any way essential.

[KittyFoyle]

I took up smoking to have breaks from bar work when I was a student. Maybe more women will take up/continue breastfeeding/expressing so they can sit down with a magazine for 10 mins. Although of course in the 50's it was recommended that you smoked WHILST you breastfed, to relax. So for any Retro/Vintage companies it's the perfect combination.

RE resentment - people who resent someone going to bf/express are ridiculous. Also, bf doesn't go on for years (not usually) so it's hardly a 'get out' clause for long for any individual. And who's to say you can't work and feed at the same time? Hands free conference calling. Not a moment to lose.

[wannaBe]

no. you cannot compare the minimum wage to breastfeeding.

After all, everyone would be entitled to minimum wage, and everyone needs money to live on - it's not exactly rocket science is it?

Whereas actually, if you're not able to breastfeed due to circumstance (such as needing to go back to work, for instance), there are alternatives such as formula, or alternatively express when you get home and store the milk for the next day. It's not exactly rocket science, is it?

And where do you draw the line at how much time should be allocated for expressing? After all, every woman's breasts are different, no? so if one woman takes five minutes to express and another takes an hour should both of these be accommodated? regardless of the effect on productivity?

And if a breastfeeding woman should have the right to have her baby brought to her to feed should this not also apply to a bottle feeding mum? otherwise you're discriminating against some mothers... if a woman can express then surely she can give a bottle - so there's no argument for the baby needing to be actually breastfed as long as the milk is breastmilk...

[PamelaFlitton]

But no one takes their baby to work....

I don't really see the point of this, except to create more resentment.

[tiktok]

Min wage: dire predictions about people being sacked if employers forced to bring in min. wage. It didn't happen.

Expr/bf at work: dire predictions about people being sacked if employers forced to bring in expr/bf at work. It won't happen.

That's the comparison.

[Ryoko]

Technically it is a lifestyle choice because you chose to have a baby and work as well, instead of stay at home with it or get your partner to stay at home with it and you chose to express during work hours.

so in every respect it's as much a lifestyle choice as smoking or getting a mortgage.

I'm not expecting mass sacking I'm expecting less woman being taken on, in all ready male dominated work places, small companies etc, it's an added issue to consider when employing a lady.

[HermyaAndThePomBears]

This is ridiculous! Did anyone kick up this amount of fuss when people were given fag breaks?

Also with requires to equality, people have different needs at different times and it's about employees making reasonable adjustments to accomadate those.

Breastfeeding isn't a permenant state is it. Most if not all workplaces have rooms and a fridge, so how big of an adjustment is it to allow a breastfeeding mother use of that room to express and a bit of space in the fridge to store the milk.

At the end of the day, it's up to the employee and Mother to come to some agreement as to what is reasonable in terms of breaks etc.

Also it has long been established that happy well treated employees are productive employees. So for the sake of a bit of flexibility of the part of the employee, they are more likely to get a more settled and happy Mum who enjoys coming to work.

[tiktok]

I was at a work-related conference not long ago. One of the main speakers - yes, a main speaker - was a man who was profoundly deaf. He had a senior management job in the public sector. He had an interpreter with him (actually, he had 2) all day, both to relay his words to the audience because his own speech was very difficult to understand, and to sign to him what the other speakers were saying, and questions from the audience.

We all had to accommodate this, by speaking clearly for the signer and to allow what lip reading the man could do, and to follow what he said via his interpreter.

We all had to work a tiny bit harder to do this but I am sure no one resented this, because we thought it is important to be inclusive at work, and to think of wider issues - in this case, the fairness of ensuring this man's choice to communicate how he wanted to. He could have written the whole thing out and got us to read it off a screen or a handout, or given the talk to someone else to read out. But he wanted to stand in front of his audience and speak off the cuff as well as from notes.

I don't think expressing/bf is the same as a disability, but I do think it is a choice that should be supported by the place of work, as a gesture to their community of colleagues and indeed in this case, as a way of making the world a bit better, and bit more inclusive of working mothers and babies.

[HermyaAndThePomBears]

Ryoko I think a lot of people would love to be able to stay at home with their children, but in this day and age it just isn't financially possible for most people. Most women need to work to pay the bills and if there is a little bit of legislation and flexibility on the part of the employer to make the transition back into the world of work just that little bit easier shouldn't that be a good thing?

Also, women don't breastfeed forever. The need to take breaks to express milk won't be a permenant state of being will it.

[HermyaAndThePomBears]

Too right tiktok!

[ISNT]

I am also appalled by some of the attitudes on this thread.

Time and time again it has been shown that happy employees are more productive. That companies which infantilise employees by eg clocking in and out, proscribed times for toilet breaks, breathing down their necks all the time have a high turnover of unhappy demotivated employees.

That people who work for companies who treat them well after children by eg accomodating them with flexible working and expressing breaks etc are highly loyal to their companies, less likely to leave and happier to do things like overtime when required.

This idea that what employers want (and many employers do want it) is lines of male automatons who put work over life in all circs is not actually the best way to run a business. The best way to run a business is to employ capable responsible people, treat them well, and reap the rewards.

The companies employing all of the highly qualified women who have been chucked out of their pre-children careers for wanting to be treated reasonably, are laughing all teh way to the bank.

[Ryoko]

I'm not saying it's easy to have one person working or no person working, I'm just pointing out to smallwhitecat that it is a lifestyle choice, having a baby is a lifestyle choice.

[ISNT]

"Lifestyle choice" is a bizarre way to describe parenthood.

[tiktok]

'Having a baby' is making sure someone is around to pay your pension and wipe your bum in the nursing home in the year 2060, ryoko.

'Lifestyle choice', begone!

ISNT - you are right, of course. Companies - even small ones - which don't acommodate the needs of families will suffer.