Bringing Babies to Work - TIME

Bringing Babies to Work - TIME

Advocates know that permitting babies on the job is not a universal solution. It wouldn't work well, for example, with certain jobs, like doctoring and teaching, or for particularly fussy infants. But even naysayers may be surprised by the results of research conducted by Mary Secret, a social-work professor at Virginia Commonwealth University. Her 2005 analysis of 55 businesses with baby-friendly policies found that people often anticipate disaster but there is rarely a negative effect on co-workers or productivity. What's more, she learned that having babies around can boost morale among colleagues. "We have tended to have this myth of the separation between work and family," Secret says. "In reality, that never existed."