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Am I the only one who feel sorry for the guy sitting behind that mother occupied with her child. Perhaps he might be annoyed? :) I am all in for an onsite chil

Am I the only one who feel sorry for the guy sitting behind that mother occupied with her child. Perhaps he might be annoyed? :) I am all in for an onsite child-care facility as long as it is a standalone facility. Looking at the pictures, it looks like children are all over this office. Not being a parent, I can still comprehend the hardships of new parents who have to juggle between childcare and full time jobs. But having a baby does not give you a golden ticket to do whatever you want (NYC subway stroller parents please don't ram in a Humvee size stroller during peak hour). You have to respect the common shared space such as office space. Some people are not that fond of cute pudgy babies, not to mention the distraction etc.. I do support an onsite childcare facility and wish more companies will do the same but they should make sure that kids stay inside such facilities only where parents can check on them during their breaks. parents please don't get defensive here. This is just an opinion not an ignorant insensitive slur towards parents and their young ones

mason240 10y ago
I have two small childern and thought the same thing. Bringing an infant/toddler around to meetings would be highly disruptive. I would prefer having a shorter workday where we can just efficiently get stuff done and then go home to the kids. It's also a little disappointing the way the writer completely writes off men being caregivers to kids.When I started reading the piece I was thinking "yeah, onsite childcare would be kind of nice," but nope, apparently the writer thinks this only for women.
robotresearcher 10y ago
Those are posed pictures for a PR piece. Don't take it literally. They are probably a bit ill-conceived, since pictures of happy kids in the care centre and happy workers in the office might have got the message across better. I expect most parents are like me: happy to have a kid-free zone to get some stuff done.
solipsism 10y ago
I'm positive you're not the only one to feel that way. But it's not the only way to feel either. The child-free office is a socially constructed expectation, it's not an absolute. Some people balk at the idea of casual dress, ping pong tables, dogs in the office, etc. I would personally love to work in an office where people were welcome to bring their kids. I'd happily deal with the interruptions and inefficiencies. If the company thought the benefits outweighed those costs, I'm game.
- molmalo 10y ago
  Would you be willing to work overtime for free, to compensate for those interruptions and inefficiencies?
  - icebraining 10y ago
    Sounds like a trick question. It's the company that has to compensate for that loss of productivity.
  - whiddershins 10y ago
    If we're dealing in hypotheticals, what if your personal productivity went down, but the overall productivity of the company went up, due to factors such as the ones mentioned in the article?
onion2k 10y ago
You have to respect the common shared space such as office space. That works both ways. If you believe parents shouldn't bring their children to the office space because they should respect you and your desire for children not to be there, then it's only reasonable that you should respect their desire to have their children with them. Whether you're fond of babies or not is irrelevant; the important thing is the impact on the business. If having children around means an overall productivity drop then they're a net loss, and a dedicated child-care facility is a better option. But if the parents in the office are more productive with their children close by, to a point that outweighs the loss of productivity from the non-parents, then children in the office is a positive. Few workplaces have ever measured that, so there isn't a simple "it's worse with children around" answer. Plus, and this is really important, there's a distinct danger that employers who say they don't want children around the business using that as a way to limit opportunities for women (albeit subconsciously; few would admit to it). That's something to guard against.
- CodeSheikh 10y ago
  That works both ways. If you believe parents shouldn't bring their children to the office space because they should respect you and your desire for children not to be there, then it's only reasonable that you should respect their desire to have their children with them. You do know realize that an office space means a space for employees to do work for someone who is paying them. It is not a space for their children or parents or grand-parents or cousins or favorite stuff toys.
  - 0xfeba 10y ago
    I think you're relying too much on the photo-op images rather than the points of the story text itself. An employer offering in-house childcare has benefits, this does not necessarily mean your kid will be sitting on your desk and you will be taking care of it.
    - oh_sigh 10y ago
      OP specifically referenced the image, so I think it's fair to focus on the image in this thread.
krupan 10y ago
I worked at a dog-friendly office for a while. People brought their dogs in and let them roam around the cubicles while we worked. I'm not sure what else to say about it, other than your comment reminded me of that. Work still got done, and people seemed to like it (I'm kinda neutral on dogs myself). I also went to a college where there were some (relatively) older students who were married and had kids. Many of them brought kids to class (mostly sleeping infants). It looked difficult for them, but good on 'em for continuing their education. Didn't have much affect on my learning.

mason240 10y ago

I have two small childern and thought the same thing. Bringing an infant/toddler around to meetings would be highly disruptive. I would prefer having a shorter workday where we can just efficiently get stuff done and then go home to the kids. It's also a little disappointing the way the writer completely writes off men being caregivers to kids.When I started reading the piece I was thinking "yeah, onsite childcare would be kind of nice," but nope, apparently the writer thinks this only for women.

robotresearcher 10y ago

Those are posed pictures for a PR piece. Don't take it literally. They are probably a bit ill-conceived, since pictures of happy kids in the care centre and happy workers in the office might have got the message across better. I expect most parents are like me: happy to have a kid-free zone to get some stuff done.

solipsism 10y ago

I'm positive you're not the only one to feel that way. But it's not the only way to feel either. The child-free office is a socially constructed expectation, it's not an absolute. Some people balk at the idea of casual dress, ping pong tables, dogs in the office, etc. I would personally love to work in an office where people were welcome to bring their kids. I'd happily deal with the interruptions and inefficiencies. If the company thought the benefits outweighed those costs, I'm game.

molmalo 10y ago
Would you be willing to work overtime for free, to compensate for those interruptions and inefficiencies?
- icebraining 10y ago
  Sounds like a trick question. It's the company that has to compensate for that loss of productivity.
- whiddershins 10y ago
  If we're dealing in hypotheticals, what if your personal productivity went down, but the overall productivity of the company went up, due to factors such as the ones mentioned in the article?

onion2k 10y ago

You have to respect the common shared space such as office space. That works both ways. If you believe parents shouldn't bring their children to the office space because they should respect you and your desire for children not to be there, then it's only reasonable that you should respect their desire to have their children with them. Whether you're fond of babies or not is irrelevant; the important thing is the impact on the business. If having children around means an overall productivity drop then they're a net loss, and a dedicated child-care facility is a better option. But if the parents in the office are more productive with their children close by, to a point that outweighs the loss of productivity from the non-parents, then children in the office is a positive. Few workplaces have ever measured that, so there isn't a simple "it's worse with children around" answer. Plus, and this is really important, there's a distinct danger that employers who say they don't want children around the business using that as a way to limit opportunities for women (albeit subconsciously; few would admit to it). That's something to guard against.

CodeSheikh 10y ago
That works both ways. If you believe parents shouldn't bring their children to the office space because they should respect you and your desire for children not to be there, then it's only reasonable that you should respect their desire to have their children with them. You do know realize that an office space means a space for employees to do work for someone who is paying them. It is not a space for their children or parents or grand-parents or cousins or favorite stuff toys.
- 0xfeba 10y ago
  I think you're relying too much on the photo-op images rather than the points of the story text itself. An employer offering in-house childcare has benefits, this does not necessarily mean your kid will be sitting on your desk and you will be taking care of it.
  - oh_sigh 10y ago
    OP specifically referenced the image, so I think it's fair to focus on the image in this thread.

krupan 10y ago

I worked at a dog-friendly office for a while. People brought their dogs in and let them roam around the cubicles while we worked. I'm not sure what else to say about it, other than your comment reminded me of that. Work still got done, and people seemed to like it (I'm kinda neutral on dogs myself). I also went to a college where there were some (relatively) older students who were married and had kids. Many of them brought kids to class (mostly sleeping infants). It looked difficult for them, but good on 'em for continuing their education. Didn't have much affect on my learning.