Becoming a Breastfeeding Friendly Employer
- Benefits of being a breastfeeding-friendly employer
- How to become a breastfeeding-friendly employer
- Resources and more information
- Application for joining the project
Benefits of being a Breastfeeding-Friendly Employer
Becoming a breastfeeding friendly employer carries many benefits for employers, mothers and children. Studies show that employers who provide a breastfeeding-friendly workplace reap the rewards, including:
- Reduced staff turnover and increased retention of skilled workers after the birth of their child.
- Reduced leave time for parents of breastfed infants who are more resistant to illness.
- Lower and fewer health care costs associate with healthier breastfed infants.
- Higher job productivity, employee satisfaction and morale.
- Enhanced loyalty among employees.
- Added recruitment incentives for women.
- Improved positive image in the community.
- Healthier workforce for the future.
For a referenced handout on the specific financial benefits to employers, download the handout, The Business Case for Breastfeeding (pdf)
How to be a Breastfeeding-Friendly Employer
Download the Breastfeeding-Friendly Employer Checklist (pdf) to determine your company's level of recognition, or use it as a guideline for setting up a new lactation support program.
There are many ways in which employers can support breastfeeding women in the workplace
- Create a workplace environment that supports and respects a woman’s decision to breastfeed. Recognize that breastfeeding is a benefit to the workplace and encourage that recognition in others.
- Develop a written policy (pdf) that states your company’s support of a woman’s choice to breastfeed her infant(s) and describes the worksite accommodations and/or benefits available to her.
- Make the policy part of your company’s written policies on parenting and/or maternity benefits.
- Inform all pregnant employees/parents of this policy as early in their pregnancy as possible.
- Inform new employees of this policy or give them a copy as part of new employee orientation.
- Provide a 20- to 30-minute break, both morning and afternoon, for the woman to (a) nurse her infant or (b) express her milk. If necessary, adjust the beginning and/or ending time of work to accommodate these breaks. For example, if two 15-minute breaks are allowed to all employees, the breastfeeding employee starts work 10 minutes earlier and leaves work 10 minutes later to allow for two 25-minute breaks.
- Make a private area available for nursing or expressing milk. It should be quiet, clean and have enough room for a comfortable chair.
- Provide a place for storing breast milk. If a refrigerator is not available, a safe place to keep a cooler is sufficient.
- Provide a clean, safe water source and sink somewhere within the worksite for washing hands and rinsing out any breast pump equipment.
Additional support
- Explore childcare options such as on-site childcare or subsidized care at nearby childcare centers. Consider accessibility to childcare in facility planning.
- Provide options for breastfeeding employees such as part-time employment, job sharing, flex schedules and/or a gradual return to work.
- Allow the nursing infant to be brought to work or allow the employee to leave the workplace to breastfeed her infant. This is important when there is no on-site childcare and when the employee must return to work prior to the minimum six-week period needed to fully establish breastfeeding.
-
Provide a breastfeeding education and support system through one or more of the following:
- Written educational handouts/pamphlets/books.
- On-site maternity/postpartum/breastfeeding mother support group.
- Lactation consultant services, either paid for or provided on-site
Resources
- Business Case for Breastfeeding (pdf) - a referenced document outlining the financial benefits to companies who provide lactation support to their employees.
- Sample Text for Workplace Breastfeeding Policy (pdf)
- Breastfeeding Friendly Employer Checklist (pdf) - use this checklist to build your lactation support program, or to determine your level of recognition as a breastfeeding-friendly employer
- Letter to Employers from the Health Commissioner (pdf) - a letter encouraging support for breastfeeding employees, as well as describing why your support is important to the health of all Vermonters.
Application for Joining the Project
Support your employees and get acknowledged! All employers who join will be recognized for their efforts and will receive a certificate of achievement. Please submit the checklist with your application so that appropriate recognition can be given.
- Application form (pdf)
- To obtain an application by mail, contact:
Karen Flynn
Project Coordinator
P.O. Box 70, Burlington, VT 05402-0070
802-652-4171
Breastfeeding-friendly employers are recognized annually during World Breastfeeding Week in August.