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The New Zealand workforce is changing. The number of women in paid work continues to increase, many employees have family responsibilities and women are increasingly returning to work following the birth of a baby.
By putting in place practical steps to help women to continue to breastfeed their babies or express breast milk when they return to work, your business can benefit too.
Recruitment savings
Your business can save money by retaining valuable employees who might otherwise decide to leave. This can save on recruitment and training costs.
Less absenteeism boosts productivity
Babies who are breastfed get sick less often and working mothers take fewer days off to care for them. An American study of two corporations showed 50 percent fewer sick days for parents of breastfed babies than for bottle-fed babies[2]. Retaining trained staff and good staff morale also boosts productivity.
Helps company image
Supporting working mothers and family-friendly measures can enhance your company’s image. The mothers are likely to be more productive, happier, and less likely to resign, and help improve your company image in the community.
Be known as a good place to work
Providing family-friendly measures can also directly increase the pool of potential staff that your business might not otherwise attract. This is particularly important in a tight labour market.
All employers are different, and the things that larger employers can do will differ from the things smaller employers can do – this guide contains ideas for both large and small businesses.
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Footnotes
[1] Part of the material in this section has been sourced from the Women’s Health Action Trust.
[2] Cohen, R. et al (1995), “Comparison of maternal absenteeism and infant illness rates among breastfeeding and formula-feeding women”.
This page was last updated on:
15-Aug-2007
and is current.
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