Corporate Innovations and Best Practices in Maternal and Child Health Washington Business Group on Health Page 33 Employers that provide support for new mothers who wish to continue to breast-feed after returning to work can reap substantial benefits. The overall net impact of the programs was to decrease absenteeism by 28 percent and sick child health care claims by 36 percent. Women working outside the home tend to breast-feed their infants for shorter periods than nonemployed mothers. Mothers must be able to express milk regularly in order to maintain their supply.
Employers can help by allowing breaks and flexible work hours so that women can pump or breastfeed.
They can provide a comfortable and private space for pumping, and rent or purchase electric breastpumps to shorten the time employees need to express their milk. They can also provide refrigerated space to store milk and access to a lactation consultant, and can educate employees, their families and supervisors about the importance of breast-feeding and encourage their support. Fathers can make or break the breast-feeding experience. While more and more companies are implementing work and family programs such as day care arrangements, flexible work schedules, and prenatal education, few have instituted on-site lactation programs. It is becoming increasingly clear, however, that companies that do so experience reduced turnover after birth of an employee's child, higher employee productivity, lower employee absenteeism and lower child medical costs.