Making Room for Nursing Mothers

Feature: Quick Takes — January 29, 2007

Making Room for Nursing Mothers
The number of companies providing private “lactation rooms” is on the rise.

Lactose-Tolerant HR: Pressure to keep the best and brightest is radically altering how companies accommodate nursing mothers. According to Forbes.com, “companies that used to wave goodbye to their female employees once they started families are now looking for ways to help them balance motherhood” and careers. The most tangible example is a rise in the number of companies providing private “lactation rooms” to be used by mothers to nurse infants at work. Forbes.com cites a recent study by the Society for Human Resource Management that found 23 percent of companies provided lactation rooms in 2006, compared with 16 percent in 1999.

—Garry Kranz