I guess I'm the first to pump at work

[Morgana]

At least I am according to HR. I called them to see if there was a pumping room. My inquiry completely stumped a few people so it was passed up the ladder. The manager who called me back said that not only is there not a pumping room but as far as anyone in the office can remember I'm the first to ever ask about one. The company has around 3200 employees so it's a pretty good size. Plus, it's part of a parent company that has around 100,000 employees.

The message she received about my inquiry made her think I was coming back to work pretty soon so she was in a panic trying to figure out what to do with me. I clarified that I'm only 16 weeks. I explained that I was calling about this so early because I thought it'd be something easy to cross off my list and if not then it'd give me plenty of time to figure something out. She was very relieved and told me to call her again when I'm ready to come back to work. She'll work something out at that point. I'm a little put off that I'll have to wait until the last minute. I reassured her that my desire to continue BFing after returning to work was not going to change between now and then so I didn't see the point in putting this off.

Anyway, I'm going to start looking for a plan B in case HR doesn't come up with anything. I never thought I'd be the first in such a large company to ask about a pumping room!

[1littlebit]

thats nuts! lol it sounds like shes hoping you will wean before you go back to work.
i would call a few weeks ahead of time and just let her know you need somewhere to pump.. and give her the same of a good construction company and interior designer so they can build a nice mothers room for you and all future pumping mamas. a few easy chairs, a water cooler, tv ... ya know the necessities

i'm sure they will work with you. the weird part is that you called and she was panicked b/c she thought you wer coming back soon, you said you weren't, and she said to call back when you were what strange reasoning.

[rhiandmoi]

I think they might be waiting to see if you are really coming back before investing any money in a pumping room. You might want to work something out with your department manager and then go to together to HR to present your solution. It is much more likely to be approved easily if costs almost nothing.

[maine06]

Can you suggest a few options? Like "I'm not asking that you invest in a lacatation room, but, would I be able to put a lock on a conference room door and use it a few times a day? What I need is a private room with a chair, an outlet, and a locking door without a window, or, a window I can cover up. A room that is NOT a bathroom."

I mean, if they're going to build you a lactation room, more power to them, but, probably low probability of that.

[jessjgh1]

I think there are a few sample hr policies out. I'm sure they would appreciate it if you could point them in the right direction... and they would already be ones that you approved of... plus you get kudos for taking the initiative. Perhaps they will see they should be encouraging mothers to breastfeed, both in terms of keeping employees loyal, supporting employees/families, and health benefits.

Here's a page from the MA Breastfeeding Coalition... and it includes samples for hr:
http://massbfc.org/workplace/#employers

That gives them lots of resources and ways to make it work(-; Good for you for thinking ahead and paving the way for others!

Jessica

[CEVmommy]

I think it's great that you are planning ahead!

I requested a lactation room at my job (a hospital with about 2200 employees) and it's taken them forever and a day to figure it out. I submitted a formal request in Oct 2006. They approved it March 2007 (after I got my congressman to call on my behalf!) with an estimated date of completion fall 2007 . Here it is fall 2008 and it's still not ready. I email them every few months to remind them and get a new ETA and it's always, "oh about 6 more months, when we can find the space". The day I found out I was pregnant again I emailed again and said, look, it's too late for my first baby, but do you think you will have this thing ready for my next one? I'll let you know next summer how it turns out...

[meganmarie]

Do you know any other pg mamas at work? Can you try and get some of them on board with you, just to say they'd also appreciate this? Sounds like your HR folks are at least willing to be responsive, but I'm sure they'd make even more effort if they see its not a one-off request.

[MeepyCat]

It actually makes some sense to me that she'd ask you to call back when you're close to the end of your maternity leave. Its a big company. Employees turn over. Offices get rearranged. She cannot possibly say, now, what room will be available to you in ten months or so when you are ready to return from leave. If it was passed far enough up the chain, she may not even *be* in your office building.

Nonetheless, I agree that you should get on this now.

What state are you in? Are there laws regarding accommodations for nursing mothers? Are you aware of space in your office that you think would be suitable? Basically, you want to pass any information on to her that you can think of.

I feel like their claim that no one has ever asked before has to be hooey. Someone has asked. Probably lots of people. It's possible that this particular HR gal has never dealt with such a request before, but I am sure that the company can't say the same.

[Brown Lioness]

Thas messed up, aint it? I just learned yesterday that the company i work for doesnt have a dedicated pumping room. The poor new pumping/nursing mamas gotta just "catch a meeting room" whenever one is open and then if one isnt open...then they make do, according to the new mama in my dept.

That threw me since, number 1) The corp I work for is in the health industry and 2) there are a GAGGLE of new mamas in the offices tho im sure not all of them nurse/pump, but still, why wouldnt they at least ThINK of that amongst the plethera of baby showers thrown here at work?!

I told the mama i was talkin to that she should definitely go up the ladder requesting a dedicated pumping room or at least time slots in a room so they know they have a secure space. She said she would see about it since she knew of at least 3 new mamas in the office about to come off of maternity leave within the next few months.

[CanidFL]

Originally Posted by Morgana

She was very relieved and told me to call her again when I'm ready to come back to work. She'll work something out at that point. I'm a little put off that I'll have to wait until the last minute. I reassured her that my desire to continue BFing after returning to work was not going to change between now and then so I didn't see the point in putting this off.

Anyway, I'm going to start looking for a plan B in case HR doesn't come up with anything. I never thought I'd be the first in such a large company to ask about a pumping room!

I would not let this one go. I was also the first in my company to ask.

I started talking about a pumping area at 5 months pregnant with HR and the office manager. They sent around an e-mail asking if anyone was offended by this. Nice right? Turns out 2 people were offended by this so I wasn’t allowed to pump. After a few e-mails and phone calls they said they would arrange a “sick room” for employees that I could use. They were going to clean out one of the storage closets, put a table and couch in there, phone, etc. (electricity was already in there) and put a lock on the door. I asked about every 4 weeks and they said “we are working on it”. I called and asked 1 month before returning to work and they said it was done. On the morning I went back to work….suprise surprise nothing was changed in the storage room. So they put a chair in there and said they would install a lock sometime that week. I pumped with my back against the door while people were wondering what the heck was going on and why they couldn’t get into the storage room. It took 2 weeks to get the lock and they never cleared out the room the whole 9 months I pumped there.

So that is my experience on companies who say they will help you out. If I were you I would push to have it done BEFORE you go on maternity leave.

[mamajake]

The earlier you start, the better prepared your plan, the more you know about what your employer must (or need not) do, the better.

There are lots of free resources these days for preparing a proposal. See http://mothering.com/articles/new_ba...ng-9-to-5.html and order yourself a copy of The Business Case for Breastfeeding http://ask.hrsa.gov/detail.cfm?PubID=MCH00254

[Morgana]

Thank you everyone for your ideas and stories. I'm in NV and from what I've found is that there's no law here about pumping at work. There's been a few pregnant women that I've worked around in the last few years. One left the company and the others weaned before returning to work. I know I've seen pregnant women in the common areas like the cafeteria but now that I'm looking I can't find any. When I do, I'll stop and ask them what they plan on doing. I'd feel better if there were a couple of us requesting this.

I was so surprised with the conversation with the HR manager that I really couldn't think of anything productive to say such as what the room would need like an electrical outlet. So, I didn't even get that much out. I thought my call to HR would be very simple. I honestly thought that there'd be some small room tucked away somewhere. The company has spent so much time and money the last few years developing health type programs. We have everything here-Weight Watchers, smoking cessation, exercise classes on site, nutrition classes, online health classes that they pay you to take. There's even a maternity program that includes access to a lactation consultant. I didn't sign up for it because there were other parts of the program I didn't like. It smelled like Corporate Big Brother interfering with medical care. But why would they provide a lactation consultant but not a room to pump? Crazy!

At this point, I'm going to talk to my supervisor to see if we can work something out in our work area just in case. There is a room that I may be able to use. Our department breaks at the same time so no one will be in there unless there's an emergency. Even if I don't have to work on the emergency I'll still lose access to the room. It happens often enough that it will become an issue a few times a month so I'll need to find a backup room or maybe use my car. Plus, the A/C has had problems for the 5 years since the room was built. The temp ranges from 56 to 85 degrees. Not a great environment to work in much less pump. But I guess it's better than nothing.

I'll start gathering info from the links many of you provided and present it to the HR manager to see if that can help. During our conversation she told me where her office is and said she'd be the point person on this for me. It's confusing...some of her words seems to shut the door on this until I'm ready to come back to work but some seem to leave it open. She did sound like she'd make this happen but that may have just been politeness that her position needs to show. Anyway, thanks again for all the input!

[MaryJaneLouise]

Here's another good link:

http://www.workandpump.com/boss.htm

[Breeder]

I was also the first one to pump at work (I was followed closely by another mama We have a conference room that is now dedicated to us pretty much.


The email out to co-workers that someone mentioned is horrific, I can't believe that a company would put an infant's nutritional health below what adults are *comfortable* with. ... well really I can believe it, but that's just sad.

Thankfully in KY we have pro-bfing and pump at work laws.

Good luck, keep on them. I was in HR about every 3 months while pregnant reminding them about it. Forget your manager and deal directly with HR, is my advice.

[annie_noah]

I like that at my work they have what is called a "privacy room" on each floor. They have a desk, two chairs, an electrical outlet, a phone, and a door that locks.

They are primarily used by people that need to make private phone calls, but can also be used by pumping moms and others that need privacy for some reason.

I never had to tell anyone at work outright that I pump. I just went to the privacy room when I needed to pump and used it. The person sitting next to it might have wondered why I went there so often, but otherwise I don't think anyone noticed.