To Retain Female Workers, IBM Offers To Ship Lactating Mum’s Milk To Babies

Many lactating mothers who work resort to pumping and storing their breastmilk which they could feed their babies later when they get home. But other working women who gave birth and want to spend more time with their infants, at least until their child is weaned, either take a longer timeout or quit their jobs and only return to the work force when their kids are of school age.

To address these issues centering on retaining female employees, tech giant IBM said it would provide transportation service for the pumped breastmilk for nursing employees whose work commitment keeps them away from their babies, reports Australian Financial Review. The firm will ship the breastmilk in temperature-controlled packs and brought to the homes of the child’s carer.

The innovation addresses the lack of assistance to breastfeeding mothers who need to travel as part of their work. It supplements the mandatory provision of a private room and reasonable break times for mothers to express their milk while in the workplace.

“We are going to experiment with this and see how many women are interested … As long as it appeals to a segment of our population and they fell that they can better balance their work and home, we will continue it,” Fortune quotes IBM Vice President of Benefits Barbara Brickmeier.

IBM employees who would use the service would need to use an