Industries evolve, corporations as well, making room for financially potent individuals who can let their lives progress on a personal level as well. A recent study published by a group of scientists in US revealed that millennials are highly tolerant when it comes to working mothers, compared to how the situation was judged in the past. Women have strived for independence and now big corporations are making giant steps to improve adaptation for those who want a balanced professional life.
IBM will soon launch a new service that allows moms who travel for business purposes to send expressed breast milk home to their babies. IBM is thus trying to efficiently manage some very delicate logistical matters and at the same time attract and retain female employees. Working mothers will be able to rapidly ship expressed breast milk home to their new-born children, while traveling on business. Multitasking is a matter of our present and industries find ways to rapidly adapt to the habit.
The initiative will be active starting with September, when all the working mothers of IBM who travel for business will be able to have their natural milk rapidly delivered back to their homes. The idea of sending delicate items in temperature-controlled boxes is nothing new to our world, but the idea of a company providing this type of service is highly interesting.
There are two perspectives on the matter. The first and most optimistic one relates to the efficient way in which companies manage their internal staff. They offer benefits that help adaptation and a better management of personal life. On the other hand, delivering breast milk via rapid shipping does not equal a mother actually breastfeeding her new born child. Drinking milk from a box delivered from a great distance does not sound very natural when it comes to childcare.
IBM is trying to boost its image by implementing a new type of service described as a benefit for working mothers. Company officials declare they haven’t heard of this type of service being implemented on other organizational environments. However, IBM is not sure how many women will take advantage of the available perk. In spite of that, the HR department says it will keep the program alive although maybe a very small number of women find it useful.
In the brave new world we are living, IBM offers breast milk delivery for working mothers. Could it be that another industry giant thinks of offering “child bonding” delivery? Education and child care can hardly be performed from a distance. Offering retention services wrapped in the package of benefits only keeps people, namely women, spending long hours at the office, while their babies drink milk from cardboard boxes.
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