Answer to Question of the Week: Babies and Guns in the Workplace?
Last week [April 30, 2008], I reported on a pair of topics that have been generating quite a bit of buzz: babies and guns.
On the baby front, it appears that more and more employers are allowing employees to bring infants into the workplace. Proponents say that doing so under certain well defined guidelines increases overall productivity and morale. Time Magazine ran a story on the phenomenon, including this rather pithy quote from a business owner: "I don't think a baby is more distracting than talk about Dancing with the Stars or your weekend."
On the gun front, most of the debate centers around a recently enacted Florida statute that will make it unlawful for employers to prohibit employees from bringing guns to work beginning July 1.
We wanted to get your thoughts on the subject, so we asked the following question:
Which should employees be allowed to bring to work?
a. Babies
b. Guns
c. Babies and guns
d. Neither babies nor guns
The clear winner, with 57% of the votes was "d" -- neither babies nor guns.
The runner-up with 31% was "a" -- babies. A somewhat concerning 7% voted for "c" -- babies and guns and 5% voted for "b" -- guns.
I have to say that I echo the sentiments of our voters. As the father of twins, I hereby heartily applaud employers and employees who can make the "bring the kids to the office" thing workable. But I can't even imagine the havoc my two little bundles o' joy would have wreaked had they been allowed in my workplace on a regular basis. I once brought them in on a weekend for a total of about 37 seconds and in that time they managed to (a) knock over an entire supply cabinet, (b) spill their juice-filled tippy cups a couple dozen times apiece, (c) get some sort of unidentified gooey/stinky substance all over my keyboard and monitor, (d) make approximately 98 visits to the bathroom and (e) toddle in and out of various cubicles leaving behind creative post-it note displays and a rather impressive wake of destruction everywhere they went. Just imagine what they could have done had they been heavily armed.
Article by Mark Toth, Chief Legal Officer of Manpower's North American operations, and courtesy of Manpower Employment Blawg. Mark also serve as Chief Compliance Officer and Vice President of Franchise Relations and serve on our Global Leadership Team, North American Lead Team, Executive Diversity Steering Committee and Sarbanes-Oxley Steering Committee.
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