Today we're diving into the significant return on investment (ROI) of implementing lactation support programs in the workplace. We’ll explore compelling statistics, such as how these programs can dramatically cut healthcare costs and reduce absenteeism, enhance employee morale and retention, and elevate your company's image. Join me as we uncover why supporting breastfeeding employees is not just the right thing to do, but also a smart business move. Learn how creating a family-friendly work environment can make your company more competitive and a place where people want to stay for the long haul.

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Welcome to the NextGen Work Culture podcast, where leaders learn

to support working parents. Because being a family friendly

business isn't just a nice to have anymore. It's

essential for businesses that want to stay competitive, and it is

critical for the next generation and those who are raising them. I'm

your host, Courtney Ross, and I am so glad that you're here.

Welcome back to the NextGen work culture. We've been talking about breastfeeding

a lot on on here lately. We had an episode with the co

founder of Mamava Lactation Pods, which are

really sleek, beautiful and super functional pods that you

can purchase for placing in public locations

or at your office to make sure employees have a

space to express breast milk. We've

talked about the milk stork benefit

available, and I spoke with

their founder, Kate Torgensen about breastmilk

shipping and why that's an important employee benefit and

how it is such a struggle for working, pumping

parents to travel away from

baby and not be able to get breast milk back to them or have to

carry breast milk through TSA or whatever.

So that's two really great benefits or

options for your employees. And hopefully you

also have a fabulous lactation room or lactation space

and kind of understand the, the way that breastfeeding

works. And I talked about that with lactation counselor

Emily Stone in a previous episode. But today

I want to talk to you about the return on investment

of LaCtATiOn support. There is actually a really great

business case for providing

support for your employees to express breast

milk at work or even to breastfeed directly if that's an

option. And I have some stats I want to share with you

about how much money it could save your organization

or the improvement in

employee morale that you might see by having those

lactation support programs in place. So first, let's talk about

healthcare costs. Breastfeeding

significantly lowers healthcare

costs. A two year study was done

by the health insurance company Cigna. They

studied 343 employees who were all

participating in a lactation support program.

And during that study, they discovered an annual

savings of

$240,000 in

healthcare expenses. So that's less health insurance claims

that the companies were having to pay, and they also had

62% fewer prescriptions.

That is pretty amazing. So it's SIgniFicantly

improving the health of not only the baby, but

also the mother. But let's talk about the babies for a minute.

Mothers of breastfed babies miss

work way less often than mothers of formula Fed

babies. So that same study from health

insurance company Cigna discovered

$60,000 in savings

in reduced absenteeism rates. That's amazing. That's

a lot of money you're saving on

absenteeism problems just by supporting breastfeeding.

They looked at one day absences to take care of sick

children and they realized that they occurred more than

twice as often for mothers of formula feeding

infants. So that's a pretty significant

difference. Providing a supportive

environment for breastfeeding employees also really improves your

company image and your ability to recruit some top

notch staff. It makes you super competitive in the market

where currently, you know, you have to have something to set yourself

apart. And maybe just a little bit of paid

parental leave isn't enough anymore. Going above and beyond

for breastfeeding employees can really

give you an edge in recruiting and retention.

In fact, companies with lactation support

programs boast a post maternal retention

rate of 94.2%.

So this is looking at women after

giving birth, coming back to work, hopefully after

a good long maternity leave. That retention rate, if

they have a breastfeeding support program is 94.2%

compared to the national average of just 59% when a

lactation support program is not in place or just the average.

So that's a 35% difference in retaining

the women after giving birth just

because of lactation support. These statistics came from

the US Department of Health and Human Services. By the way, if you're interested,

you can check out the show notes and I will include the link for a

really succinct but super helpful

handout. In that handout, they also shared that the Los

Angeles Department of Water and Power

is almost 80%

male employees. So you might

think that this company isn't really

somewhere where lactation support is super important. It would only

theoretically work or be something that is

taken advantage of by about 20% of their employees who are women. Right?

But no. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power

actually implemented a lactation support program for all

employees, including partners of breastfeeding

parents. And they saw that

83% of employees after this was

implemented had a more positive

feeling about the company and 67% of them

intended to stay long term. So this isn't

just something that you need to be worried about if you're in,

you know, nursing or education or some other business that is

predominantly female, it really impacts

everybody and everybody notices.

It's really great for our economy, it's great for the overall

health. It is the best thing to do for our next

generation. I have nothing against formula. I

used formula for my son primarily because I didn't have a

breastfeeding support system in place at work. I didn't really have

a choice. So I don't have anything against formula. Fed is

best, but breastfeeding has been

shown to reduce

stress and postpartum depression for the mom. It

improves the baby's health. So if possible, it really is

the best thing to do for that baby, especially for the first six months when

they really are recommended to be exclusively breastfed. That

is their only source of nutrition for the first

six months of life. And providing that support to your

employees, whether that be, you know, very caring and

understanding managers, a really nice lactation

space, the time to go and express breast

milk and supportive environment wherever

you don't have employees that are feeling resentful

that someone is getting to, quote unquote, take breaks

to go express breastmilk or

making them feel guilty for taking that time to go and

make milk for their baby and

also just growing the whole

environment to support breastfeeding.

It's not just the moms that are going to notice. It's not

just the people who are currently breastfeeding who are going to

notice. Everyone at that organization notices the

culture change, notices that you care

about the employees, that you're giving them those

benefits like breast milk shipping or a really nice place

to pump breast milk and that you're supporting

them to do that. Maybe providing access to

lactation counselors or consultants

that could be offered as a on demand

employee benefit through some benefits providers. Or maybe you just

partner with somebody who comes in and does that lactation

consulting locally. Anything you can do to help

support that culture of

we are here for you, we want you to provide your baby with

the best nutrition available.

How can we support you? Anything you can do to build

that culture is going to be obviously

great for the mom. It's going to improve your retention rates of moms, but

it's also going to improve your overall company

culture, the overall way that your company

is perceived by the public and by other employees.

And that will make you much more competitive in the

market and just look like a much nicer

and better place to work. And don't we all want that?

If you are interested in providing some training

for your leaders on supporting breastfeeding

and pregnant employees, I would love to help you with that. It's

really great for the culture, but it's also a compliance

issue. They have to understand the Pregnant Workers Fairness act and the Pump

act. And if they have no idea what those things are, you are setting yourself

up for failure and a lot of

loss and headache. If someone decides to

file a claim against you with the

EEOC and a lawyer.

So let's try to keep you away from the courts. And I promise

it will be much cheaper to invest in some leadership training

now. So if you want to learn more about that, go check it

out@courtneyross.com. leadership training

and check it out@courtneyross.com.

leadershiptraining and I'll catch you

next time.

If you enjoyed this episode, I know you'll love the future ready work

culture framework. Head over to courtneyross.com

framework to download your copy and start building a family

friendly, future ready workplace today. Don't

forget to subscribe to the nextgen work culture so you never miss an

episode. I'd love it if you'd also take a moment to leave a

review. Until next time, take care

of.