Here’s what a breastfeeding-friendly workplace looks like

For new moms, finding a space to breastfeed during the workday can be a source of stress and discomfort.

While it’s mandated by the Affordable Care Act that an employer provide a dedicated location and time for a woman to pump at work, only 40% have a space that is not a bathroom, according to a study by Women’s Health Issues medical journal. Nineteen percent of moms reported that they felt pressure from their job to stop breastfeeding entirely, a OnePoll survey found.

For some women, working from home has been an antidote to uncomfortable conversations around breastfeeding and a lack of adequate accommodations. Yet for the millions of women who could not work remotely or are now returning to the office, breastfeeding support must continue to evolve, says Sascha Mayer, CEO of Mamava, a lactation pod provider.

Read more: Change is on the way for lactating parents

“COVID has propelled more employers to want to provide the support in order to retain employees,” Mayer says. “There is more momentum around providing these supports in order to keep employees happy and engaged.”

Mamava’s lactation pods — freestanding, moveable rooms where moms can breastfeed, plug in their breast pump or use a Mamava-provided model — can be erected in an office space or in more public-facing areas like airports, hospitals, universities and sports arenas. Moms can locate thousands of breastfeeding spaces in all 50 states through the company's app. The pods, which start at $9,500, are also used by employers including Amazon, Apple and Toyota.

Mayer says employers need to consider pumping accommodations well before a new mom needs to use it. The pods can help create more inclusive workplaces and help employers meet compliance standards.

The CEO recently spoke to Employee Benefit News about normalizing breastfeeding, the challenges working women face when heading back to work, and how COVID helped their team rethink Mamava’s business model.

How does Mamava approach breastfeeding and pumping support in the workplace and beyond? 
With Mamava, as we set out to create something that didn't exist before, we had these three audiences in mind. So at the core was that parent or that mom who's pumping in big, busy places, and may need to use the space for breastfeeding as well. The second audience is the facility that is operating the pod — we needed it to be easy for employers and facilities to adopt. Then the third audience is the broader culture, for the colleagues and the people using the space to support breastfeeding, and make it a conversation that’s common and understood by people.

When you’re talking to employers, how has their attitude about breastfeeding evolved? 
We always say that our public locations are like pollinators. They’ve done the education for us, because clients come in and say, we’ve seen the Mamava pod in the wild. Also, many employers are driven by compliance — a city like San Francisco, for example, every employer has to have a lactation plan. It doesn’t have to be a designated space, but you have to have an accommodation. So one of the things that’s changed is really the understanding of compliance and knowing it’s not a problem you need to solve just when your employees come back to work — it should really be dialed into your policies.

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What does the ideal support system look like for a new parent who is returning to the office and wants to pump? 
There obviously needs to be a setup to use the breastpump — a comfortable place to sit, a place to power the equipment. And while this is often an opportunity for a new mom to multi-task, to check emails or take a conference call, we also encourage employees to use this as a break time. You need the headspace sometimes to produce milk.

We also have a partnership with Medela, which is the biggest pump manufacturer in the world, and the pumps themselves and the accessories can be anchored into our pods or in lactation rooms. Then a mom doesn't have to carry that big kit of parts that you have when you have the pump.

Employers should also have a set lactation policy with guidance in the employee manual. Things like how to talk about breastfeeding, or what the law is. We provide content for the parents themselves, around things like traveling for the first time and what to expect, what to pack, what your rights are with the TSA. All of these things make it less disruptive for the employee and thus for the employer, by providing all of that support.

What are the benefits employers can expect when they implement these policies? 
It's a win-win with relatively little effort. Ultimately, we're going to save that employer money because of the medical and health benefits for both maternal health and for child health. And also for retention of employees, we've seen during the Great Resignation, many of these folks are parents. So there’s momentum around providing support in order to keep employees happy and engaged.