Should I tell my colleagues not to bring kids to office?

Head human resource at Monitor Publications Limited, Moses Ssesanga,

I work for an insurance firm. I share an office with three colleagues but they come with children to office. To be fair the children sometimes become rowdy and disruptive. I personally do not have children and I fear telling my colleagues how I feel about the whole arrangement since they might think I am insensitive. How do I handle this without being judged? Sheebah

Times have changed for working mothers. The lifestyles of the current nuclear families where both the father and mother are working, is both an additional cost and an inconvenience to hire a live-in maid. We are also increasingly witnessing many single mothers whose income may not afford to hire a trained maid. Therefore, many workplaces have become more flexible and accommodative by providing some sort of children’s day care services for the working mother. Previously many talented mothers used to put on hold their careers to concentrate on raising children. This meant loss of additional income for the young family. Therefore, the introduction of manned day-care centres and equipped breast feeding rooms have greatly contributed to talent retention in organisations where such initiatives have been spearheaded. Monitor Publications introduced such a facility for working mothers.

Mothers have found such workplaces gratifying, given the horror stories we have heard of children left at home with the maids. Hence the mothers whose workplaces allow them to come to work with children become grateful, resilient and ultimately productive employees.
Your bosses should be lauded for being accommodative of working mother and the problem you are facing could be solved if you have a discussion with your bosses on how best your colleagues with children can be helped to care for their children without disrupting work.

Moses Ssesanga
Head Human Resource
Monitor Publications Limited
[email protected]