The PUMP Act passed: Is compliance enough?

Keeping a tiny human alive and fed, especially while working, is no easy feat. I've experienced it personally, having spent more than 4,000 hours nursing and pumping, struggling to feed my children while simultaneously managing a demanding career.As a professional, I've had a front row seat to the struggle as well, both as an employer with pumping parents and as the founder of a baby-feeding company. We've spent the last decade learning from parents and HR stakeholders about the gaps in workplace breastfeeding support systems, and how we're failing to meet the basic needs of parents. 

Despite the important role of women in the workforce, effective workplace lactation programs are relatively new. Unfortunately, discrimination against women for milk expression persists.  Common examples include a lack of accommodations to pump (space and time), degrading comments from coworkers, and assumptions that pumping parents are less committed to their work. Oftentimes, this results in mothers who feel they must silently and invisibly shoulder the burden of pumping to feed their babies; which is not only as demanding as a full-time job (35 hours per week) but also deeply isolating.

Read more:  4 ways to support working moms

The passing of the Providing Urgent Maternal Protections (PUMP) for Nursing Mothers Act, therefore, is a big win for women and families. Dare I say, a mother pumpin' big deal? An important addition to legislation, the PUMP Act is a huge step toward universally changing systems of support, while offering the basic dignity of providing places to pump that cannot be in bathrooms. 

Despite these gains, my experience tells me that while compliance is vital, it is also not enough. If you're focused solely on compliance, you're missing the point and a much larger opportunity: one that impacts everything from brand promise to quarterly sales to expense reduction. Instead of asking, "What must we do to support breastfeeding workers," explore, "How can we differentiate ourselves by signaling support for women and families?"

Begin by understanding what must be done
At its core, the PUMP Act is a federal law requiring that breastfeeding workers be afforded a private place (must not be a restroom), as well as the time to pump during work. There are three key elements:

• Expanded lactation accommodation protections to nearly all breastfeeding employees, including 9 million salaried parents not previously covered, for up to one year after a child's birth;
• Clarification that pumping time counts as time worked if an employee is not completely relieved from their work duties during the pumping break; and
• Enhanced options to seek compensation as recourse against employers in violation.

The PUMP Act was signed into law on December 29, 2022 and included a 120-day delay for expanded enforcement; that grace period ended on April 28, 2023.
Understanding is a start, but providing only what's required for compliance sends a message of tolerance rather than inclusion. Integrate required accommodations into a more complete lactation program to not only signal support for women and families, but to improve outcomes while reducing medical claims, costly turnover and absenteeism. 

This is about employee experience
Ultimately, this is about helping your team members achieve their baby-feeding goals while also thriving in their work at your organization. Having a great program means figuring out how to support that outcome. How can your organization make this more possible for your employees? When you close the gap by sharing some of the load shouldered by this at-risk population, you'll make a positive impression on talent.

Before joining your team, candidates are asking themselves (and others) if your culture will be a good fit for them. More and more, they want to know if you share their values and are human-centered. Moreover, employees who haven't yet begun their parental journey, but are considering it, are asking themselves, "is this where I want to be when I grow my family?" 

Employers that broadcast support well before the time of need (when an employee announces that Baby is on the way) reap the rewards of being seen providing great support.

With baby-feeding being a central component of every parents' journey, no matter how they feed, impressions of the company and its values will be formed based on employee experience with your feeding support system (or lack thereof), which makes this a critical component to consider. Because 42% of parents ranked their employer's lactation support as fair or worse, and 38% were unsure what breastfeeding support, if any, was available, it's not surprising that half of breastfeeding workers are considering a job change. 

A parent on LinkedIn said it best, "I thought a room would be ample, but the biggest impact to me was time, and therefore anxiety around being able to fulfill my work duties, which in turn impacted my ability to produce milk."

What parents need to achieve their baby-feeding goals
According to the CDC, most families don't breastfeed for as long as they intend to because they "need stronger systems of support to reach their breastfeeding goals." Complete lactation programs go beyond spaces and break time for pumping; they include milk expression policy, manager training, easy access to lactation consultants and a community of peers. 

Isolation is one of the biggest challenges faced by feeding parents, and community support is one of the greatest factors of feeding success. When an organization behaves as a stakeholder in the success of baby-feeding employees, parents hear, "We see you. You belong here. You are not alone." When that organization makes available a community of peers, via a parent employee resource group or otherwise, that fellowship is the isolation buster that enables not only feeding goal achievement, but also mental health and wellness. 

Continuous access to feeding experts is key, and not only for in-office or virtual visits that must be planned in advance, but also for when questions arise most: in the middle of the night or first days back at work. In the workplace lactation programs offered by our customers, we observe that nine out of ten lactation requests made by parents are not clinical but educational or in nature. Easy access to lactation consultants means parents get answers to their questions, resulting in increased confidence and reduced need for acute clinical care.

Read more:  Postpartum depression is on the rise, and new moms aren't getting the treatment they need

Do better
One of the most common mistakes we observe among employers: siloed delivery of the various parts of lactation support. Rather than decoupling facilities from policy, and so on, designate a person or team to the oversight and direction of your complete lactation program. This single action will make possible the consideration of employee experience. 

While it's possible to solicit meaningful employee feedback about needed lactation support, singling out breastfeeding employees to be spokespeople on the topic, or resources for the program's creation, can be a mistake. With two of five breastfeeding workers not feeling comfortable talking with their managers about needed accommodations, your well-intentioned request may instead create feelings of anxiety. Establish a safe way for employees to share their feedback by making available both anonymous and confidential channels.

Before embarking on the work of ensuring PUMP Act compliance, think about how it will be experienced by those your effort is meant to support. Creating a comprehensive lactation program that considers the needs of women and families on staff does not have to be complex or costly. Even small efforts to treat parents with dignity demonstrate to employees that yours is an organization that looks forward to being an important part of their baby-feeding journey. Those employers positioned to gain the most from this effort are building upon legislation to establish new ways of including and enabling parents in their organizations. Often it's the mandated implementation of legal policies that light the real fire of culture change. 

The optimist in me sees this moment as the spark of the lactation support movement. Now is the time to bring together your HR and compliance teams to activate a comprehensive lactation support solution. Capture this moment. Be seen supporting women and families at work.