SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – Jennifer Barnes’ son Mason has his childcare at her University City office.
“He’s pretty easy to manage and watch. He likes being here. I think he’s familiar. He’s been coming here for at least a year,” Barnes said.
Barnes told ABC 10News her company, Optima Office, had an informal policy of allowing employees to bring their children into the office.
“It’s really about having a flexible work environment that is conducive to parents,” Barnes said.
But Barnes said they decided to tweak that informal policy a couple of months ago.
“And then people would bring their dogs in every now and then. Then I started bringing him in and we thought, ‘You know, we might as well make it a formal policy.’ So that if people need to bring in a child and it’s not disruptive; let’s just make it official,” Barnes said.
It’s a change that could come at a good time for her employees with children.
COVID funding for childcare providers expired at the end of September.
Those who don’t have children, but have fur babies, see the policy change as a big benefit.
“I think companies had to realize that childcare is going up and they want that health workplace environment. So, I think it’s really great that they’re allowing dogs to come to work and also kids to come to work, which releases a lot of stress,” said Optima Office employee Ginelie Polanco.
Making a formal policy like this one creates a workplace Barnes wants to provide -- a place she would want to work for.
“I think creating a formal policy is really important. It overall just almost puts your money where your mouth is and say, ‘Hey, this is not just something that I talk about but, this is something that we actually do,’” Barnes said.
