Should you bring your baby to work

Should you bring your baby to workShould you bring your baby to workWould you bring your baby to work with you? If the option was available, some parents would do it to financially support themselves. But in a recent New York Timesopinion article, one parent detailed why she brought zu sich infant to work even though paid leave was an option.Baby and meSarita James is the chief executive of Embark who said she missed the problem-solving and camaraderie of work and wanted to try a different experience with her third child.So James brought her baby Uma to her office in a hands-free sling. It wasnt always perfect - there were moments Uma cried and was a distraction, but overall James said her daughter seemed to help everyone forget their own agendas and insecurities and form deeper connections.And shes not alone in doing this. Licia Ronzulli, an Italian member of the European Parliament, memorably brought her six-week-old baby to work in 2010. As her baby grew up, Vittoria Ceriolo could be seen mimicking her mothers voting intentions in sessions with a thumbs up or a hand raised. Ronzulli said she brought her baby as a practical matter because she was breastfeeding.Although Ronzulli is appreciative of the attention her decision got her, she wanted to remind people that there are women who do not have this opportunity to bring their children to work, that we should do something to talk about this.And thats exactly the kind of conversation the Parenting in the Workplace Institute wants to formalize and normalize. They said bringing your baby to work can increase employee morale and retention without the costs associated with on-site daycare.They also said babies themselves benefit because they crave information and interaction with other people and the chance to observe people all day longgives them that social stimulation. Through its programs, PIWI said its changed200 companies in more than 30 different industries from skeptics into proponents.How your company can adopt this bring-your-baby policyPIWI has created a template outlining how to successfully get your company to allow on-site babies. In it, they outline the limits of the program. After babies learn how to crawl, they need to graduate from the program and go off to daycare.PIWI also emphasized thatthe employee and employer must makea commitment to make sure the baby is not disruptive to other employees If a baby is fussy for a prolonged period of time, causing a distraction in the workplace, or preventing the parent from accomplishing required work, the parent shall remove the infant from the workplace.Having your baby by your side can be a rewarding experience, but as the detailed template reminds us, it takes work too.Overall, bringing babies into the workplace is indicative of the growing movementfor better childcare policies at work. As workplaces grow to accept employees beingwhole humans with professional and personal needs, this couldmean accepting their children too.

STEM Goes Viral on YouTube

STEM Goes Viral on YouTube STEM Goes Viral on YouTube STEM Goes Viral on YouTubeIn the mid-2000s, U.S. engineering schools experienced an abrupt downturn in undergraduate enrollments and graduation rates, renewing fears of a looming shortage of engineers. Amid those concerns, as if on cue, a new internet video-sharing network called YouTube debuted and promptly went viral. It was a match made in engineering-outreach heaven. YouTube, with its promise of free, unfettered access to anyone with an internet connection, directly answered the professions call for innovative new ways to cultivate future engineers. And as importantly, the platform served as a bridge to young viewers too often excluded from engineering careers because of gender, race, or economic barriers.Thirteen years later, YouTube claims a global audience of 1 billion, about one-third of the internet. An independent 2018 study by the Pew Research Center found that 94 percent of Americans between 18 and 24 use it regularly. Younger viewers gravitate toward the myriad of YouTube channels dedicated to kid-friendly coverage of pop culture, video games, extreme sports, and entertainment. Whatever the topic, the popularity of a channel is primarily driven by the personality of its creator/host, the best of whom enjoy bona fide superstar status and a multimillion-dollar share of the ad revenues their videos attract.How do creators of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) content hold their own amid all the fun, fame, and flash of the YouTube community? Pretty well, says Angela Y. Lin, YouTubes head of family and learning for North America. Viewers have a variety of interests, so science creators dont need to compete with other types of content because theres a distribution policy for it all to thrive.For You 7 Ways to Move Up the Ladder with a STEM Degree Engineerings include Learn Engineering, Real Engineering, Engineerguy, and Explore Engineering.YouTube channels like Learn Engineering give any viewer with an internet connection a way-in to start learning about STEM topics.The most popular STEM related channels touch on engineering as part of their broader coverage of science and technology. CrashCourse, for example, is a recently produced miniseries taking an in-depth look at the principles and practicalities of engineering as a discipline and as a profession, with focused discussions on the main branches of civil, mechanical, electrical, and chemical engineering. With funding from YouTube in association with PBS Digital Studies, CrashCourse boasts nearly 8 million subscribers. Channels like SciShow, TED-Ed, and Its Okay to be Smart use a similarly broad brush to bring science and engineering to life for younger viewers.Weve worked hard to build great partnerships with YouTube and creators in the learning community, Lin says. Its amazing to see the impact these partnerships have had for learners all over the world. I cant even count how many times someone has come up to me to tell me how much they love these channels or how one of these channels influenced their interest in a particular topic.In June, Lin moderated a panel discussion at VidCon 2018, an annual fan fest for some 74,000 YouTube devotees and content creators in Anaheim, CA. During the session, several of YouTubes most visible STEM content creators shared their strategies for reaching younger audiences. One of the key takeaways was that storytelling is a powerful tool when it comes to science, Lin says. Youll often see science explainer videos that simply dissect a specific issue. But storytelling brings the viewer in for a different kind of journey. The key elements of a successful science video are similar to any good story having a general arc, context, character, journey, tension, and emotion.She cited AsapSCIENCE, Physics Girl, Jabrils and Dr. Shini Somara as prime examples of successful STEM content creators whove developed a strong bond with viewers, including many from under-rep resented groups. The diverse areas and styles of channels make the ecosystem rich, and Ive found that hosts who are able to achieve an authentic connection with their audience are often the most memorable for viewers, she says.The YouTube environment lends itself well to engaging viewers in content that may be otherwise be intimidating.The beauty of YouTube is that its easy to start from a point of relatability with the viewer, where not knowing is kind of the way in, Lin says. People tend to be really uncomfortable with scientists not having a 100% clear answer, but YouTube enables the hosts to explore and learn alongside their viewers, and to reach people in a more authentic way.Michael MacRae is an independent writer.Read More10 Skills to Transition from Engineering to Project Management10 Ways GDPR Will Affect EngineersHow to Make Being a Tech Geek Your JobThe key elements of a successful science video are similar to any good story,Angela Lin, YouTube

The surprising reason companies are investing more in automation

The surprising reason companies are investing more in automationThe surprising reason companies are investing more in automationIts a good time to be a worker. As unemployment sits at 3.9% (up 0.2% from September, when the unemployment rate hit a 49-year low), the market is swinging in favor of the employee instead of the employer. That sometimes means raises for all skill levels - but especially those in low-skill jobs.As they have for some time, contacts indicated that the labor market was tight and that they had difficulty filling positions at all skill levels, wrote representatives from The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago in the Federal Reserve Systems January 2019 Beige Book. For some businesses, thatll mean offering better compensation to entice new employees.In the Beige Book, every Federal Reserve Bank uses anecdotal information from reports, phone, and in-person interviews and online questionnaires to paint a picture of its districts economy, beyond data and statistics. In Chicago - the seventh district - the reports authors picked up on a phenomenon thats emerged from a market where low-skilled workers who at one time made less can now demand more. And its elend what you might assume.Multiple manufacturing contacts reported that rising wages for entry-level positions were leading them to invest in automation that would increase these workers productivity and justify the higher wages, the authors wrote.This means that companies arent necessarily leaning on technology as a way to push entry-level or low-skill workers out of the workforce instead, theyre looking to it to make everyone more productive so they earn the salary bump that this market mandates. As employees fear that their jobs will soon be replaced by robots, businesses are actually finding ways to make automation complement higher salaries for their low-wage workers and make the overall operation run smoother.Of course, there is still the possibility that some jobs will become obsolete as workplaces rely more and more on new tech. When 42% of jobs can be automated, that means that a lot of them could, in theory, be replaced with more efficient robo-workers. Whether thatll happen long-term is still up in the air.But for now, its definitely interesting to watch businesses adapt to an employee-driven economy. As companies look to fill the major talent gaps in their factories and offices, theyre clearly trying out win-win solutions - and thats kind of cool