The theme for World Breastfeeding Week 1996 is "Breasfeeding: A Community
Responsibility." Every community must work together as a whole to ensure a
child's right to breastmilk and a woman's right to breastfeed. The
San Diego County Breastfeeding Coalition encourages all sectors of the community to
develop ways of restoring a breastfeeding culture, including the workplace.
Employers that provide a breastfeeding friendly workplace have been shown to decrease
employee absenteeism by up to 57%, while increasing productivity, loyalty and morale.
We are pleased to present Hewlett-Packard with the first annual "Breastfeeding
Friendly Workplace" award. For the past eight years, the Company has demonstrated a commitment to support breastfeeding mothers by providing the facilities and equipment to express their milk while at work. Because of Hewlett-Packard's commitment, more than 50 mothers have been able to sustain the mother-baby breastfeeding relationship and provide valuable breastmilk for their babies. Breastmilk provides the ideal nutrition for infants, contributing to their healthy growth and development, and reduces the occurrence of infectious diseases, thus lowering infant mortality. Breastfeeding contributes to the mother's health by reducing the risk of breast and ovarian cancer, and also provides social and economic benefits to the family and national healthcare. Hewlett-Packard can be proud of its contribution to the health of its employees, their children and the community at-large.
The San Diego Breastfeeding Coalition plans to award its "Breastfeeding Friendly Workplace" to various companies and businesses, annually. Among the types of workplaces it hopes to include are restaurants and retail stores. The first annual award to Hewlett-Packard is only the beginning of what hopes to be an ongoing effort to promote and support a breastfeeding friendly workplace initiative.
Back to the Breastfeeding Friendly Workplace Awards