IBM to help women staff ship breast milk home

In a first-of-its kind effort, IBM is planning to soon launch a service to help the company’s working moms ship breast milk home to their babies while they are on business trips.

“We are going to experiment with this and see how many women are interested,“ Barbara Brickmeier, vice president of benefits at IBM, an American multinational technology and consulting corporation is reported to have said. “As long as it appeals to a segment of our population and they feel that they can better balance their work and home, we will continue it,“ Brickmeier said.

According to IBM, women currently make up 29% of its workforce and 25% of management worldwide. IBM, which plans to launch the service in September, said it has not heard of any other employer offering this kind of service to their staff, reports said. The programme will start with domestic travel, but the intent is to take it global, said IBM spokesperson Carrie Altieri.

According to CNN Money the company hopes to have women use a smartphone app to have a temperature-controlled package delivered to their hotel. IBM will pay for packaging and shipping expenses.