Working and breastfeeding - paid time since 2014

In Switzerland, labour law protects breastfeeding if the mother is in work during the child’s first year of life. Since 2014, when Switzerland signed the ILO Convention 183, time spent breastfeeding or expressing milk is counted as paid working time.

Where do we stand in 2024? The scope of the Labour Act still allows too many exceptions and therefore does not apply to all workers. The Federal Council has just given an important signal on this issue: in its response to Manuela Weichelt’s motion 23.4282 (1), the government states that the right to paid breastfeeding breaks, enshrined in labour law, must be extended to all working women in Switzerland.

Even today, many mothers stop breastfeeding after their maternity leave because they don’t know how to reconcile work and breastfeeding, and not all working women are always fully informed of their rights.

The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs SECO is currently running a campaign (2) ‘Breastfeeding at work’ in 2024 to mark the 10th anniversary of the 2014 law. SECO is stepping up communication about support for breastfeeding in the workplace and wishes to draw employers’ attention to their duty to provide information and assistance in connection with breastfeeding or expressing milk at work.

GIFA encourages all companies to contribute to this effort so that women who wish to breastfeed can carry out their plans and so that the problems of how to breastfeed when the woman returns to work weigh less on the decision to breastfeed or not to breastfeed. Companies benefit too:

It’s good for business

Productivity

A company report (3) and a 2013 study of several countries show that breastfeeding is not an obstacle to productivity; on the contrary, it increases it(4).

Loyalty

Studies show that women are likely to stay in their jobs longer in the long term if they can breastfeed at work, which is a good way of retaining skilled workers.

Encouraging breastfeeding among employees entails only limited costs for employers, in terms of the employee’s time and the necessary infrastructure.

Laura Addati (5) cites the example of the Los Angeles Department of Electricity and Water, which provides a comprehensive breastfeeding programme to help its employees, with breastfeeding rooms and flexible working hours.

In countries such as Belgium and Estonia, breastfeeding breaks are covered by social insurance and public funds. This means that employers are not directly involved in the process. Such measures contribute to greater equality between men and women in the workplace.

Less absenteeism

Since the introduction of this programme, healthcare claims have fallen by 35%, 33% of new mothers have returned to work earlier than expected, absenteeism has fallen by 27% and 67% of women plan to stay with the company in the long term.

Progress has also been made in developing countries. Laura Addati cites the example of Mozambique:

‘Employers and employees in the Mozambican tourism industry benefited from one of our programmes to improve working conditions, including maternity protection’, she explains. ‘It was impressive to see the enthusiasm of employers who saw the benefits in terms of reduced absenteeism and long-term staff retention after deciding to set up breastfeeding rooms.’

Countries such as the Philippines are also beginning to extend maternity protection, and in particular breastfeeding facilities, to informal domestic workers and casual workers. Other countries such as India provide cash transfers to pregnant women and mothers who meet certain conditions, including breastfeeding.

It’s good for women’s health

There are many health benefits for breastfeeding women: breastfeeding is a preventive factor against ovarian cancer, certain types of breast cancer, diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, depression, anaemia and so on.

It’s good for finances

Another important aspect is the savings made by improving the health of women and their children.

Every year, the lack of concerted support for breastfeeding from governments around the world costs the global economy more than 570 billion dollars. A tool has been developed to measure this (6).