Breastfeeding in the Workplace: Attitudes Toward Multiple Roles, Perceptions of Support, and Workplace Outcomes

American women are consistently tasked with breastfeeding, while returning to work, but little research examines how women perceive support in the workplace and their own working outcomes. This study examined the associations among breastfeeding women's perceptions of breastfeeding support in the workplace (i.e., managerial, organizational, co-worker, time, and physical environment), attitudes toward multiple roles, and workplace outcomes (i.e., affective commitment, job satisfaction, and workplace productivity). Survey data from 109 mothers who have or are currently breastfeeding/pumping human milk at their workplace were collected and analyzed. Results indicated significant positive relationships among attitudes toward multiple roles and workplace productivity. In addition, perceptions of breastfeeding support were significantly associated with both affective commitment as well as job satisfaction. Finally, our sample of breastfeeding employees returned to work after having a baby primarily for financial reasons, and do not generally feel very supported in the workplace. Overall, organizations can promote more investment and satisfaction in employees by providing explicit communication about breastfeeding-supportive policies to all employees. These findings underscore the importance of organizational breastfeeding support for mothers as well as their coworkers, which ultimately influences the success of the organization as a whole.