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Parenting and health rooms

Rooms should be made available so parents and those who fall ill while at work have a private and accessible area to take care of their needs.

Parenting and health rooms support different needs. Ideally, these should be separate rooms. Agency or workspace size might mean this isn't practical, in which case a combined space might be appropriate.

Dedicated parenting and health rooms (also known as wellness or sick rooms) provide benefits for the agency and employees:

  • Separate, dedicated spaces with the right equipment results in better health and hygiene.
  • Providing appropriate parenting rooms and breaks for bottle feeding, breastfeeding, or expressing milk, helps to attract new people, and encourages workers return to work as planned.
  • Anyone who falls ill can isolate in a health room until treated or transitioned, with little to no impact on others in the building.
  • A health room can be used as a calming or grounding space for people with disabilities. In some cases, a dedicated multipurpose wellbeing space isn't practical.

There is a legislative obligation under the Employment Relations (Breaks, Infant Feeding, and Other Matters) Amendment Act 2008 to provide appropriate facilities and breaks.

Determining space requirements

For headcounts under 70, agencies can use a combined parenting and health room if it is not practical to separate them. For headcounts over 70 and under 1,000, agencies should consider providing at least one separate parenting room and one separate health room. For 1,000 and over, agencies should provide two separate parenting rooms and one separate health room.

Agencies should aim to meet these requirements within their net lettable areas (NLA).

In cases where agencies co-locate or their workplaces are near each other, for example regional offices, they should consider how to provide a shared space. Use the combined headcount for co-tenanted and co-located buildings. Facilities should remain accessible to all agencies.

Consider these guidelines in conjunction with the government standard building performance specifications. You can request a copy of the specifications by emailing the Government Property Group team.

Property definitions

Minimum standards and requirements

You need to provide appropriate facilities and breaks for employees who wish to breastfeed or express milk during work. This is required by legislation, where reasonable and practical.

Employment Relations (Breaks, Infant Feeding, and Other Matters) Amendment Act 2008 No 58 – New Zealand Legislation

Agencies need to follow the below standards, at a minimum.

The Building Code states a dedicated feeding room should be provided for breastfeeding and expressing milk. It should consider the needs of all building users.

Baby change and feeding rooms – Building Performance

Case study: The MBIE Wellness Suite

In 2020 MBIE upgraded their Wāhi Whaioranga Wellness Suite following cross-government Parenting Room Report recommendations. The report and improvements to these facilities were driven by committee members of the MBIE Arahanga Wāhine Women’s Network.

MBIE’s Parent’s Room Report 2020 [PDF 565KB] – Te Aka Wāhine o Aotearoa Government Women’s Network

Arahanga Wāhine celebrate new parenting rooms in MBIE’s Stout Street office – Te Aka Wāhine o Aotearoa Government Women’s Network

Design guidelines

Guidance and specification for parenting rooms and health rooms

There are important considerations when it comes to applying tikanga Māori in these spaces:

  • Pillows provided on a bed (for example, in health rooms), should only be used for resting your head, not sitting on. However, it is acceptable to prop up your back with them, such as when sitting against a wall.
  • Surfaces meant for food or having kai are not for sitting on or placing bags.

Use signage to remind users of the importance of applying tikanga and respecting cultural practices.

These rooms should have an occupancy indicator, lockable from the inside, and the ability for users to know when the room will be next available.

Parenting rooms should have:

  • easy buggy and pram access
  • doors which can be easily held open to enable a pram to go through without difficulty
  • comfortable armchair with low arm rests, and a footrest
  • an additional chair for whānau or a visitor
  • a change table with alcohol-based cleaning products, for example disinfectant, hand sanitiser and disposable wipes with a low-percentage of alcohol
  • a fridge for storing milk or baby food only
  • microwave for warming up milk, formula or baby food, set at a height that is accessible for a wheelchair user
  • power points near the armchairs for breast pumps
  • closed waste disposal bins for nappies, in addition to a general waste bin
  • a cupboard for people to store breastfeeding and bottle-feeding items.

Health rooms should have:

  • a duress alarm
  • a bed or recliner chair (must be of adjustable height to enable transfers of people in wheelchairs who have different seat to floor heights) with wipeable surface (vinyl upholstered) and easy to clean pillows
  • comfortable chairs
  • a wheelchair available should someone need assistance.

Signage and colour palette

Agencies should follow GPG’s branding, wayfinding and signage guidelines.

Appropriate and clear signage should be provided. We recommended a relaxing colour palette for these rooms, with a theme matching the overall workplace design.

Branding, wayfinding and signage guidelines

Bookings and availability

Consider how the rooms will be used and how users will gain access, to make sure they’re available for regular or as-needed use. Allow access by building swipe cards where practical. A booking system may not be appropriate due to the nature of both rooms.

For health and safety reasons, it may be appropriate to maintain a register of users of these rooms. Consider how it’s managed to ensure user privacy. Staff training may be required to make sure you protect individuals’ privacy.

Think about your evacuation procedures to make sure the rooms are checked when evacuating the building.

Providing a way of indicating when the parenting room will next be available can be useful. This could be as simple a whiteboard for users to write the time they expect to vacate the room. Names should not be required.

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