Tome Sweet Home for Workers at Dutton’s Brentwood Books

Few employers can match the resource center that Doug Dutton provides for his workers: It’s called Dutton’s Brentwood Books.

Imagine an entire bookstore at your disposal to help you figure out why the baby won’t sleep through the night, what to expect when an elderly relative has a stroke or how to get your puppy to stop chewing your shoes.

That’s just one of the unusual perks for the 40 full-time and part-time employees of Dutton’s, where in among the books dwell actual babies. Dutton’s is one of those rare employers that allows its workers to practice a kind of on-site, do-it-yourself child care.

The well-known independent bookstore on San Vicente Boulevard was among eight companies to receive recognition recently for their family-friendly policies by the Los Angeles County Child Care Advisory Board and the Board of Supervisors. (The others were the accounting firm Deloitte & Touche, the law office of Susan R. Wasserman, the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority, McDermott Plumbing & Pumping, medical equipment manufacturer Pacesetter Inc., the Pasadena Historical Museum and the Signal newspaper.)

Other family-friendly benefits offered by Dutton’s include paid parental leave, financial assistance and adaptable scheduling.

But most of all, Dutton’s provides flexibility, said store manager Lise Friedman, who nominated the company for the award.

Dutton has made the bookstore “a very welcoming place for parents and children,” Friedman said in her nomination.

Employees are encouraged to bring their babies to work with them. School-age children spend many of their non-school hours at Dutton’s. (Toddlers, given their penchant for high activity, graduate into more conventional child care.)

If a child becomes ill, the parent stays home without penalty and co-workers fill in.

“We’ve had playpens set up in the office, changing areas wherever needed, and all of us have walked around selling books holding a baby,” Friedman wrote.

“Having babies around makes a workplace feel humane to everyone, not just to parents,” she said. “And the care and concern given to parents who are employees encourages healthy families at home and better employees at the bookstore.”

Although Dutton’s is not a large company, it can still be responsive to the needs of employees, Dutton said.

For example, one father comes in at 5 a.m. so he can leave in the afternoon. That schedule not only serves the employee’s child-care needs, it also helps the bookstore get an early start on contacts with East Coast publishers, said Dutton, who frequently brings his own children into the store.

“I wish I could offer the things that someplace like GM or the MTA is able to do,” Dutton said. “A bookstore--it’s such a close-margin business.”

“We sort of make it up as we go along,” he said. “Sometimes I’ll look around and there’ll be a little too much goo-gooing going on, but for the most part it works out well. . . . Everybody works hard.”

What’s more, “the customers really like it,” said Dutton, who opened his store in 1984. “People come in and love to make faces at the babies.”

California Child Care Praised

California once again ranks among the best states in terms of care provided to children, according to Working Mother magazine.

In the July-August issue, California received near-top scores in the four rating categories: quality, safety, availability and commitment. The top score is 5 in each category, and California received a 3 for quality and a 4 for safety, availability and commitment in the second annual ranking compiled with the help of child-care experts.

“California maintains its place as one of the 10 best states for child care, thanks to the pacesetting programs launched in the past,” the magazine stated.

California lost a little ground in the quality category, in which the state scored a 4 last year. That’s because of a new state law “that many consider a step backward,” the magazine said. The law allows family child-care providers to care for up to eight children, compared with the previous limit of six, without hiring additional help.

“The new rule also worries child-care advocates because it may limit infant care in California: When caregivers take in the two extra older children, they must reduce the number of babies in their care,” the article said.

No state received a 5 in any category.

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Has your company developed an interesting way to help employees balance work with family life? Write to Balancing Act, Los Angeles Times, Business Section, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, CA 90053, or send e-mail nancy.rivera.brooks@latimes.com