Helping New Moms in Tech Return to Work: Search Influence Highlighted as a Breastfeeding-Friendly Workplace Champion

May 5, 2015

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Search Influence, the largest online marketing company on the Gulf Coast, has been designated as a Breastfeeding-Friendly Workplace Champion—one of only 24 businesses in the New Orleans area to receive the honor.

The designation comes jointly from the Louisiana Breastfeeding Coalition and the Mary Amelia Women’s Health Center at Tulane University.

“We are excited to support our new mothers returning to work,” said Angie Scott, COO and co-founder of Search Influence. “We want to be a part of helping new mothers feel like they can balance work and family.”

At Search Influence, employees who are new mothers can take advantage of a designated private breastfeeding/pumping room featuring a chair and storage fridge.

“The presence of such convenient accommodations has been critical to my transition back into the workplace. I am extremely grateful to Search Influence for playing an important role in allowing me to continue to breastfeed my baby,” said Erica Rench, production manager at Search Influence.

“I really appreciate the accommodations Search Influence has made in allowing me to continue to breastfeed my child while returning to work,” said Maggie Emerson, account manager at Search Influence.

The Breastfeeding-Friendly Workplace designation means that a company is working to increase the support for breastfeeding among employees. In order to be designated as a Breastfeeding-Friendly Workplace Champion—the highest designation—a business must have the following:

• Reasonable break time for working mothers to pump breast milk each time they need to throughout the day,
• One or more permanent breastfeeding rooms or a clean, private and safe space with an outlet, other than a toilet stall that mothers can use for lactation when needed,
• A working sink near the breastfeeding location where mothers can clean pumping equipment,
• The lactation support (a place to pump and break time) is communicated to all current and future employees, and
• A written policy to support workplace lactation that meets minimum federal law requirements.

“Accommodating breastfeeding mothers when they come back to work is important for them to succeed in providing breast milk for their babies. Businesses that support breastfeeding employees experience benefits such as decreased turnover, absenteeism and health care costs, and increased employee loyalty,” said Caitrin Alb, program manager:

For organizations interested in becoming a Breastfeeding-Friendly Workplace, applications are available online.

About Search Influence

Search Influence is a national, full-service online marketing company based in New Orleans, La. The only New Orleans firm on the 2011 Inc. 500 list of America’s fastest-growing private companies, Search Influence is the largest online marketing company on the Gulf Coast. It has hundreds of direct and partner customers, including local merchants and clients in the automotive industry, law, plastic surgery, cosmetic dentistry and dermatology industries as well as publishers and Yellow Pages companies who provide SEO and other online marketing products for their advertisers.