NewsChannel 5.com - Nashville, Tennessee - Program Allows Moms To Bring Babies To Work

Program Allows Moms To Bring Babies To Work

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Many parents have been torn between going to work and staying at home with their children. Some companies offer day care, which helps parents stay close.

But in middle Tennessee a handful of managers have been trying a different approach to hang onto valuable employees.

The new approach is called Babies in the Workplace, and it works with cribs, cubicles and colleagues co-existing.

While babies are fine for a visit, are they too distracting for an entire day every day? Employees at a Franklin company decided to see for themselves.

"Each person has their own set of accounts that they manage. So I oversee all of them," said Ambrosha Guerena.

Guerena has a typical 9-to-5 job as a manager at Hometown Quotes in Franklin. The company offers insurance quotes for the home or car, but Guerena doesn't have a typical office.

"It's kind of funny when people come visit. They look in here," she said, nodding her head toward 5-month-old River Guerena's crib. "It's something you usually don't see in an office."

Guerena's baby comes to work with her.

"It's awesome. I mean, you can't ask for anything better," she said. "You really can't."

With Babies in the Workplace, Guerena can be a full-time employee and a full-time mommy - at the same time. The company decided to try Babies in the Workplace, a babies-at-work program.

"If you're in the middle of something that needs to get done and he's upset or hungry, you know he needs to be cared for, too.  You have to balance that and sometimes you have to put some things aside," Guerena said.

She said there was some juggling and adjustment at first, but now she has a routine.

She said she does get work done even with River in her arms.

"You just have to sometimes have to schedule things around it, but I luckily have people that help with him and that helps a lot," she said.

Hometown Quotes calls her four helpers caregivers including Michele Tangney.

"It's amazing how one little baby can really pull a company together as a family. And that's really what he has done," Tangney said.

The Parenting in the Workplace Institute said only 100 companies nationally have babies in the workplace. The institute also said those companies usually have 25 or fewer employees and are run by women.

But that's not always the case.

"Not having her around was definitely a loss when she was out on maternity leave," said Hometown Quotes Chief Executive Officer Hunter Ingram. "Having her back that much sooner and having her be able to be here with the baby - it's been awesome."

Ingram did not initially support the idea.

"It's really been one of those things that surprised pretty much everybody how well it's gone," Ingram said.

"You can't have a bad day when River's around because he cheers you up," said one co-worker.

In fact no one in the office, from the veteran parents to the non-parents, had anything negative to say about having a baby around.

"Most of the time I don't even realize that he's in here. It's been a blessing to have him here," said Philip Dial, agent service representative.

For Guerena, she saved money on daycare, gets to bond with her baby and since River has worked out so well the trial program has become policy.

"I love my job. I've been here for a few years and I didn't want to give that up either, so it's nice that I don't have to make that choice," Guerena said.

Now no one will have to make that choice, giving another Hometown Quotes employee relief with a new addition on the way very soon.

To date 18,000 babies around the country have been successfully placed in the workplace. To learn more about Babies in the Workplace visit http://www.babiesatwork.org. Also for information about the Parenting in the Workplace Institute, visit http://www.parentingatwork.org/