A Comprehensive Resource of the "Best" Family-Friendly Employers

Those of us in the work-life field have such a profound appreciation for the dedication and generosity of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation in supporting the effort to create more flexible, engaged work environments that we sometimes take for granted all of the free, instantaneous, high-quality resources we have at our fingertips. To help ensure that all of you who need to know about the most promising practices across the work-life spectrum know where to look, I’ve invited Judi Casey to serve as a guest blogger. Judi is the Principal Investigator and Director of the Sloan Work and Family Research Network at Boston College.

Feb. 5, 2009 — Looking for best practices on how forward-thinking organizations are designing and delivering family-friendly initiatives? Not sure how to get started or where to begin? The Sloan Work and Family Research Network has gathered the most recent information on employers considered the “best” family-friendly employers in various categories — best companies to work for, best global employers, attentive to gender, promoting diverse workplaces, prioritizing healthy practices, responsive to various age groups and other special situations. Currently, this benchmarking tool provides more than 35 different lists featuring over 2,500 companies; it will be updated regularly as new rankings become available. We created this compilation after 56% of Sloan Network users polled selected family-friendly employers as the topic of greatest interest to them.

Family-friendly employers have spearheaded many initiatives that benefit both their employees and their companies because they realize that redesigning employee roles and creating family-friendly programs does not necessarily result in sacrificing the bottom line. We hope this Family-Friendly Employer page will inspire your organization to make a similar commitment. 

Top companies featured include some of the most well known in the world, including Microsoft, Hanna Anderson, Walt Disney, Bayer, Nike, UPS and Marriott as well as a number of less prominent companies with innovative family-friendly programs.

One interesting company on the Best Small Companies to Work for in America list is McMurry, Inc., a Phoenix advertising firm that promotes its corporate promise of “a better place, a better way” by providing an average of about 104 hours of job-related training annually to each employee. Another on that list is McDonough Bolyard Peck, a professional services company from Fairfax, VA, which pays 100% of health care premiums for employees and their dependents.

Standouts on the Best Adoption-Friendly Workplaces List include Wendy’s and Citizen’s Financial, which offer over $20,000 in adoption assistance.

HealthNet is the #1 Military Spouse Friendly Employer for including military spouses as part of their diversity strategies. “We recognize the immense contribution made by our military service people and veterans of our armed services, and we actively seek out their talent as part of our talent management effort around the world.”For more information, please visit the Sloan Work and Family Research Network Web site, the premier online destination for work and family information. We can provide current and credible evidence-based information to help you research workforce issues, talent management, and the impact of work and family issues on business outcomes. You can explore the one-page Effective Workplace Series or keep abreast of work-family articles in Work and Family News.  Be sure to check out our Work and Family blog and subscribe to our monthly newsletter to keep you updated on cutting-edge developments in work and family. Due to the generous support of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, all resources are free of charge.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of WorldatWork and its affiliate, Alliance for Work-Life Progress (AWLP).