Mayor Adler urges business leaders to adopt family-friendly business practices.
Austin, TX (Monday, January 11): Today, with support from Mayor Steve Adler and several local chambers, Early Matters Greater Austin announced the launch of the Best Place for Working Parents® initiative. This business self-assessment evaluates 10 family-friendly policies that have research-proven benefits to businesses’ bottom line. Each question in the self-assessment ties to policies that positively impact employee attraction, retention, satisfaction, and productivity.
Any local business is welcome to participate. 2021 open enrollment is from January 11 – February 12. Local businesses can learn more and take the self-assessment here. The self-assessment only takes three minutes to complete and is free, confidential, and online.
“We are counting on our businesses to help ensure Austin is a community where all kids have the chance to succeed, families are supported, and businesses thrive,” said Mayor Steve Adler. “Especially now, we need businesses to commit to family-friendly policies, not just because it’s the right thing to do, but because we know it attracts and retains the best talent. This is a much needed ‘win-win.’”
Businesses who participate by February 12 and meet the threshold for Best Place for Working Parents® will be recognized in the following ways:
- Unique digital branding, including a Best Place for Working Parents® 2021 badge
- In a full-page print ad in the Austin American-Statesman
- In a press release sent to local media outlets
- Logo on the Early Matters Greater Austin website
- On the Early Matters Greater Austin LinkedIn and Twitter channels
- In a bimonthly email that goes to all participating businesses
This assessment is endorsed by:
- Mayor Steve Adler
- Mayor’s Corporate Engagement Council
- Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce
- Austin Young Chamber
- Greater Austin Black Chamber of Commerce
- Greater Austin Asian Chamber of Commerce
- Austin LGBT Chamber of Commerce
- City of Austin Economic Development Department
Businesses will also be able to take the assessment after open enrollment. All businesses who take the self-assessment will:
- Have access to a real-time dashboard that compares their business to other local businesses of similar size and industry, across all 10 family-friendly policies.
- Have free access to our toolkit promoting family-friendly practices and policies.
Businesses who do not qualify as a Best Place for Working Parents® in 2021 are encouraged to implement, expand, or improve their family-friendly practices and policies and retake the assessment in 2022.
Research has proven that family-friendly practices and policies are good for business:
- Implementing family-friendly practices and policies increases a business’ ability to attract and retain high-quality employees, especially those with young children.
- COVID-19 has heightened the child care crisis. In Austin, 60% of children under age 6 have both parents in the workforce. If parents don’t have access to trusted, safe learning environments for their young children, they won’t be able to return to the workforce now or after the COVID-19 pandemic subsides. Our economic recovery is directly correlated with access to child care.
- 70% of non-working middle skilled parents cite child care as one of the top 5 reasons for not participating in the workforce.
- 83% of millennials say that they would leave their jobs for one with more family-friendly benefits.
- Turnover can cost an employer up to 150% of the base salary of the replaced employee.
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About Early Matters Greater Austin
Early Matters Greater Austin (EMGA) – founded by United Way for Greater Austin and E3 Alliance – mobilizes and unites the business community around the goal that all children in Greater Austin enter Kindergarten prepared for school success. EMGA also encourages Austin-area employers to adopt family-friendly policies because supportive workplace policies increase organization productivity and support the physical and emotional health of employees and their families.
Learn more at earlymattersgreateraustin.org.
