Family-Friendly Businesses
What makes a business "Family-Friendly"? Flexibility may be the key to being a "Family-Friendly Business". Whether it is permitting telecommuting so that a parent can work from home during a school holiday, or putting aside a room where a breastfeeding mother can express milk for her child, flexibility and understanding are the basis for being a Family-Friendly Business.
Workplace Wellness
Does your business have a workplace wellness program? If so, does this program include any of the following: discounted gym membership, onsite exercise facilities, walking staff meetings, onsite refrigerator, and/or healthy food choices for employees?
Resources on Workplace Wellness
smallbusiness.chron.com/practices-workplace-wellness-programs-2942.html
www.personal.psu.edu/cwc5/blogs/2011/05/standing-and-walking-meetings.html
Worksite_Wellness.pdf 140.09 kB
Flexible Work
Does your business use telecommuting, job sharing, or flexible work schedule to accommodate employees with aging parents, sick relatives, school-aged children, and/or employees with military reserve obligations?
Resources on Job Sharing, Telecommuting, etc.
Telecommuting.pdf 87.09 kB
Telework.pdf 283.85 kB
Job_Share_Resource_Guide.pdf 175.04 kB
Family Support:
Breastfeeding -
Does your business extend Federal breastfeeding policies to hourly employees? Would you like more information on Federal breastfeeding policies?
Breastfeeding Federal Guidelines - General Requirements
Employers are required to provide “reasonable break time for an employee to express breast milk for her nursing child for 1 year after the child’s birth each time such employee has need to express the milk.” Employers are also required to provide “a place, other than a bathroom, that is shielded from view and free from intrusion from coworkers and the public, which may be used by an employee to express breast milk.”
The FLSA requirement of break time for nursing mothers to express breast milk does not preempt State laws that provide greater protections to employees (for example, providing compensated break time, providing break time for exempt employees, or providing break time beyond 1 year after the child’s birth).
Breastfeeding Promotion in the Workplace – Best Practices (www.health.ny.gov/community/pregnancy/breastfeeding/best_practices.htm)
- Visibly promote breastfeeding, e.g. posters, articles in employee newsletter
- Health benefits cover:
- Postpartum home visits
- Lactation consultant services
- Hospital grade electric pump rental
- Maternity leave – 6 weeks minimum
- Flexible hours and breaks; part-time or job-sharing schedules offered
- Allow infants on site, e.g. in port-a-crib by mother's work station
- Offer on-site child care
- Lactation room
- Comfortable, clean, private
- Electric pump, sink, refrigerator
- Resource shelf: books, pamphlets, videos
- Breastfeeding classes on-site to address concerns about work and breastfeeding.
- Staff Lactation Consultant to coordinate services:
- Classes and individual counseling
- Manage lactation facilities
- Products (pumps, pump kits, coolers, books)
- Working parents' support group
Resources on Breastfeeding
www.hopkinschildrens.org/Johns-Hopkins-Breastfeeding-Friendly.aspx
www.surgeongeneral.gov/topics/breastfeeding
BreakTimeNursingMothers.pdf 94.78 kB
Childcare -
Does your business offer onsite childcare, or financial assistance to offset the cost of childcare?
The Child Care Executive Partnership (CCEP) program is an innovative, public/private partnership that helps employers meet the needs of a growing segment of their work force—working
parents. Through this program, federal and state funding is “matched” with contributions from local governments, charitable foundations, and participating businesses on a dollar-for-dollar basis to provide child care services to participating families. For more information on this partnership, go to www.ccep.bz/partner.aspx or contact the Early Learning Coalition of the Big Bend at outreach@ELCBigBend.org.
Resources on Childcare
www.childcareopportunities.org/community-services/employer-supported-child-care-options/
Employee Mental Health -
Does your business offer counseling services for employees going through grief or depression?
Does your business offer counseling services for employees with mental health and/or life management issues?
Professional Development -
How do you help your employees further their education or training? Does your business offer tuition assistance and/or scholarships for employees who are working towards a degree?
Resource on How to Start a Scholarship Program
www.foundationnews.org/CME/article.cfm?id=1510
Does your business offer camp scholarships for employee’s children?
Does your business offer summer jobs for teenage children of employees?