Huntsville Ranks Among the Best Cities for Working Parents

[Caroline Davis]

https://huntsvillebusinessjour... Huntsville Ranks Among the Best Cities for Working Parents

February 20, 2023/in Community Development, Economy, Featured, Lead, News, People, Resource, Small Business, Success, Workforce Development/by Ashlyn Grey

The Huntsville/Madison County Chamber Foundation has renewed its partnership for 2023 with the national Best Place for Working Parents® program, offering real-time designations to businesses of all sizes whose family-friendly policies qualify through a first-of-its-kind, 3-minute online self-assessment.

The Huntsville/Madison County Chamber Foundation’s partnership offers local business leaders the opportunity to instantly determine whether their organization qualifies to earn a Best Place for Working Parents® designation, positioning them among the leading family-friendly businesses in the U.S.

In 2022, more than 90 local companies earned the designation. The Huntsville/Madison Chamber invites all to take the assessment again for 2023, as there is no cost to complete the survey.

While family-friendly policies have a direct impact on working parents, local and national research proves there is also a serious business case to being family-friendly:

• 83% of millennials would leave one job for another with stronger family-friendly support.
• Replacing an employee costs an employer six to nine months of that employee’s salary.
• Over 60% of working parents said childcare issues have caused them to miss work.
• Employers lose $13 billion annually due to childcare challenges faced by their workforce.

Lyndsay Ferguson, Executive Director of the Chamber Foundation, leads this effort for The Chamber.

“The Chamber Foundation is proud to partner in this program that provides best practices, research, and data to local employers who are looking for ways to best support their workforce. We share the belief that every child, family, and business deserve the opportunity to thrive. Attracting and retaining top talent, maintaining a thriving and productive culture, and building a sustainable workforce pipeline for the future is critical to the success of our community,” Shared Ferguson.

Ferguson also explained why family-friendly business practices are crucial for the continued growth of Huntsville’s community.

“Childcare is really a two-generation issue – it not only affects our current workforce and their ability to work, but access to high quality child care also lays a critical foundation for children, the workforce of the future. Investing in this effort today is also an investment in our future. The Chamber Foundation exists to ensure the growth of Huntsville by supporting the education and workforce talents here. We aim to align resources that address employment opportunities and challenges in Huntsville/Madison County and improve the quality of life for all residents. As our community continues to grow, it has become increasingly apparent that access to quality child care is a critical component in our mission,” Ferguson continued.

National research reveals that there is a serious business case to being family friendly.

The Best Place for Working Parents™ partnered with SMU’s Center on Research and Evaluation (CORE) to survey 825 families and working parents in May 2021 to learn what will constitute the “new world of work” – and what employees and employers need to know in order to thrive in the post-COVID environment.

“We believe there is a serious business case to being family friendly. That can look different for different businesses, but many don’t know where to start. This partnership allows companies to assess where they are today and to benchmark against companies in similar sizes and industries to identify ongoing opportunities to meet the unique needs of their workforce,” stated Ferguson.

Compared to their competitors, great workplaces win when it comes to revenue growth, employee retention, productivity, innovation, resilience, agility, customer service, and employee engagement.

Many employers surveyed their employees over the last year to find out how they could support their workforce during a particularly trying time for families and working parents. The need for childcare is not just a desired “perk” for today’s working parents – but has emerged as a necessity that impacts performance, attendance, and engagement at work.

The effects of childcare issues are not limited to a specific demographic or industry – the majority of our survey respondents indicated their work life has been negatively affected due to breakdowns in child care.

As business leaders consider options to support the 84% of working parents that need full time childcare today, it is helpful to understand specifically what parents are looking for when it comes to care. The top priorities for the working parent respondents when choosing a childcare setting included:

• Safe and clean setting
• Quality of the Provider
• Close to Home
• Student Learning

In a post-COVID work world, many parents (and specifically women) are seeking childcare and family-friendly solutions that will allow them to reenter the workforce, while a vast majority of currently employed workers (80%) are echoing the need for intentional family-friendly policies in order to stay in their current jobs.

Child Care assistance, flexibility, and other family-friendly practices are increasingly becoming a strategic lever for employers of all sizes who are seeing the direct correlation between these policies and the strength, success, and sustainability of their workforce.

While childcare is one of the top needs that employees share, for getting back to work, supporting the fragile child care industry requires innovation of its own. Post COVID recovery for childcare small business owners is daunting as they work to make up for lost revenue, increased PPE and sanitation costs, and unpredictable enrollment rates.

When replacing an employee costs a business 6 to 9 months of that employee's salary, the ROI becomes clear. Family-friendly policies are not just good for working parents – they are beneficial for businesses who seek to maintain a competitive advantage by attracting, retaining, and developing a top-flight workforce both for today and for the future.

The Best Place for Working Parents® is a growing network of business leaders proving that family-friendly is business-friendly. Originating in Fort Worth, Texas, The Best Place for Working Parents® effort is expanding across the state and nationwide, supporting businesses with research-backed strategies that benefit working parents and businesses’ bottom line.