Fort Worth’s Best Place for Working Parents initiative is expanding this year to Austin, Dallas and San Antonio.
Employers can take an online, three-minute assessment 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 state,” Best Place for Working Parents said Tuesday.
The public-private initiative started in Fort Worth in 2020, fronted by Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price and backed by the City of Fort Worth, philanthropic foundations, nonprofits, business leaders, and experts in quality early learning and child care, community schools, and early education policy. The initiative is meant to highlight best practices in family-friend workplaces.
The Best Place assessment “uses 10 research-backed policies proven to benefit working parents AND businesses’ bottom line,” the initiative said.
“Once seen as a ‘perk,’ being family-friendly over the last year has become a necessity for many businesses seeking to maintain business operations amidst a pandemic – a reality underscored by many of the 865,000 women who left the U.S. workforce in August and September citing flexibility and child care as determining factors in their decision,” the initiative said. “Organizations designated as a Best Place for Working Parents are proving that family-friendly is business-friendly.”