Business Champions for Kids invites employers to provide family-friendly practices

Jan. 4, 2023 – Business Champions for Kids, known as Biz4Kids, is excited to announce the relaunch of the website (www.biz4kids.org) and the new partnership with Best Place for Working Parents®, a national network of business leaders proving that family-friendly is business-friendly.

Biz4Kids is a program of Douglas ESD. For more than 10 years the program has worked with employers throughout Douglas County to adopt family-friendly practices.

Family-friendly working environments provide a significant return on investment for employers, including better recruitment, stronger employee retention, and higher productivity and engagement. Plus, family-friendly working environments help families build safe, stable and nurturing relationships for young children during child development.

“At a time when workers have so many choices about where and when to work, Business Champions for Kids provide solutions that help employers experience significantly better recruitment and retention by adopting proven family-friendly policies,” said Robin VanWinkle, Early Learning Program Facilitator Business Champions for Kids and Douglas County Childcare Coalition.

All local public and private employers of all sizes are encouraged to access resources on the Biz4Kids website. The “Getting Started Guide” provides steps to design a family-friendly workplace. The website also includes a 3-minute free and confidential online assessment offered by Best Place for Working Parents®. By taking the assessment employers can learn whether their organization qualifies to earn a Best Place for Working Parents® designation based on the top ten family-friendly practices. Family-friendly practices can include predictable or flexible working hours and comfortable lactation rooms. This assessment resource also includes a downloadable a “Childcare Toolkit for Employers.”

A second employer designation available is the Biz4Kids Early Childhood Advocate, which recognizes the investment in early childhood development through donations of time, funds, products, or services. Examples of advocacy include becoming a member of the Douglas County Childcare Coalition, marketing an upcoming parenting class, organizing employees to read to children at a pre-school program or financially sponsoring a Ready for Kindergarten training.

Notable designations recognize an employer’s contributions to early learning and dedication to the importance of helping the workforce of tomorrow while supporting the workforce of today.

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

83% of millennials would leave one job for another with stronger family-friendly supports.
Replacing an employee cost an employer six to nine months of that employee’s salary.
More than 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.

In addition to resources on the Biz4Kids website, VanWinkle is available to meet with employers, make presentations and support businesses with family-friendly tools. Biz4Kids hosts quarterly round tables and business events to strengthen this important work.

For more information about Biz4Kids and to access support and resources, visit www.biz4kids.org.

Visit the Facebook page at @dcbiz4kids for news stories and tools.