Just as wide variety in a menu can attract customers, plenty of employee benefits can give an employer the edge in the competition for talent. With all things being equal between two job offers, an applicant is more likely to choose the employer that has more family-friendly policies, said Rita Soronen, executive director of the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption.
Founded in 1992 by the late Dave Thomas, founder of Wendy’s and himself an adopted child, the nonprofit charity is dedicated to increasing adoption rates for children in foster care. More than 150,000 foster-care children are available for adoption in the United States and Canada, Soronen said.
Part of the foundation’s strategy is to encourage employers to offer some type of adoption benefit to employees. To keep the issue on employers’ tables, the foundation began ranking companies last year for their adoption polices. More than 760 companies competed to be ranked in the Best 100 Adoption-Friendly Workplaces for 2007. The deadline for consideration for the 2008 listing is Jan. 15. Winners will be announced May 1. More information is available at
What does a company have to do to be considered adoption friendly?
The rating has three levels—financial reimbursement for adoption expenses, paid time off and unpaid time off. From those that took the survey, 90 percent offered some type of financial assistance, 51 percent offered paid leave.
Such benefits sound like they might be expensive to offer.
It’s actually one of the least expensive benefits. It is used by less than one-half of 1 percent of eligible employees. It’s not something used by everyone in the company. And companies can simply offer unpaid time off. They can do something, large or small.
If not many employees take advantage of it, why offer it?
Sixty-two percent indicated they want to offer competitive work-life benefits. And 53 percent said it is an equity issue between adoptive parents and birth parents.
Wendy’s made the top-100 list at 21. How has the restaurant industry done in offering this benefit?
The industry has clearly stepped up to the plate. Last year we had 12 food and beverage [companies] and restaurants on the list.