Family Friendly.
For children and families, the benefits of family-friendly workplaces are numerous and long-lasting. They include positive impacts on health, development and well-being, financial stability, and future career success.
Children whose parents have access to family-friendly benefits receive much-needed support and time with their parents during the most critical years of human development. This leads to positive health outcomes, higher education attainment, and future career success Parents who have access to family-friendly benefits also have
improved health outcomes and are happier and more productive at work.
Family-friendly policies improve outcomes for children and families.
Paid parental leave has lifelong benefits:Footnote # 1
- reduces the rates of premature births and babies born with low birth weight
- significantly lowers a mother’s risk of postpartum depression and anxiety
- increases paternal engagement in caregiving
- improves family economic stability
- decreases rates of child abuse and maltreatment
For each additional month of paid parental leave, there is a 13 percent decline in infant mortality for families from low- and middle-income countries.Footnote # 2
Children whose parents have paid parental leave, paid sick leave and other family-friendly benefits are more likely to have:Footnote # 3
- well care visits and immunizations, especially for measles and polio
- better test scores in school
- fewer behavioral or mental health problems
- regular school attendance
Mothers who are able to breastfeed have a 24% lower risk of ovarian cancer. Footnote # 4
Breastfeeding also lowers a woman’s risk of:
- breast cancer
- high blood pressure
- type 2 diabetes
Given average child care costs in North Carolina, a low-income parent spends more than one-third of their total yearly income on child care for one baby.Footnote # 5
When their employer offers child care reimbursements or child care on site — either full-time, part-time, or on a back-up basis — low-wage workers are more likely to be able to afford child care and are less likely to drop out of the labor force after giving birth. Predictable scheduling allows hourly workers to better plan for child care needs.