Carolina Parent Magazine and Balancing Professionals Launch ‘Family-Friendly Workplace’ Survey

Raleigh/Durham, NC (April 1, 2007) – Family friendly workplace — we hear the phrase and we use the phrase but what, exactly, does it mean? That’s what Carolina Parent Magazine and Balancing Professionals, LLC want to find out. They’ve teamed up to survey North Carolina parents about the factors that make a workplace a great place to work while raising kids.

“Our ‘Family-Friendly 40’ contest celebrates 40 North Carolina companies for their efforts and policies to help parents balance work and family life. We showcase those winning companies in our September issue, which is one of our most popular issues,” says Sheryl Grant, Web editor for CarolinaParent.com. “When you walk into an office, you don’t stop being a parent. Issues come up – sick kids, aging parents, school plays, teacher work days. A company that recognizes how important family policies are—that company is going to be a winner, not just in the Family-Friendly 40, but in retaining great employees.

Retention is in fact rising to top of the priority list for many businesses, as was illustrated in a recent employee benefits study by MetLife. For the first time, the MetLife Study of Employee Benefits Trends has identified retention as the number one benefits objective. Grant says, “This year, we wanted to start a dialogue with our readers about what really matters to them in the workplace, recognizing that a ‘family friendly’ policy is only an effective tool to attract and retain employees if it is useful and important to those employees. We wanted to give parents more of a voice and our business readers more useful information.”

“In today’s changing workplace, it makes sense to ask parents what their priorities are, rather than making assumptions about whether an employers’ policy touted as ‘family friendly’ really has a positive impact on employees,” says Maryanne Perrin, co-founder of Balancing Professionals. “Parents’ perspectives, goals, and expectations about combining work and family have changed a lot in recent years and we’d like to capture some of that perspective.”

The survey aims to get information not only from working parents but also from parents who are currently not in the workforce but may be contemplating getting back into the workforce at a later date. The online survey takes less than five minutes to complete, and there are links to the survey at www.carolinaparent.com and www.balancingprofessionals.com.

About Carolina Parent Magazine

Carolina Parent magazine repeatedly wins Gold Awards from the Parenting Publications of America for its content, design and Web site, and is the most influential parenting resources in the Triangle. As the primary source of information for area families with children ages newborn through teens, Carolina Parent draws an audited readership of more than 120,000 each month. Popular special publications include Carolina Parent’s Baby Guide, Ultimate Family Resource Guide and the Parents' Guide to North Carolina Colleges.

About Balancing Professionals

Balancing Professionals advises companies on creating a win-win, flexible workplace and connects businesses to a pool of high-caliber, part-time professionals. Operating in the Triangle area of North Carolina, the firm was founded in 2004 by Kella Hatcher and Maryanne Perrin, respectively an attorney and an engineer/MBA who had navigated careers as part-time professionals prior to joining efforts to promote part-time opportunities for others. Balancing Professionals has helped a variety of companies capitalize on the changing workplace including clients in the pharmaceutical, technology, manufacturing, non-profit, and professional services industries.