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How ‘Family Friendly’ Are NC Businesses?

Students learning in a Chapel Hill elementary school.
Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools
Students learning in a Chapel Hill elementary school.
Students learning in a Chapel Hill elementary school.
Credit Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools
Students learning in a Chapel Hill elementary school.

New research from the North Carolina Early Childhood Foundation found that companies across the state are interested in making their businesses more family friendly. That includes policies from offering health insurance and family medical leave to paid time off, job-sharing and flexible work hours.Host Frank Stasio talks with Tracy Zimmerman, executive director of the North Carolina Early Childhood Foundation, about family friendly businesses in North Carolina.

These kinds of policies and practices benefit employees, employers and, according to some research, even children, who show greater cognitive development and other health benefits when their parents work in a family-friendly environment. But for many North Carolina companies, an interest in creating a more flexible and supportive environment remains mostly aspirational. Host Frank Stasio talks with Tracy Zimmerman, executive director of the North Carolina Early Childhood Foundation, about the report and her organization’s efforts to help businesses identify ways to attract and support parents.  

Copyright 2018 North Carolina Public Radio

Jennifer Brookland is a temporary producer for The State of Things.
Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.