County of Santa Clara Launches Family Friendly Workplace Certification Program
New County program focuses on helping businesses and their employees balance work and family life while increasing retention and recruitment for employers
SANTA CLARA COUNTY, CALIF.— The County of Santa Clara now offers a Family Friendly Workplace Certification (FFWC) Program to help raise awareness about the benefits of workplace accommodations relating to pregnancy, parental leave, lactation, and work-family balance.
The FFWC Program provides education to help businesses meet or exceed state and federal employment laws and implement policies to support families as they balance responsibilities both at work and at home. Qualifying businesses receive a digital seal that can be used on marketing materials and are recognized on the FFWC Program webpage as a family-friendly business.
“Creating greater health and wellness throughout our community is a continuous process, and a balance between work lives and home lives, particularly for those with children, is a critical part,” said County of Santa Clara Supervisor and Board Vice President Susan Ellenberg. “Partnering with local businesses to provide education and bring awareness of the benefits of family-friendly workplaces, we can collectively improve health outcomes, enhance employee job satisfaction, promote work productivity, and increase retention for employers.”
Interested applicants are required to attend a free, 90-minute virtual training where local experts share advice on how to comply with federal and state requirements, learn about best practices, and provide help with completing the application. The certification program is valid for two years and open to employers of any size physically located within Santa Clara County.
Pro-Sweep, Inc. is a family-owned commercial maintenance company and is the first business to complete the County’s training and receive a digital seal. As a direct result of the FFWC Program, the company increased the amount of additional unpaid leave beyond what is legally required, with continued benefits for parents to bond with a new child. Pro-Sweep also enhanced its lactation policy to support mothers who wish to breastfeed their infant at work. These new steps add to its overall efforts to support a family-friendly environment for its team members by providing financial stability and fair living wages, healthy food choices, mental wellness resources, and community volunteer opportunities.
“As Pro-Sweep is steadfast in our commitment to supporting the health and well-being of our employees and their ability to provide for their families, attaining this digital seal is a visual affirmation that Pro-Sweep is a family-friendly workspace,” said Kristi Saso, Pro-Sweep’s owner & founder.
The FFWC program is a collaboration between the County of Santa Clara Office of Women’s Policy and the Public Health Department, which combines elements of two independently successful programs aimed at promoting the physical, psychological, social, and emotional health of women and their families. Women make up half of the population in Santa Clara County and play a critical role in establishing an efficient, local labor market for the betterment of community.
“Working mothers have had to juggle their careers with caring for their families during the pandemic. As a result, millions of working women have left the labor force, impacting decades of progress towards achieving equality at work,” said Julie Ramírez, Interim Manager for the County of Santa Clara Office of Women’s Policy. “The Family Friendly Workplace Certification Program promotes practices that support employees in ways that allow them to balance their family obligations and work responsibilities. This program promotes gender equity and helps people and organizations to realize their true potential.”
Interested organizations can click on a date to register for the training:
- Tuesday, July 19, 2022; 11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m.
- Wednesday, September 14, 2022; 11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m.
- Wednesday, November 9, 2022; 11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m.
- Tuesday, January 10, 2023; 11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m.
For additional information, email [email protected].
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ABOUT THE COUNTY OF SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA
The County of Santa Clara government serves a diverse, multi-cultural population of 1.9 million residents in Santa Clara County, California, making it more populous than 14 states in the U.S. The County provides essential services to its residents, including public health protection, environmental stewardship, medical services through the County of Santa Clara Health System, child and adult protection services, homelessness prevention and solutions, roads, park services, libraries, emergency response to disasters, protection of minority communities and those under threat, access to a fair criminal justice system, and many other public benefits.
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Media Contact: Quan Vu / Benjamin Rada, Office of Communications and Public Affairs, (408) 299-5119, [email protected]
Posted: July 18, 2022