Dive Brief:
- Forbes gathered data from Indeed.com, a job search and company review site, to identify the 25 best companies for work-life balance. For the third year in a row, Colgate-Palmolive topped the list.
- All companies on the list have at least 100 employee reviews on Indeed, primarily employ full-time workers, and are not government or military employers, colleges, nonprofits or staffing agencies.
- While pay and location remain the top two most important work factors for employees, job flexibility now ranks third, even above benefits.
Dive Insight:
“Creating work-life balance in a company is a choice,” said Paul D’Arcy, senior vice president at Indeed, to Forbes. “It’s not a luxury that comes with one industry or one type of business model.”
The 25 companies come from a variety of industries and offer a wide range of careers, the article says. But despite their varying sizes and workforces, each company’s culture promoted flexibility and recognized that workers are humans, not drones.
Colgate-Palmolive’s career page states that the company offers nearby childcare centers, emergency in-home care for dependents, tuition assistance, health, legal and financial counseling services, and relocation assistance – making clear its commitment to employee needs.
A true work-life balance relies on the company culture – and there are no quick fixes, Forbes says. A company has to commit, especially as more and more employees are aware of freelance and contract work. To keep employees happily ensconced in offices, employers must be aware of how their workers spend their time at work and if they feel comfortable with the flexibility that’s offered.
