HELENA, MT (Sept. 8, 2025) – Family Forward Montana, an initiative of Zero to Five Montana, is excited to announce a partnership with the National Best Place for Working Parents® network, offering real-time designations to businesses of all sizes whose family-friendly policies qualify through a first-of-its-kind, 3-minute online self-assessment. Best Place for Working Parents® Montana offers local business leaders the opportunity to instantly determine whether their organization qualifies to earn a Best Place for Working Parents® designation, positioning them among the leading family-friendly businesses in the U.S.
The confidential online business self-assessment allows businesses of all sizes to tout innovative practices that are helping today’s working parents provide for their families, and adapt and thrive at work during extraordinary times. The Best Place for Working Parents® assessment highlights only the top 10 research-backed policies proven to benefit working parents AND businesses’ bottom line.
While family-friendly policies have a direct impact on working parents, local and national research proves that there is also a serious business case to being family-friendly:
- 83% of millennials would leave one job for another with stronger family-friendly supports.
- Replacing an employee costs an employer six to nine months of that employee’s salary.
- Over 60% of working parents said child care issues have caused them to miss work.
- Employers lose $13 billion annually due to child care challenges faced by their workforce.1
The Best Place for Working Parents® online self-assessment provides a real-time dashboard of how a business fares against other businesses of like size and industry across each of the top 10 family-friendly practices in their region. Each of the top 10 policies include research on their business ROI and case studies that tell the story of how local businesses’ practices have impacted their productivity, retention, job satisfaction and attraction. The 3-minute self-assessment, real-time dashboard results, and the Best Place for Working Parents® designation for qualifying businesses can be accessed at familyforwardmt.org.
ABOUT Family Forward Montana and The Best Place for Working Parents®
Family Forward Montana, an initiative of Zero to Five Montana, is working to uplift the value of family-friendly work environments across our state. The initiative is designed specifically to empower employers to build workplaces that prioritize the well-being of employees and their families, ultimately enhancing business success. The Best Place for Working Parents® is a growing national network of business leaders proving that family-friendly IS business-friendly. Originating in Fort Worth, Texas, The Best Place for Working Parents® seeks to support businesses with research-backed strategies that benefit working parents AND businesses’ bottom line. Learn more at www.familyforwardmt.org and www.bestplace4workingparents.com.
1 Sources: Patricia S. Reed & Shirley M. Clark, (Win-Win Workplace Practices), Goldman Sachs, SHRM, “Getting Back to Work” report (May 2021), ReadyNation (March 2021)
