What are employer-provided adoption benefits?
Employer-provided adoption benefits are similar to benefits available to new biological parents. Generally, adoption benefits fall into three categories: informational resources, financial assistance and parental leave policies. You can read more about these categories of benefits on our site.
In the last two decades, the percentage of U.S. companies offering adoption benefits has grown from roughly 10 percent to nearly 50 percent. As Adam Pertman says in his book Adoption Nation, companies are finding that “providing adoption benefits not only displays social responsibility and an ability to respond to changing conditions but also makes for more satisfied workers.” Pertman also says that adoption benefits can be a relatively cheap investment since only about 0.1 percent of employees with available adoption benefits use them.
What companies have the best adoption benefits?
Each year, the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption releases a list of Best Adoption-Friendly Workplaces in the U.S. Companies of all sizes and in all industries submit their adoption benefits information to DTFA each year for their adoption benefits survey. For 2011, the highest ranked workplaces were:
1. The Wendy’s Company
2. HanesBrands
3. Barilla America, Inc.
4. Liquidnet Holdings, Inc.- Tie
4. LSI Corporation- Tie
4. United Business Media LLC (UBM)- Tie
7. Boston Scientific
8. Bloomberg- Tie
8. Putnam Investments- Tie
10. Vanguard Group
Where can I learn more about adoption benefits provided by companies?
- Follow this link to see DTFA’s detailed lists, organized by size and industry, of the nation’s top 100 leaders in company adoption benefits.
- Find a comprehensive list of companies who have submitted their adoption benefits to DTFA surveys.
- Submit your workplace in the DTFA’s 2012 Adoption-Friend Workplace Benefits Survey.
- Order Adoption-Friendly Workplace tool kits for yourself, your employer and your peers.
- Contact the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption to learn more about specific adoption benefits that are offered by employers in your state, organization size or industry. Call 877-777-4222 or email pamela_mcclafferty@davethomasfoundation.org to get customized benchmarks.
