A New Workplace for a New Age
What does it mean to be a working parent today? In a world transformed by dual-career families and evolving employee expectations, Nestlé is committed to answering this question in new — and perhaps surprising — ways
Carlie and her husband, Brandon, were experiencing a mix of emotions as they prepared to welcome their first child, a baby girl, into the world. Carlie, a human resources manager at Nestlé’s Solon, Ohio, campus, had discovered she was pregnant just weeks after accepting a transfer to the company’s California office. To her and her husband’s dismay, they were unsure how to balance the move and the new role with a potential maternity leave.
“Family is very important to us,” Carlie says. “I couldn’t believe it when a few days before we moved, my supervisor called me and helped adapt my role to work for my family.”
Today, Carlie, Brandon and 1 year-old daughter, Addison, are thriving. And while Carlie’s story may have had a uniquely happy ending, the desire to balance the demands of work and family is increasingly commonplace. Driven in part by the rise of dual-career households, flexibility has never been more important. A 2015 survey conducted by Ernst & Young’s Global Generation Research found that 74 percent of respondents prioritize flexible work arrangements, including paid family leave. Employees are looking for, and even demanding, that work fits into daily life wherever possible and not the other way around.
