Salt Lake Chamber Releases Report on Utah Working Parents

Mark Tullis

Sep 13, 2022 - 2 min read

Supportive Employer Policies Are Critical for Employee Retention

Today the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute at the University of Utah's David Eccles School of Business released a new report about issues related to working parents. The report was sponsored by the Salt Lake Chamber, Utah Community Builders and the Utah Department of Health and Human Services. It highlights supportive policies that employers could enact to recruit, support and retain working parents in Utah’s competitive labor market.

The report addresses areas where employers and employees can work together on work-life balance and shows that while most are satisfied with their current work and child care arrangement, many parents and guardians also believe policies such as flexible/stable hours and schedule, remote/hybrid work options, better part-time job opportunities, increased wage/salary, paid family leave, and child care assistance are important to achieving their ideal situation.

The report's key findings include:

Supportive employer policies are important – Many parents/guardians would work more or change their job if they had supportive policies at work.
Wages/salary are important, but not the whole story – An increased wage or salary is ranked as important to achieving the ideal work and childcare arrangement by the greatest number of respondents, but it comes in sixth in policies that would be most influential in choosing to change jobs, employer or industry.
Demographics matter – Respondents’ employer policy preferences differ significantly between respondents with different characteristics, such as age, gender, income, whether there are children under six in the household, and level of satisfaction with current work and childcare arrangement.

"The private sector is uniquely positioned to drive real progress on issues affecting businesses, workforce and families, says Derek Miller, President and CEO of the Salt Lake Chamber. "We encourage employers to take the time to review the report and implement policies that will not only strengthen our workforce, but also generate new opportunities to find untapped talent and create an environment supportive of work-life balance."