Career Development Opportunities That Enhance Family Economic Security
This section focuses on family-friendly practices that eliminate common barriers to career development for caregivers and that support re-entry to work, career advancement trajectories, and education and training opportunities.
Barriers to career development often include:
Reluctance among employers to hire or promote women of childbearing age.
Creating a “mommy track” or “daddy track” with long-term consequences for working parents who take a pause in their careers for the birth of a new child.
Developing promotion schedules and earnings trajectories that penalize a working parent for pausing to stay home and bond with a child.
Inadequate paid parental leave for either men or women, which may contribute to inequity.
Offering parental leave to certain employees only, whether only to women or only to employees that are at a certain level of pay.
Resources available to help overcome these barriers include:
RETURN-TO-WORK / RE-ENTRY SUPPORT
What it is
Some companies are beginning to offer ‘returnships’ — internship programs to attract talented job seekers who have taken career breaks and need to revamp their skills.
Benefits of implementing this
In a competitive employment market, businesses may benefit from nontraditional ways to find diverse technical talent, especially through women returning to the workforce. While women’s labor force participation has increased substantially in the U.S. over the second half of the 20th century, this growth has stagnated and reversed since 2000, with participation falling by 3.5 percentage points. Notably, the drop has been widespread for women ages 25 to 54. Mothers with children younger than 18 are less likely to participate in the labor force now than they were in 2000. Employees returning to the workforce are known to bring bringing a professional maturity, commitment, and stability.
Tips and Tools
Re-entry internships enable companies and professionals to assess fit before entering into a permanent arrangement, in the same way that internships do for college graduates.
Return to work programs often incorporate skills training, coaching, peer support, and opportunities in paid project assignments.
Multiple organizations provide partnership opportunities with businesses to develop, pilot, source for, present in and publicize re-entry programs:
According to a 2016 Manpower survey, 84% of millennials anticipate taking a break at some point in their career – so developing programs now may help meet future needs.
FINANCIAL WELLNESS SUPPORTS
WHAT IS IT?
Programs that help employees build better financial habits and provide them with the resources necessary to fare better at any income level or life stage.
LOCAL RESOURCES
Foundation Communities’ Prosper Centers: Providing resources around financial wellness support and coaching, tax preparation, healthcare marketplace and enrollment assistance and college prep coaches. Spanish-speaking coaches are available. Click here to learn more.
Financial Wellness Coaches: Foundation Communities trained Financial Coaches offer classes and one-on-one support to help you achieve your financial goals. They provide tools and resources you can use to improve your credit, pay off debt, create a budget, and build your savings. This is a free service that is open to the public by trained volunteers. Child care for children ages 3 and older is provided and Spanish speaking coaches are available. Click here to schedule an appointment or call the Prosper Centers at 737-717-4000.
OTHER SUPPORTS FOR EMPLOYEES
A variety of other regional supports specifically targeted for employers to assist employees in overcoming obstacles that are barriers to financial stability for themselves and their families.
Transportation
Metro Works: Getting to and from work in Central Texas traffic can be challenging and expensive. Some employers promote carpooling or help pay some of the costs. MetroWorks For Business is a bulk discount program that lets businesses offer employees discounted access to public transit.
Workplace classes to develop skills
English At Work: The Literacy Coalition of Central Texas offers English At Work in the workplace. English @ Work seeks to maximize human potential by sending paid instructors into workplaces across Central Texas—a unique approach to bringing English lessons to those who are motivated to learn and prepared to succeed. Instructors use curriculum customized to the workplace and to students’ job descriptions.
ACC Adult Education Programs: ACC’s Adult Education Division provides classes in English as a Second Language, literacy and civics, and GED preparation in convenient locations across Travis County.
continuing Your education
Goodwill's Excel Center: The first free public charter high school in Texas that provides adults ages 18-50 the opportunity to earn their high school diploma, complete an in-demand professional certification, and begin post-secondary education.
Literacy Coalition of Central Texas: The Learning Center offers multiple levels of free adult basic education classes from Basic Reading to High School Equivalency (GED and HiSET). They also offer Job Readiness and Computer Classes to clients that are looking for a new or better job. Students can enroll at any time of the year during one of the Intake dates. All classes at The Learning Center are free and all Adults 18+ are welcome.
PelotonU: Helps individuals that work full-time, go to school and further their career. They match you with the right online university then offer scholarships, tutoring, study spaces around Austin, and a personal coach to cheer you on towards graduation.
Emergency Loans
A Federal Reserve survey last year found 44% of Americans had difficulty covering an emergency expense of $400. Many low-income workers lack credit history and access to credit cards or bank loans. Employer-sponsored small loans are increasing, often managed by payroll deductions which create high rates of repayment. Often financial institutions and credit unions can assist in implementing an emergency loan program for employees.
Community Loan Center (CLC): Run by Business & Community Lenders (BCL) of Texas, employers can easily elect to participate. A employee can set up auto payroll deduction according to loan repayment schedule. CLC provides immediate need of small dollar loans as well as financial financial education and coaching.
Basic needs and emergency assistance
The Best Single Source Plus (BSS Plus): Provides rent, mortgage, utility assistance and housing supports services to eligible individuals and families in the Travis County and Austin area. BSS Plus is a collaboration among twelve of the area’s leading nonprofit service providers, trading competition for collaboration to benefit those most in need.
Integral Care: Provides rent, mortgage, and housing support assistance to adults and children living with mental illness, substance use disorder and intellectual and developmental disabilities in Travis County.
Travis County Community Centers and the Travis County Family Support Services Division: Provides rental assistance, but limits that assistance to once every 12 months and requires the applicant to register for workforce development, education, or job training services. The assistance require an eviction notice and the family income to be 200% below the poverty level.
Plus 1: A program from Austin Energy that helps by providing emergency financial aid to customers who are having a temporary problem paying their utility bills because of serious illness, a recent job loss, or other emergency.
Preventing Foreclosure
These organizations all provide services to help prevent foreclosures: Frameworks, Cornerstone Financial Education, BCL of Texas, Catholic Charities, HOPE Program for Homeowners Hotline at 1-888-995-HOPE (4673)
SUPPORTING EDUCATION AND CERTIFICATION
What it is
Tuition Assistance Program is a program, generally run through an employer’s human resources department, where employees can take college courses paid for by that employer. Employers typically start the process by supporting courses or programs that are job-related, or degrees that can be reasonably expected to lead to a position at the company with more responsibility. Many employers have a service requirement (the student-employee must agree to stay with the company for a year or more after completing course work or earning a degree, or else must repay some or all of the tuition assistance).
benefits of implementing this
Employer benefits of tuition reimbursement and other continuing education supports result in more qualified employees, which many employers agree can be hard to come by. Employees who take advantage of tuition reimbursement tend to stay with the company longer. In addition to improved employee retention, the employer may have more employees who are easily promotable, saving them money on recruiting new employees.
Tips and Tools
Employee tuition reimbursement program costs are tax-deductible up to $5,250 annually. For employers that choose to offer a $5,250 benefit, after the tax benefit, costs are very low to the employer to offer employees this perk.