MIT has been named the winner among large businesses in the Boston area for the quality of its work-life and family policies. The award, known as the Boston's Best Companies for Working Families Award, arose from an initiative sponsored by the Boston Parents' Paper; the online parenting information service, LocalMom.com; and the Boston College Center for Work & Family.
Laura Avakian, vice president for Human Resources at MIT, will accept the award at a gala breakfast celebration at the Hotel Meridien today.
"We are delighted with this recognition of MIT's commitment to helping our employees and faculty balance work and family matters. It is particularly meaningful because the award is based in part on our staff's responses to a confidential survey. We will continue to listen to our employees to find innovative approaches to improving the quality of work life here," said Ms. Avakian.
"We need to move ahead together with other companies to meet the challenging work of organizational change and to develop resources so people can have healthy family lives," said Kathy Simons, co-director of MIT's Family Resource Center.
The winner in the small business category was Crittenton Hastings House, a non-profit in Boston that helps individuals and families, particularly teen parents, with housing, education, life skills and job training. The three sponsors of the awards also presented special recognition awards to John Hancock Financial Services Inc. and State Street Corp. for their own work-life programs and the high satisfaction level of their employees.
The Parents' Paper initiative began a year ago in an effort to highlight companies that have best met the work-life needs of employees.
Both LocalMom.com and the Boston Parents' Paper will run special articles on the initiative in their respective upcoming editions.
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on October 25, 2000.
