Sutin, Thayer & Browne was recognized as a Family-Friendly Business during the fifty-fourth legislature’s 2020 second session. For its ongoing commitment in this regard, the firm earned the Platinum Level award—the highest level of recognition—from Family Friendly New Mexico, an organization committed to helping businesses improve their work environments.
This is the first year the Platinum Level was awarded. To achieve this level, the firm met at least two core policies in each of the four original categories (Paid Leave, Health Support, Work Schedules, and Economic Support) and at least one in each of three new categories (Pay Equity, Diversity & Inclusion, and Community Investment).
The nonprofit group has found that businesses with family friendly policies are better able to recruit the most qualified employees, improve employee retention, morale, loyalty, and worker productivity. Tina Gooch, a lawyer with Sutin and a member of the Family Friendly New Mexico Business Leadership Council, spoke on behalf of the firm from the Roundhouse’s Rotunda.
“The benefits Sutin has enjoyed as a result of implementing family friendly policies have been immediate and widespread,” she says. “For instance, our flexible time policy empowers employees to take care of family issues – meaning they never have to make the difficult choice between being a good employee and a good parent or caregiver.”
The need for family friendly policies is great, and it is growing. In 2010, The Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Kids Count Data Center found that 59% of all New Mexico’s children under six had all parents working in the labor force. The following year, it had escalated to 63%.
Regarding Sutin’s achieving Platinum status this year, Gooch says, “Moving up a level makes us aware we need to continue to improve our game. The policies we had in place are very good, and now we are working to make them great.”