For Dallas-based Match Group, being family-friendly is core to the company’s values.

In the business of sparking meaningful connections, the online dating pioneer inspires relationships that often lead to falling in love, getting married, and for many, having children. Within the walls of Match Group, many employees are also parents with young kids, including top executives.

Through shared experiences, the company’s leadership recognizes that fostering an inclusive work environment begins with a supportive culture that empowers employees to thrive in both the workplace and at home.

“Our commitment to a family-friendly culture starts at the top,” said Valerie North, people manager for Match Group. “Above any benefit to our bottom line, we embrace and support our working parents because it’s the right thing to do.”

Generous benefits and policies

The commitment to family-friendliness translates into a thoughtful and generous set of benefits and policies for Match Group’s employees. The benefits package includes full healthcare coverage, like telemedicine services, and generous paid parental leave following the birth or adoption of a child—up to 16 weeks for new mothers and up to 12 weeks for new fathers and adoptive parents.

When new mothers return to the workplace, there are on-site nursing rooms to make breastfeeding private and safe. All parents who are enrolled in a healthcare plan also have childcare benefits for pediatric screenings, including specialty care referrals for hearing, vision, and developmental disorders. Match Group goes a step beyond accommodating its working parents and provides support for employees considering parenthood, as well—including a generous subsidy towards fertility preservation benefits such as egg freezing.

Childcare options

For parents with young children, having quality and affordable childcare options is essential to balancing work life. Match Group assists its working parents in accessing childcare, including through a dependent care flexible spending account that gives employees the option of paying dependent care expenses with pre-tax funds. Beyond concrete benefits, Match Group’s culture of transparency and autonomy enables employees to alter their work schedules to support a strong work-family balance.

Flexibility is a staple of Match Group’s workplace. Long before the pandemic, employees could adjust their working hours and location to suit their needs. While COVID-19 forced the entirety of Match Group’s staff to a virtual work environment, the company’s benefits package and flexible work culture provided for an easy and productive transition in the early weeks of the pandemic.

“The pandemic affirmed our commitment to being family-friendly,” said North. “Not only did our existing policies become more important during the crisis, but they were instrumental in facilitating a successful transition to a fully remote operation.”

Emergency leave and home-based care

Still, the stresses and strains created by the pandemic led Match Group to implement new strategies. For example, the company extended an additional three weeks of paid emergency leave to staff. Introduced in 2020, the benefit will remain through the end of 2021—and potentially beyond—to support employees during unexpected and disruptive life events.

Match Group also partnered with Care.com, a childcare locator service, to connect its working parents with home-based care options while schools and childcare centers were widely closed. That partnership included a subsidy to ensure employees were able to take advantage of the in-home support.

Not all of Match Group’s family-friendly benefits are designed for parents. For more than 10 years, the company has hosted an annual “Bring Your Child to Work Day” at its Dallas headquarters, complete with age-themed games and interactive activities for kids of Match Group employees. By merging home and professional life, these experiences illustrate Match Group’s approach to promoting a family-friendly work environment.

Hoping to inspire other companies

Match Group hopes that other Dallas-area employers will view their support for working parents as inspiration. For those without robust benefits packages, North recommended starting small.

“Being family-friendly isn’t all or nothing,” said North. “Start by considering just one new policy that would support working parents. Dallas is already a family-focused city, and we have an even greater opportunity to lead in family-friendly workplaces.”

The Dallas Regional Chamber (DRC) strongly believes in the importance of family-friendly workplaces. In partnership with PNC Bank, the DRC was proud to launch the Best Place for Working Parents Dallas in January 2021, a new initiative to recognize and promote family-friendly workplaces through a first-of-its-kind business self-assessment. In this ongoing series, the DRC will feature Dallas region companies whose support for working parents go above and beyond the 10 policies recommended by the Best Place for Working Parents program.

Learn more about Best Place for Working Parents Dallas and complete the business self-assessment by visiting the DRC website.

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