Adobe named a top company for working parents

Laura Feeney (right) with her wife Dina and children Kai (age 6) and Rae (age 4).

We are proud to share that Adobe breaks into the top 10 of the prestigious “100 Best Companies” for working mothers list. This is the fifth year in a row that Adobe has earned a place on what was formerly known as the Working Mother “100 Best Companies” list, which is now compiled by Seramount.

Because working parents and caregivers have had to shoulder so much responsibility throughout the pandemic, this year’s winning companies were chosen for focusing on inclusive benefits for families, including paid gender-neutral parental leave, backup childcare, and how these organizations supported their employees throughout COVID-19. Learn more about why Adobe made the list.

As part of this recognition, we were able to nominate an Adobe working mother who embodies Adobe values and has recognized and remedied a problem working parents face. This year, we’re excited to announce that Laura Feeney, senior manager, customer success strategy, has been recognized as a U.S. 2021 Working Mother of the Year.

Creating a school year they’ll never forget

A mom of two young children, Laura joined Adobe in 2014 and currently leads strategy for the Digital Media Customer Success organization. Like so many other parents around the world when the COVID-19 pandemic struck, Laura and her wife Dina found themselves unprepared for the profound challenges they faced in caring for and educating their children.

When their children’s school shut down—which also happened to be where Dina worked as a teacher—the family considered their options. Early on they decided that virtual learning was not an ideal approach for their children since they were so young. Believing that some other parents likely felt the same, they came up with the idea to host an outdoor homeschool pod at their house.

They worked to convert their yard into learning spaces and get other families on board. With Dina teaching a second- and third-grade pod and another teacher leading a pod of eight preschool and kindergarten students, they successfully created a place where students could come together safely, wearing masks, social distancing, and spending most of the time outside in the backyard, while learning in-person with teachers and peers and having some semblance of “normal.”

Rae demonstrates the socially distanced desk arrangement!

“Things were chaotic at times—I was on conference calls in the midst of 16 kids at my house—but I believe it was really beneficial. I think it’s fair to say the kids had a school year they’ll never forget,” recalls Laura. Adding, “The pandemic has been a marathon, not a sprint, and hosting an outdoor school pod was a small way to ease the burden that parents in my community shoulder.”

Laura is thankful to have flexibility in her daily schedule and for ample time-off benefits, including Global Covid-19 Days Off, which allowed her to see to the success of (and recover from!) the homeschool pod last year and spend more time with her family. Plus, she credits Adobe’s culture and the support from her manager and team with enabling her to do what was best for her family and community.

Laura wants the team she manages at Adobe to feel similarly supported to focus on what matters most to them, without feeling guilty, especially as the pandemic lingers on. She tells them, “Do what you need to do to show up again tomorrow, whether it’s showing up for yourself, your family, or your work.”

Adobe benefits to support our employees and their families

At Adobe, we continuously evaluate our benefits and look for ways to provide them with the best health and wellbeing offerings to support them and their family. For instance, this year we’ve introduced Headspace +1 and LifeDojo +1, which allow employees to invite a family or household member to join these popular wellbeing apps for free. Plus, these benefits were recently announced at Adobe For All Week, our internal diversity and inclusion event:

• Disaster and Epidemic Time Off (DETO) benefit to support employees during times of crisis (begins January 1, 2022).
• Global bereavement leave policy expansion to allow both parents to take time for healing in pregnancy loss situations.
• Expanded parental leave time off and adoption assistance reimbursement across Asia-Pacific and EMEA.

Our new benefits join these existing wellbeing resources that can help families thrive, including:

• Flexible schedule options and time off benefits to help you rest, recharge, or take care of your family.
• The Employee Assistance Program (EAP), that connects employees and their family members with professional, confidential counseling.
• The 1,200-parent strong Adobe Parenting Slack channel, where employees can connect and share resources with.
• Wellbeing Matters, a powerful global speaker series that brings experts to Adobe to talk about what matters most to us: our wellbeing.