FW: Top 100 Companies for Working Families

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Subject: Top 100 Companies for Working Families

Embry-Riddle Ranks Among Top 100

Family-Friendly Companies in Central Florida

Daytona Beach, Fla., Aug. 8, 2005 – Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University was named one of Central Florida’s Top 100 Companies for Working Families at the Top 100 Awards Luncheon held Aug. 5 at Universal Orlando Resort.

Compiled annually by the Orlando Sentinel and published in the Aug. 7 edition of the newspaper’s Florida Magazine special section, the Top 100 list honors the local companies most committed to family-friendly policies.

Embry-Riddle has 2,000 full-time employees worldwide, 1,255 of them in Central Florida. As the world’s largest university specializing in aviation and aerospace, Embry-Riddle educates more than 30,000 students annually at its residential campuses in Daytona Beach and Prescott, Ariz., and through its worldwide Extended Campus, which is headquartered in Daytona Beach.

“Our employees who have families clearly appreciate tuition waivers, a paid time-off plan, and health insurance with vision and dental coverage,” said Irene McReynolds, university director of human resources. She added that Embry-Riddle benefits have been available to an employee’s domestic partner since 2003.

Committed to assisting its employees with childcare expenses, Embry-Riddle recently began offering up to four consecutive weeks of adoption leave, with salary compensation ranging from 60 to 100 percent during the leave period. Workers also receive a 10 percent discount on tuition at KinderCare Learning Centers and may set aside pre-tax dollars to pay for dependent daycare.

Employees and their family members have access to a world-class education at Embry-Riddle through 100 percent waivers of tuition for credit courses and 25 percent waivers of flight lab fees. More than 30 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in aviation/aerospace, engineering, business, and related fields are available. Another financial advantage for employees is the school’s 403(b) retirement program. Employee contributions are tax-deferred, and the university contributes as well, matching up to 8 percent of an employee’s annual salary.

Embry-Riddle makes sure its employees get plenty of time to spend with their families, starting with 10 paid holidays each year, plus the business days between Christmas and New Year’s Day. Workers also accrue personal leave, which is used for vacation, illness, and so on, and increases with years of service. New employees receive 16 hours of personal leave with their first day of employment and earn between 12 and 18 days of personal leave in their first year of full-time employment.

Employees and their families can use the school’s recreational facilities free of charge to swim, kickbox, and play everything from basketball to badminton. In addition, the university hosts a free Family Fun Day annually for its employees and their family members at an area attraction and offers year-round discounts to Kennedy Space Center, theme parks, and dinner theaters.

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the world’s largest, fully accredited university specializing in aviation and aerospace, offers more than 30 degree programs in its colleges of Arts and Sciences, Aviation, Business, and Engineering. Embry-Riddle educates more than 30,000 students annually in undergraduate and graduate programs at residential campuses in Prescott, Ariz., and Daytona Beach, Fla., through the Extended Campus at more than 130 centers in the United States, Canada, Europe, and the Middle East, and through distance learning.

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Jim Hampton
Director, Public Relations
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
600 S. Clyde Morris Blvd.
Daytona Beach, FL 32114-3900
386-226-6182
386-226-6158 Fax
www.embryriddle.edu