As employers rethink what workplace flexibility means in an era of multigenerational caregiving, RTI International has been recognized by U.S. News & World Report among its Best Companies to Work For: Supporting Family Caregiving 2026-27. The designation highlights organizations with policies and workplace practices intended to help employees balance professional responsibilities with caring for children, aging parents and other family members.
For many employees, the workplace is no longer separate from the responsibilities waiting at home.
A parent may need flexibility to handle a child’s appointment. An employee caring for an aging parent may need time away during a medical crisis. Others may be supporting spouses, relatives or loved ones with ongoing care needs.
That reality is putting pressure on employers to rethink employee experience beyond compensation and conventional benefits.
RTI International, an independent scientific research institute, is among the employers recognized by U.S. News & World Report in its Best Companies to Work For: Supporting Family Caregiving 2026-27 ranking. The recognition evaluates companies on programs, policies and workplace practices intended to support employees with family caregiving responsibilities. (prnewswire.com)
The recognition is less about a single benefit than an increasingly important HR question: can employees sustain a career while managing significant responsibilities outside work?
For HR leaders, that question has become strategically relevant as workforce participation, employee retention and workplace flexibility converge.
Caregiving is becoming a workforce issue
Family caregiving is widespread in the U.S. The AARP and National Alliance for Caregiving reported in Caregiving in the U.S. 2025 that 63 million Americans—nearly one in four adults—provided ongoing care to an adult or child with a special need during the previous year. (aarp.org)
That scale makes caregiving difficult for employers to treat as a niche employee-benefits issue.
It can affect absenteeism, productivity, engagement and decisions about whether employees remain with an organization. A worker who has to choose between a career and a dependent’s care needs may ultimately choose neither the job nor the employer.
The implication for HR technology and workforce management is significant. Traditional benefits platforms can tell employees what programs exist. More sophisticated employee experience systems are increasingly expected to make those programs easier to discover, access and integrate with day-to-day work.
The technology does not solve the caregiving challenge by itself, but it can reduce administrative friction around the support employers already provide.
RTI’s recognition highlights flexibility and culture
RTI says its approach is centered on flexibility, employee well-being and a culture that recognizes caregiving responsibilities.
Bucky Fairfax, RTI’s executive vice president and chief human resources officer, said the organization wants employees to be able to pursue meaningful careers without having to choose between professional goals and caring for people who depend on them.
That philosophy reflects a broader change in the definition of employee experience.
Flexibility is increasingly being treated as an operating capability rather than simply a perk. Flexible scheduling, remote or hybrid work arrangements, leave policies, caregiving resources and manager support can determine whether employees are able to remain productive during periods of family disruption.
The critical factor is often whether employees can actually use those policies without being penalized informally.
An organization can offer generous leave and flexible-work policies on paper while employees remain reluctant to use them because of workload, management expectations or concerns about career progression.
That makes manager behavior and workplace culture as important as the benefits themselves.
Why caregiving matters for retention
The business case is becoming clearer as employers face persistent competition for skilled workers.
McKinsey research has found that employees value workplace flexibility highly, with flexibility around when and where people work playing an important role in employee experience and retention. (mckinsey.com)
Caregiving can intensify that calculation.
Employees who have spent years building institutional knowledge may be forced to reconsider their careers when family circumstances change. Losing those employees can create replacement costs, disrupt teams and remove expertise that is difficult to replicate quickly.
For employers, caregiver support can therefore become part of workforce-risk management.
The objective is not to eliminate every conflict between work and family. It is to make the organization resilient enough that temporary caregiving demands do not automatically become permanent employee exits.
HRTech has a role, but policy comes first
Technology vendors are increasingly building employee experience tools around benefits navigation, workforce scheduling, absence management and personalized employee support.
Platforms from Workday, Microsoft, SAP and other enterprise technology providers can help organizations centralize workforce information and automate administrative processes. Benefits and caregiving specialists can go further by connecting employees with resources, eligibility information and support services.
But RTI’s recognition points to a limitation of technology-first HR strategies.
An employee portal cannot compensate for a manager who rejects flexibility. An AI assistant cannot repair a benefits policy that does not meet employees’ needs. And workforce analytics cannot create trust on their own.
The strongest employee experience strategies combine technology with policies that employees can realistically use.
For HR leaders, that means measuring more than benefit enrollment. Organizations should examine whether caregivers are using available programs, whether they experience career penalties, how manager behavior varies across teams and whether caregiving responsibilities correlate with attrition.
That data can turn family-support policies from a collection of benefits into a measurable workforce strategy.
The next phase of employee experience
RTI’s U.S. News recognition arrives as employers increasingly compete on the broader employee experience rather than salary alone.
Family caregiving is one of the clearest examples because it affects employees across generations and career stages. Younger workers may be caring for children, mid-career employees may support children and parents simultaneously, while older workers may be managing responsibilities for spouses or aging relatives.
The result is a workforce issue that crosses traditional HR categories.
It touches benefits, leave, scheduling, workplace flexibility, manager training, employee assistance programs, talent retention and organizational culture.
For HRTech companies, that creates an opportunity to build systems that make workforce policies more personalized and accessible. For employers, however, the technology is only useful when backed by credible policies and a culture in which employees can use them.
RTI’s recognition ultimately underscores a straightforward idea: supporting caregivers is not just about helping employees manage life outside work. It can also help organizations retain experienced talent, sustain engagement and build a workforce capable of navigating changing family responsibilities.
4. Market Landscape
Family caregiving is becoming an increasingly important dimension of workforce strategy. AARP and the National Alliance for Caregiving estimate that 63 million Americans provided ongoing care in 2025, creating a large employee population whose workplace needs can change quickly. (aarp.org)
That trend is pushing HR departments toward a more integrated employee-experience model. Rather than treating caregiving as a benefits question, employers are increasingly connecting it with flexible work, leave management, employee assistance, benefits navigation, workforce planning and retention.
The HRTech opportunity is significant. Employee experience platforms can make policies easier to discover and administer, while workforce analytics can help employers identify where caregiving-related attrition or absence is concentrated.
But the market is also moving toward a more holistic definition of employee support. The competitive advantage will increasingly come from the combination of policy, manager behavior, accessibility and technology, rather than any individual benefit.
Top Insights
- RTI International earned U.S. News recognition for family caregiving support, highlighting how flexibility and employee well-being are becoming strategic HR priorities.
- Nearly one in four U.S. adults provided ongoing care in 2025, making caregiving a workforce issue with direct implications for retention. (aarp.org)
- Caregiver support increasingly intersects with HRTech categories including employee experience, benefits administration, workforce management and flexible scheduling.
- Technology can simplify access to caregiver resources, but organizational culture and manager behavior determine whether employees can use flexibility without career penalties.
- Employers that treat caregiving as part of workforce strategy can potentially strengthen retention by helping experienced employees remain productive through changing family responsibilities.
Join thousands of HR leaders who rely on HRTechEdge for the latest in workforce technology, AI-driven HR solutions, and strategic insights
