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Sloan Award for Business Excellence in Workplace Flexibility

Alfred P. Sloan Award

You are invited to take part in the Alfred P. Sloan Award for Business Excellence in Workplace Flexibility. This is an exciting opportunity for you, as a Houston area employer to garner national recognition for your flexible work programs.

The annual Alfred P. Sloan Award for Business Excellence in Workplace Flexibility is available only in select cities nationwide and provides national recognition to organizations that have successfully used flexibility to meet both business and employee goals. The award honors organizations committed to working with flexibility as an essential ingredient of an effective workplace.

The Flexible Workplace Initiative provides leadership for Houston area employers participating in the Alfred P. Sloan Awards. The program also works in collaboration with the national partners When Work Works to convene local employers to share research, identify best practices locally and nationally, and provide assistance to local employers wishing to apply.

Definitions of Sloan Award Applicants, Finalists, Winners, and Honorable Mentions

Sloan Award APPLICANTS are employers that apply for the Sloan Award and complete the employer survey.  Applicants are self-nominated.

When the employer surveys are scored by Families and Work Institute, employers that are selected as FINALISTS are those that score among the top 20% of employers nationally, based on their responses to the employer questionnaire in comparison with measures of flexibility from Families and Work Institute’s National Study of Employers.  Finalists are invited to move on to the Final Round, or ROUND TWO, which involves a survey of their employees.

After the employee surveys are completed, researchers at Families and Work Institute score the results and produce an overall score for each finalist.  One third of the overall score is derived from the employer survey, and two thirds from the employee survey. The overall score is computed on a scale of 1 to 100, with higher numbers reflecting more positive responses to questions on both surveys. Selection of the winners and honorable mentions is made on the basis of these overall scores.

Employers that qualified as FINALISTS but were not selected as winners or honorable mentions may not have been selected for one of the following reasons:

  • Their overall score was not high enough to be selected as a Sloan Award winner or honorable mention.  
  • They did not reach the minimum required 40% response rate on their employee survey.
  • They elected not to continue with the employee survey or were not responsive to the qualifying notifications sent by Families and Work Institute.

Organizations of all types and sizes can apply:

To be eligible, employers must have:

  • A worksite in one of the 30 Award communities or surrounding areas;
  • Ten or more employees currently working from or reporting to the eligible worksite and has been in operation for at least one year

Some of the many benefits to applying are:

Winners of the Sloan Award will receive local and national recognition including tributes in a local award ceremony and a full-page ad in USA Today. All employers applying for the award receive:

  • National recognition, including a listing in a full-page ad in USA Today
  • Official congratulations in the Congressional Record of the U.S. Senate
  • Company profile feature in a publication on "bold new ideas for making work work," by Families and Work Institute
  • Local recognition, including tribute in an awards ceremony hosted by the Flexible Workplace Initiative Program, coverage in the local media and on Flexworks website.
  • Features in books, articles and other publications by Families and Work Institute, When Work Works, The Flexible Workplace Initiative and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce
  • Authorized use of the Sloan Award Winner logo on company materials
  • Customized benchmarking reports comparing their organization with nationally representative data, local organizations, and Sloan Award Winners