Sun Life named a best employer in Massachusetts on Forbes' 2020 Best-In-State Employers list

WELLESLEY, Mass., Sept. 15, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Forbes Media released its second annual Best-In-State employers list, including Sun Life on the Massachusetts company list. The survey was conducted on a rolling basis from October 2019 to May 2020, and covered 80,000 Americans from companies with at least 500 employees.

"Sun Life is a place where everyone can come to work and be their best, authentic selves, no matter their background, profession, or location," said Tammi Wortham, vice president of Human Resources for Sun Life U.S. "We believe in supporting employees in multiple ways, at home and on the job, and providing a healthy work/life balance that benefits the employee, their family, and the company."

In 2019, Sun Life launched a new paid family and medical leave program that offers fully paid leave for 16 weeks to bond with a new child or care for a family member, 24 weeks for birth parents (which includes 8 weeks medical leave), and 24+ weeks for medical leave for an employee's own illness or injury. Even while working from home employees who have qualifying events have been encouraged to take leave to attend to themselves or be with their families.

Early in the pandemic, Sun Life rallied quickly to support employees while providing a seamless transition to working virtually. Senior leadership announced a Flexibility Pledge, which encourages employees to step away to be with children, bounce the baby on their lap during a conference call, take a walk, or go get groceries. Over the summer, Sun Life partnered with the Boston Children's Museum to develop a virtual summer camp exclusively for employees' children, offering modules and activities kids can do at home. Most recently, Sun Life signed on to the Invest In Parents pledge, strengthening the company's commitment to supporting, protecting, and investing in working parents.

"Our employees have shown true resilience this year, and their commitment to their work and our clients, who are employers navigating unbelievable challenges right now, is truly amazing," said Dan Fishbein, M.D., president of Sun Life U.S. "We are now looking at the future of how we work, and although we know it may wind up looking quite different, we will continue innovating and adapting to support our employees and their families."

Other employee benefits at Sun Life include a sabbatical program, where employees can take time away to focus on personal or professional development, and access to several wellness programs, such as smoking cessation and stress management. Many wellness offerings are still available to employees virtually while the offices are closed.

Sun Life's employee programs include several diversity and inclusion networks to celebrate and support colleagues, promote community volunteerism and foster professional development. Sun Life consistently receives a 100% score on the Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index, which measures workplace inclusion and support for LGBTQ employees, and has joined many Supreme Court amicus briefs in support of LGBTQ rights. Sun Life also recently partnered with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the Smithsonian National Museum of African-American History and Culture to provide ongoing support and promotion of their initiatives on voting activism and discussions on race and racism.

About Sun Life
Sun Life is a leading international financial services organization providing insurance, wealth and asset management solutions to individual and corporate Clients. Sun Life has operations in a number of markets worldwide, including Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, India, China, Australia, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia and Bermuda. As of June 30, 2020, Sun Life had total assets under management of C$1,122 billion. For more information, please visit www.sunlife.com.

Sun Life Financial Inc. trades on the Toronto (TSX), New York (NYSE) and Philippine (PSE) stock exchanges under the ticker symbol SLF.

In the United States, Sun Life is one of the largest group benefits providers, serving more than 60,000 employers in small, medium and large workplaces across the country. Sun Life's broad portfolio of insurance products and services in the U.S. includes disability, absence management, life, dental, vision, voluntary and medical stop-loss. Sun Life and its affiliates in asset management businesses in the U.S. employ approximately 5,500 people. Group insurance policies are issued by Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada (Wellesley Hills, Mass.), except in New York, where policies are issued by Sun Life and Health Insurance Company (U.S.) (Lansing, Mich.). For more information, please visit www.sunlife.com/us.

Media contact:
Devon Fernald
Sun Life U.S.
781-800-3609
[email protected] 

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SOURCE Sun Life U.S.