Scholar's Choice

What does a strong, family-friendly organization look like? To answer that question, look no further than last year's winner of the Special Friends of Children Business Award Winner, Scholar's Choice. With 24 locations throughout Canada and a head office in London, Scholar's Choice is a leader in education materials and toys for children, parents and teachers. With numerous policies for customers and employees, Scholar's Choice is also a leader in innovative family-friendly practices.

For parents and children, Scholar's Choice provides an extremely family-friendly atmosphere, coupled with toys, games and activities designed to promote self-esteem and education from 0 to Grade 8. Products sold by Scholar's Choice are all safe and non-violent and feature long-term play value. A play area within each store allows children to enjoy different toys and games, allowing adults to shop in relative peace. Free craft events held throughout the year also provide fun activities. In addition, washrooms are accessible. Each store also offers gift-wrapping on purchases, in a variety of seasonal papers. This allows customers to go straight from the store to a child's party.

Teaching materials also comprise an important part of Scholar's Choice's catalog. Products are selected to provide teachers and parents with the best resources to educate and inspire children. All materials are carefully selected to meet curriculum needs and to be easy to use in the classroom. Since many of the suppliers are from the United States, extra attention is paid to ensure the content is appropriate for Canadian schools.

Scholar's Choice's employees benefit from a number of positive child- and family-friendly policies, designed to make their happier, healthier and more productive, while at the same time nurturing a sense of community within the organization. Employees are eligible for Family Response Days to respond to family crises, which can be as simple as tending to a child with the flu. For family illnesses requiring extended care, employees can set up a flexible work arrangement or take a leave of absence, without jeopardizing the position with the company.

Throughout the year, there are several corporate events to promote family, including a Children's Christmas Party, a Halloween Party and summer picnics and events. At the Christmas Party, each child receives a special gift. Employees without children can donate their gifts to charities. To allow employees to spend the holidays with their families, the head office shuts down between Christmas and New Year's Day.

Scholar's Choice's wellness program compensates employees for their unused sick days with a bonus of two times their day's pay. Thus, four unused sick days would equal a bonus of eight days pay. Also, Scholar's Choice offers reimbursement plans for programs, such as Weight Watchers or a stop smoking program, which help to make their employees healthier. As a special bonus, all employees are entitled to take their birthday off.

Employees at Scholar's Choice participate in profit sharing, with 20% of the company profits being paid out to employees. These bonuses can benefit families in many ways, as RRSP contributions, mortgages payments, or vacation getaways, and promote a sense of teamwork and commitment to the organization.

Scholar's Choice is also quite active within the community. Most prominently, the company was the founding sponsor of the London International Children's Festival, and remains the most significant sponsor to this day. An example is set at the top, where co-founders Scott and Cindy Webster are actively involved with several different community organizations and charities, while many other employees are involved in efforts to make London a better place to live.

Investing in Children, through It Starts with Kids and the Special Friends of Children Business Awards, recognizes businesses that adopt family-friendly practices, both for their customers and their employees.

If you would like to see your business or company profiled in this space, send an e-mail to info@investinginchildren.on.ca, outlining what makes your workplace or practices family-friendly and unique.