Olympus Recognized as an Adoption- and Military-Friendly Employer
The company also earned the Military Friendly Spouse Employer designation and announces a partnership with the Wounded Warrior Program.
Olympus Corporation of the Americas announced today that it has again been recognized as a military- and adoption-friendly workplace.
Olympus earned the 2022 Military Friendly® Employer designation, marking the fifth consecutive year the company has received the designation. Olympus also earned the 2022 Military Friendly® Spouse Employer designation for the first time and announced its new partnership with the Wounded Warrior Program.
Olympus has also been named to the 2021 Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption’s annual list of America’s Best Adoption-Friendly Workplaces for the fourth consecutive year.
OCA’s Adoption Assistance Program reimburses U.S. full- and part-time eligible employees for all or a portion of qualifying expenses incurred (up to $10,000) from their legal adoption of a child. Qualifying adoption expenses include, but are not limited to, adoption, attorney and court fees and travel expenses.
Ben Gundersen, an account manager in Olympus’ Center Valley-based Medical Systems Group, and his wife, Brielle, recently finalized an emotional and lengthy adoption process that was about two years in the making. Having adopted before, the Gundersens were approached in 2019 by a family friend about adopting the little boy of a mother in Utah.
“Ansel Arlo came into our lives suddenly and without warning,” Ben Gundersen said.
The Gundersens would eventually meet the birth mother in Utah, where they were told she and the birth father agreed with the adoption. But shortly after the birth mother signed over guardianship to the Gundersens, the birth father opposed the adoption and a two-year legal fight ensued. The Gundersens found themselves in the middle of a custody battle between the birth mother and father that included a daylong court hearing during which the Gundersens were twice told to return Ansel to the birth mother.
They eventually reached out to the birth father to get to know him better and invited him to their home to see how Ansel was thriving with their family. The adoption was finalized in September, and the Gundersens continue to have a good relationship with the birth parents.
“This was surely a lesson in patience and, at the end of the day, love.”
“This was surely a lesson in patience and, at the end of the day, love,” Ben Gundersen said. “We learned so much about letting go when the situation is not controllable, while keeping faith that it will turn out the way it was intended.”
The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption publishes the list of top 100 Adoption Friendly Workplaces. The full list of winners can be found on the foundation’s website.
Companies earning the Military Friendly Employer Designation were evaluated using both public data sources and responses from a proprietary survey. Methodology, criteria and weightings were determined by VIQTORY with input from the Military Friendly Advisory Council of independent leaders in the high education and military recruitment community.
Final ratings were determined by combining an organization’s survey score with an assessment of the organization’s ability to meet thresholds for applicant, new hire retention, employee turnover and promotion and advancement of veterans and military employees.
The Wounded Warrior Program provides wounded veterans access to mental and physical health, career counseling and peer and family support services free of charge.
