Kin, a New Parent Support Program from Medela, Receives Honorable Mention in Workplace Category of Fast Company’s 2022 World Changing Ideas Awards

McHenry, IL, May 10, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The winners of Fast Company’s 2022 World Changing Ideas Awards have been announced, honoring bold innovative corporate initiatives, clean technology, brave new designs for cities and buildings tackling issues from climate change to inequality, and other creative works that are supporting the growth of positive social innovation, tackling social inequality, climate change and public health crises. Medela’s program Kin – Healthy Returns for New Parents, was named Honorable Mention in the Workplace category, for its innovative and proactive approach to supporting new parents in the workplace.

“Today in America, many employers are trying to grapple with staffing, retention, and morale, while many working parents are feeling stretched and unsupported at work,” said Jeff Castillo, executive vice president for the Americas at Medela. “There is a lot of evidence that supporting an inclusive environment and working parents makes good business sense. Kin offers a customizable, single-source solution designed to make it easier for employers to support their employees who have recently welcomed a little one to their family, helping enable them to continue feeding breast milk for as long as they choose.”

Kin helps address the challenges that many new parents need of a supportive workplace while transitioning back to work after a new baby. Through Kin, employers can provide breast milk feeding equipment and supplies from Medela. Employees can access information on how to have return to work and breastfeeding support conversations with employers. Kin provides resources and educational materials about breast milk feeding to ensure employees feel informed and comfortable when returning to work after having a baby, private lactation spaces through Mamava, breast milk shipping for traveling employees. Kin also helps employers with HR toolkits, templates, and turnkey resources for employees.

Now in its sixth year, the World Changing Ideas Awards showcase 39 winners, 350 finalists, and more than 600 honorable mentions—with climate, social justice, and AI and data among the most popular categories. A panel of eminent Fast Company editors and reporters selected finalists, like Medela, from a pool of more than 2,997 entries across transportation, education, food, politics, technology, health, social justice, and more. In addition, several new categories have been added this year including climate, nature, water, and workplace. The 2022 awards feature entries from across the globe, from Switzerland to Hong Kong to Australia.

“We are consistently inspired by the novelty and creativity that people are applying to solve some of our society’s most pressing problems, from shelter to workplace issues to the climate crisis. Fast Company relishes its role in amplifying important, innovative work to address big challenges,” says David Lidsky, interim editor-in-chief of Fast Company. “Our journalists have identified some of the most ingenious initiatives to launch since the start of 2021, which we hope will both have a meaningful impact and lead others to join in being part of the solution.”

Fast Company’s Summer 2022 issue (on newsstands May 10, 2022) will showcase some of the world’s most inventive entrepreneurs and companies tackling global challenges. The issues highlight, probiotics for coral reefs, easy-to-assemble kit homes for refugees or disaster survivors, a 3D printed vaccine patch, an electric truck, a system to heat homes from the waste heat of a name-brand factory, among others.

About Medela

Through advancing research, observing natural behavior, and listening to our customers, Medela turns science into care while nurturing health for generations. Medela supports millions of moms, babies, patients and healthcare professionals in more than 100 countries all over the world.  As the healthcare choice for more than 6 million hospitals and homes across the globe, Medela provides the leading research-based breast milk feeding and baby products, healthcare solutions for hospitals, and clinical education. Medela is dedicated to building better health outcomes, simplifying, and improving life, and developing breakthroughs that help moms, babies and patients live their life to the fullest. For more information, visit www.medela.us.

About the World Changing Ideas Awards: World Changing Ideas is one of Fast Company’s major annual awards programs and is focused on social good, seeking to elevate finished products and brave concepts that make the world better. A panel of judges from across sectors choose winners, finalists, and honorable mentions based on feasibility and the potential for impact. With the goals of awarding ingenuity and fostering innovation, Fast Company draws attention to ideas with great potential and helps them expand their reach to inspire more people to start working on solving the problems that affect us all.