SALISBURY — Lisa Finaldi, community engagement leader for the North Carolina Early Childhood Foundation, encouraged employers to retain employees by creating a workplace that is family-friendly at Thursday’s Power in Partnership breakfast.

Finaldi spoke about several opportunities business leaders have to invest in early-childhood development, based on the foundation’s Family Forward NC. The idea is to get business executives thinking about what they can do to support children through company policies and practices.

“People really understand these family-friendly benefits can really help ensure that employers have a competitive edge,” Finaldi said.

She suggested benefits that can accommodate families.

One is having predictable scheduling. She said food industry workers often don’t know their schedules until the Sunday before the workweek begins, making it difficult to take their children to a dentist appointment or volunteer for a school activity.

She said an expensive option is providing child care, whether it is subsidizing care, providing on-site care or having back-up or emergency care.

“Because of the price of child care, families are making a decision for one person — even though they can’t afford to stay home — to stay home because child care costs more than going to work,” Finaldi said. “Over time, this affects the family’s economic mobility.”

She spoke about accommodating mothers. For pregnant women, being mindful about the time they are required to stand is important; for mothers, providing a space other than a restroom for them to breastfeed helps.

Finaldi said the effect of making such changes is long-term health.

Dari Caldwell, president of Novant Health, told breakfast participants that because the health system has a large workforce of women, it has provided lactation rooms for employees. She added that Novant has lactation consultants to help employers make the workplace friendly for breastfeeding. She said that means a lot to working mothers.

Finaldi said employers investing in children leaves a lasting impact on society. Her goal with North Carolina Early Childhood Foundation is to encourage employers to make a changes.

“Today is really about how do we unleash the potential of young children, because when we do that, our state prospers and our country prospers,” she said.

If parents have the time to focus on building their kids’ brains through talking to them consistently and allowing them to play by making up rules and games, that teaches them social and emotional skills.

“When children get all these things, they’re most likely to be on track for third-grade reading and for career and academic success,” Finaldi said.

Caldwell added: “To have a healthy community, having early childhood education is one the most important factors.”

Finaldi said the conversation is important now because the unemployment rate is low and employers have to be attractive to potential employees.

“Right now, people are having trouble hiring people,” Finaldi said. “It’s a good time to have a conversation about what we can do to maintain good workers and protect them.”

The last Power in Partnership of the season will be the Leadership Rowan Graduation on May 16.