MCLEAN, Va. Dec. 12, 2016 – Creating a welcoming environment that gives working parents flexibility and opportunities to excel at home and work is an imperative for Mars, Incorporated. Today the company is proud to announce its place on the list of 2016 Best Workplaces for Parents in the U.S.

Mars was ranked at no. 35 on the list, which was analyzed by Great Place to Work® and published by Fortune. The list is based on anonymous employee feedback and reported benefits for working parents at companies in the U.S across a range of industries. The ranking considered the results from more than 120,000 surveys of U.S. workers. Mars and other winning businesses this year excelled in parents' assessment of their companies' fairness, camaraderie, professional opportunities and other key factors essential to a rewarding career.

“This recognition is such an exciting accomplishment for us at Mars. We are proud of our Associates and their commitment to success at home and in the office every day, both of which have a direct and positive impact in our award-winning workplace culture and environment,” said Cheryl DeSantis, Vice President, People & Organization, Mars Petcare North America.

The most valuable benefits for parents across Mars’ Food, Chocolate, Wrigley, Petcare, Drinks and Symbioscience segments in the U.S. include 30 days of paid leave for new parents. This paid leave is in addition to a mother's appropriate benefits during the short-term disability period. Many Mars Associates also take advantage of flexible schedules, compressed work weeks and telecommuting to ensure working parents can be present for their children and families at home.

Additionally, Mars provides $5,000 per child to aid in Associate adoption efforts, and recognizes adoption as official parental leave. Healthcare options and fertility benefits are also available to the more than 12,000 Mars’ U.S. Associates who are already parents, or may plan to become parents.

“Organizations like Fortune and Great Place to Work® help us to continually evaluate and adjust existing programs to ensure we have industry leading benefits in place that help to drive engagement and satisfaction with our Associates,” continued Cheryl. These learnings are paired with constant direction from Mars' Five Principles of Quality, Responsibility, Mutuality, Efficiency and Freedom, which guide the company's philosophy on everything from sustainability to philanthropy.

Mars was also recently named a 2016 Best Workplaces for Diversity by Great Place to Work® and Fortune.

About Mars, Incorporated

Mars, Incorporated is a private, family-owned business with more than a century of history and some of the best-loved brands in the world. Some of these iconic brands include: Petcare – PEDIGREE®, ROYAL CANIN®, WHISKAS®, IAMS®, EUKANUBA®, WHISTLE®, BANFIELD® Pet Hospital, PET PARTNERS ®, CESAR®, SHEBA®, DREAMIES®, WISDOM PANEL®, BLUEPEARL®, GREENIES® and NUTRO®; Chocolate – M&M'S®, SNICKERS®, DOVE®, GALAXY®, MARS®, MILKY WAY®, 3 MUSKETEERS® BOUNTY®, MALTESERS ®, TWIX® and AMERICAN HERITAGE®; Wrigley – DOUBLEMINT®, EXTRA®, ORBIT® and 5™ chewing gums, SKITTLES® and STARBURST®candies, and ALTOIDS® AND LIFESAVERS® mints; Food – UNCLE BEN'S®, DOLMIO®, EBLY®, MASTERFOODS®, SEEDS OF CHANGE®and ROYCO®; Drinks – ALTERRA COFFEE ROASTERS™, THE BRIGHT TEA COMPANY™, KLIX® and FLAVIA®; and Symbioscience – COCOAVIA®.

Headquartered in McLean, Virginia, Mars has more than $35 billion in net sales from Mars Petcare, Mars Wrigley, Mars Food, Mars Drinks and Mars Symbioscience. More than 80,000 Associates across 78 countries are united by the company's Five Principles: Quality, Efficiency, Responsibility, Mutuality and Freedom and strive every day to create relationships with stakeholders that deliver growth Mars is proud of as a company.

For more information, please visit Mars.com. Follow Mars on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn.

About The Best Workplaces for Parents

Published together with Fortune, The Best Workplaces for Parents ranking is based upon feedback from 122,482 working parents at Great Place to Work–Certified companies that completed the Trust Index© Employee Survey. Mothers, fathers and their colleagues answered 58 questions about the reality of their day-to-day work experience, including organization-wide support for work-life balance, the quality of benefits, the fairness of opportunities for professional development and advancement, and their overall assessment of the quality of their workplace. To determine the winners, Great Place to Work analyzed how positively mothers and fathers experienced their workplace overall, paying special attention to an index of factors where parents tended to have a less positive experience than colleagues without children. The ranking also takes into account how favorably parents experienced their workplace relative to colleagues without children, as well as the availability and generosity of maternity and paternity leave programs, adoption support and childcare programs. Organizations needed to have at least 50 employees to be considered and were compared to peers of similar size.

About Great Place to Work

Great Place to Work is the global authority on high-trust, high-performance workplace cultures. Through proprietary assessment tools, advisory services, and certification programs, including Best Workplaces lists and workplace reviews, Great Place to Work provides the benchmarks, framework, and expertise needed to create, sustain, and recognize outstanding workplace cultures. In the United States, Great Place to Work produces the annual Fortune "100 Best Companies to Work For®" and a series of Great Place to Work Best Workplaces lists, including lists for Millennials, Women, Diversity, Small and Medium Companies and over a half dozen different industries.

Follow Great Place to Work online at www.greatplacetowork.com and on Twitter at @GPTW_US.