San Francisco PR Agency Announces Texas Relocation Program For Employees
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- A San Francisco-based public relations agency announced Thursday that it will pay its employees to move out of Texas in order to preserve their reproductive rights.
Under the new program, Bospar, which describes itself as "the politely pushy tech PR agency," will pay to relocate any staff member needing to leave Texas in order to keep control of their reproductive health. The company said the policy is in response to the Texas anti-abortion law SB8, signed by Gov. Greg Abbott last week, which prohibits abortions after six weeks.
"Companies and businesses with employees in Texas have a choice right now: offer employees control of their own reproductive health or risk them leaving," said Sarah Freeman, a Bospar senior account executive based in Austin. "Right now, my friends in their 20s and 30s are asking themselves, 'Should I leave Texas?' Since Bospar pioneered the virtual work-from-home model at a national level in 2015, relocating and staying with my company is no problem. Now that the agency is offering to pay for relocation, that makes the decision process that much easier."
The company also announced that if other states pass anti-abortion laws like the one in Texas, it will extend its relocation program to those states.
In an email to KPIX, Bospar principal Curtis Sparrer said he was "personally attached" to the response to the Texas law, being a native Texan who grew up gay and "experienced first-hand the power of Texas legislators who wanted to determine how I lived my life."
"As a company that wants to maintain and attract the best talent, Bospar believes this relocation program – or evacuation program – makes good business sense. We predict other companies will take similar action to retain the best talent until Texas reverses this self-inflicted brain drain," Sparrer wrote.
Founded in 2015, Bospar represents tech companies such as Symantec, Healthline and Tetris. Forbes Magazine listed it as one of America's top PR agencies last year.