"100 Best" companies for women

Five D.C. companies were among 100 who are being highlighted by Working Mother magazine for maintaining workplaces that allow women to keep balance between their work and home lives. For the 25th year, the list of "Working Mother Best 100" companies spotlights companies that "set a new standard for family-friendly policies." The local companies include:

• Arnold & Porter
• Covington & Burling
• Fannie Mae
• FINRA
• National Education Association

Congratulations to them and to their very fortunate employees. The news release below, e-mailed to me by Ila Tyagi of The Rosen Group, a publicist for the magazine, explains the list and why the magazine chose to celebrate such companies.

Print out and show this post to your boss, give or her a hard look and then say something like, "How nice it must be to work for a company with such progressive, enlightened leadership. How wonderful that must be for the employees and the bottom line!"

New York, NY (September 14, 2010) -- Celebrating its silver anniversary this year, the Working Mother 100 Best Companies initiative has set the bar for forward-thinking, family-friendly workplace policies for a quarter-century. Today, the Working Mother 100 Best Companies offer better benefits than ever before, eclipsing their counterparts nationwide. With 70 percent of mothers working and women outnumbering men in the workplace for the first time in U.S. history working moms have come a long way.

"Twenty-five years ago, we made a bold decision to launch our Best Companies initiative and challenge businesses to address the unique needs of working mothers," said Carol Evans, President, Working Mother Media. "The immense influx of women into the workforce demanded changes in workplace culture as companies strove to keep working moms' talent and loyalty. Today, we celebrate our winners' untiring commitment to their employees through an impressive array of programs."

While the Working Mother 100 Best Companies continue expanding their benefits, those at companies nationwide° lag. Just 44 percent of American companies offer telecommuting (vs. 100 percent of the 100 Best), 17 percent offer formal mentoring (vs. 95 percent), and 37 percent offer health insurance for part-timers (vs. 100 percent). 49 percent of employers offered flextime last year, down from 54 percent the prior year. In contrast, all of the 100 Best Companies offer paid maternity leave, lactation rooms, flextime, mental health consultations and elder-care resources; and 98 percent offer health screening and wellness programs--particularly significant in a stress-inducing, poor economy.

Improvements in these companies' offerings to working-family employees include:

THEN: Six weeks of partially-paid maternity leave
NOW: Six to 14 weeks at full pay, with pre-maternity leaves and new-mom phase-back

THEN: Four percent of Best Companies offered paternity leave
NOW: 75 percent of Best Companies offer paternity leave

THEN: Seven Best Companies offered on-site childcare
NOW: 99 Best Companies offer a range of services including backup child-care, sick childcare, before- and after-school care and summer camps for kids

THEN: Stress reduction programs
NOW: Fully-staffed medical centers at 63 percent, fitness centers at 78 percent and exercise classes at 80 percent of Best Companies

"There's been a dramatic change in America's mindset," said Suzanne Riss, Editor in Chief, Working Mother. "In 1986, women didn't acknowledge the fact that they were a mom at work for fear of being 'mommy tracked.' Today, moms have photos of their kids on their desks because companies recognize that moms make high-achieving, loyal and ambitious employees. What's more, other employee groups - including dads and people with aging parents - have benefited from the policies promoted by the 100 Best."

The Working Mother 100 Best Companies employ dynamic programs that adeptly help employees in all areas of their lives. Employees who want to learn how to build a nest egg in a cracked economy can benefit from Prudential Financial's one-on-one budget coaching. Intel supplies employees and their children and grandchildren with homework help via a tutoring hotline. And employees at Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey work with a former stand-up comedian to learn how humor can reduce stress, as part of a five-year program focused on education, exercise and overall well-being.

Profiles of the 100 Best Companies, as well as national comparisons, are in the October issue of 

Working Mother and at workingmother.com/bestcompanies.

THE 2010 WORKING MOTHER 100 BEST COMPANIES

*Indicates a Top 10 winning company
־ Indicates a company on the list for all 25 years

• Abbott
• Accenture
• Allstate Insurance Company
• American Electric Power
• American Express Company
• AOL
• Arnold & Porter LLP
• AstraZeneca
• Automatic Data Processing, Inc.
• Bain & Company, Inc.
• Bank of America*
• Baptist Health South Florida
• Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina
• Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceutical USA
• Bon Secours Richmond Health System
• Booz Allen Hamilton
• The Boston Consulting Group, Inc.
• Bristol-Myers Squibb
• Bronson Healthcare Group, Inc.
• Capital One Financial Corporation
• Carlson Companies
• Children's Healthcare of Atlanta
• Cisco
• Citi
• Colgate-Palmolive Company
• Covington & Burling LLP
• Credit Suisse
• Dell Inc.
• Deloitte*
• Deutsche Bank
• Diageo North America
• Discovery Communications*
• Dow Corning Corporation
• DuPont
• Eli Lilly and Company
• Ernst & Young*
• Fannie Mae
• FINRA
• First Horizon National Corporation
• First National Bank
• Freddie Mac
• Genentech
• General Electric Company
• General Mills*
• Goldman, Sachs & Co.
• Grant Thornton LLP
• Hallmark Cards, Inc.
• HCA Virginia Health System - Richmond Market
• Hewitt Associates LLC
• Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey
• HP
• IBM Corporation* ־
• Intel
• Johnson & Johnson ־
• Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP
• Kellogg Company
• KPMG LLP*
• Kraft Foods, Inc.
• LEGO Systems, Inc.
• March of Dimes Foundation
• Marriott International, Inc.
• MasterCard Worldwide
• McGladrey
• The McGraw-Hill Companies
• McKinsey & Company
• Merck & Co., Inc.
• Mercy Health System
• MetLife, Inc.
• Microsoft Corporation
• Moffitt Cancer Center
• Monsanto Company
• Morgan Stanley
• National Education Association
• New York Life Insurance Company
• Northern Trust Corporation
• Northwestern Memorial HealthCare
• Novo Nordisk Inc.
• Patagonia, Inc.
• Pearson Inc.
• Pfizer Inc.
• Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP
• The PNC Financial Services Group
• PricewaterhouseCoopers*
• The Principal Financial Group
• Procter & Gamble
• Prudential Financial, Inc.
• sanofi-aventis U.S.
• SC Johnson
• Scripps Health
• Texas Instruments Incorporated
• TriHealth, A Partnership of Bethesda and Good Samaritan
• Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.
• University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics*
• VCU Health System
• Verizon Communications Inc.
• WellPoint, Inc.
• WellStar Health System*
• Wyndham Worldwide
• Yale University
• Yale-New Haven Hospital

_______________________

By Avis Thomas-Lester  for the Washington Post