Benefits September 21, 2004

Working Mother Magazine Releases 100 Top Companies for Working Moms

September 21, 2004 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Working Mother magazine's latest list of the top 100 companies for working mothers helps to illustrate an increasing trend towards larger and more comprehensive work/life benefits programs.
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The services offered range from geriatric care for aging parents to tuition aid, over a year in maternity leave, and reimbursement for personal trainers.The scope of services offered by the listed companies, stated Carol Evans, CEO of Working Mother Media, which publishes the magazine, has grown phenomenally since the list’s inception nearly two decades ago.

Best Dressed?

All of the “best” offer flextime hours (versus 57% nationwide, based on the 2004 benefits survey of Society for Human Resource Management members), work at home/telecommuting (versus 36% nationwide), and mental health insurance (versus 72% nationwide). Additionally:

  • 99% of the 100 Best offer elder-care referral services versus 21% nationwide.
  • 99% of the 100 Best offer dependent-care flexible spending accounts versus 73% nationwide.
  • 97% of the 100 Best offer compressed workweeks versus 34% nationwide.
  • 97% of the 100 Best offer job-sharing opportunities versus 17% nationwide.
  • 94% of the 100 Best offer child-care resource and referral services versus 19% nationwide.
  • 80% of the 100 Best offer therapeutic massage versus 13% nationwide.
  • 71% of the 100 Best offer take-home meals versus 3% nationwide.
  • 47% of the 100 Best offer paid adoption leave versus 13% nationwide.
  • 46% of the 100 Best offer business-travel child-care reimbursement versus 3% nationwide.
  • 37% of the 100 Best offer paid paternity leave versus 14% nationwide.
  • 29% of the 100 Best offer pay for maternity leave beyond short-term disability versus 13% nationwide.
  • 28% of the 100 Best offer emergency/backup elder care versus 2% nationwide.

Top 10

The top 10 companies for working moms are, in no particular order:

  • IBM
  • Johnson & Johnson
  • PricewaterhouseCoopers
  • JPMorgan Chase
  • Prudential Financial
  • Wachovia
  • Bristol-Myers Squibb Company
  • Discovery Communications Inc.
  • Eli Lilly and Company
  • S. C. Johnson & Son, Inc..

“It’s an enormous responsibility to care for a family and succeed at a job, and we’re thrilled to see the serious commitment of smart companies to help their employees,” Evans said. “When we started the list 19 years ago, we hit the mother lode when a company offered some kind of child care. Today we see stunning innovations, like help with geriatric parents, on-site MBA programs, or supplementary military pay and benefits.”

For those who wish to learn how to bring their company up to Working Mother’s standards, the magazine will release a step-by-step action plan in October, detailing how to make an organization more family-friendly. A complete list of the top 100 companies is at http://www.workingwoman.com/bestlist.html .

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