The 100 Best Companies For Women And Working Families In 2017

The breadwinners in families – those who work hard to pay the bills while carrying loved ones day in and day out – do not want to live a constant struggle. But these heroes – most of them women – must deal with schedules, expenses, the needs of children, the needs of aging parents and kin, work responsibilities, healthcare for themselves and others—a multitude of responsibilities, in between which they must find personal happiness, fulfillment and sleep.

There are companies out there that realize this about the women in their ranks, and take steps to support them. Highlighting some of the best is a new report from Working Mother Media, a women and family-focused media firm which publishes Working Mother Magazine and has called out the 100 Best Companies in the U.S. for women for the past 32 years. This year’s ranking emerged today. For a look at the Top-10, check out our slideshow below.

Gallery

A firm making its first trip to the Top-10 is Unilever U.S., which has only appeared in the top-100 five times. President of Unilever North America, Kees Kruythoff, who heads diversity efforts for the organization, says one of his goals has been to spread a culture of diversity throughout the company. Among Unilever’s executives and managers , women make up about half of the workforce, and its policies on childcare, eldercare subsidies, as well as coverage of in vitro, egg freezing and other family planning services are enlightened.

Professional services firm, Deloitte, has made the 100 Best Companies list 24 times, and this year is among the ten best—as it was in 2016 and 2015. The key is focusing on workers’ needs, says CEO Cathy Engelbert. “It’s evolved into looking at the life cycle of an employee, whether they’re 22, 32, 52, or 62; looking at the different benefits you can give them across that life cycle.”

Younger employees, says Engelbert, are interested in fitness subsidies; while mid-career workers are moved by parental benefits. Older professionals have an eye on policies that affect retirement and eldercare for parents. Giving employees what they want, Engelbert insists, benefits the company as a business. “We view our investment in our people as our research and development expense,” she says.

A new feature is the organization’s “inclusion council” campaign, which allow employees of any stripe to find groups of others within the organization with whom they identify; all with a focus on creating a culture of diversity and comfort, and enacting change from within.

Moms And Dads

Parental leave is one category that has been embraced strongly by companies looking to make their organizations more attractive to women and family-oriented employees, says Subha Barry, managing director with Working Mother Media. “All of these top ten companies are literally going off the chart as it relates to offering paid time off.”

In the U.S. in 2016, U.S. companies offered an average maximum of 14.5 weeks of paid leave for women who had a baby. Among the most generous with parental leave on Working Mother Media’s list this year is Adobe, which offers new moms 26 weeks of paid time off, four weeks to new dads and 16 weeks for adoptive parents. Lenovo offers 22 weeks paid maternity leave; and Deloitte offers 22 weeks to new moms, and 16 to new dads and adoptive parents. Overall, the top-100 companies offer mothers an average 10 weeks paid time off to welcome a new child, plus four weeks to dads. But the top-10 companies offered 15 weeks to moms and nine to dads.

Many new moms and dads return to work without having taken their maximum allotted parental leave.

“Offering that is one thing and how much people are taking is something different,” says Barry. On average, companies have found that their workers do not take their full allotment of paid leave, which could mean that they feel pressure to return to work or are thinking strategically about their careers when they could be focusing on family.

To convince parents to take the maximum time off allowed, companies need to reassure them that their jobs are safe and avoid applying pressure on them to return early. Leadership also needs to set an example, Barry says. “If women who are successful are taking the full maternity leave, that sends a message to the organization that ‘hey, it must be okay.’”

Another facet of parental leave that Barry foresees being embraced more heartily by companies is that of phase-back programs—allowing new mothers to work part time for full pay after their maternity leave has expired. It’s a perk offered by 86 of the 100 companies on the Working Mother Best Company’s list and all of those in the top-10. “That’s when you engender loyalty,” says Barry. “When you look at where the companies are starting to lose their working moms, it’s usually after the birth of the second child.”

New Benefits On The Rise

Barry says companies are developing new tools in their arsenal to keep employees happy. One on the rise is subsidization of eldercare. Many workers have parents whom they must care for and companies can help. “A generation of people has to take care of the elderly and many of them are still working as they do that.”A majority of the firms in the top-100 offer subsidies in that arena.

Student loan reimbursement is not a new concept for many companies. Now, says Barry, some are offering loan refinancing to get better rates for their employees. Among the top 10 companies on Working Mother’s list, four offer such benefits.

Mental well being, too, is an area where employing companies can be of assistance and programs to subsidize or address mental health needs will become more commonplace. Says Barry: “You’re going to start to see more programs, more awareness, more openness.”

1. Bank of America

Benefits offered: Bank of America offers 16 weeks fully paid parental leave, adoption reimbursement of $8,000 per child and up to $240 in monthly child care subsidies.

2. Deloitte

Benefits offered: Every employee at Deloitte is offered up to 30 days of paid time off per year, with unused leave carried over into the next year. In addition to flexible work schedules, sabbaticals and an annual "well-being subsidy" for massages, meditation and more, Deloitte also added two well-being days to its holiday calendar last year.

3. Ernst & Young LLP

Benefits offered: Ernst & Young LLP offers 16 weeks of fully paid parental leave, covers up to $25,000 in adoption cost and helps to cover infertility and/or surrogacy costs. Each employee also gets three weeks vacation, three personal days, and 10 paid days off annually.

4. IBM

Benefits offered: IBM offers 14 weeks for maternity leave, lactation rooms at the office and breast milk shipping for moms who travel. The company also offers local day-care subsidies and training for new hires about the value of work-life integration.

5. Johnson & Johnson

Benefits offered: Johnson & Johnson offers all employees 40 hours of paid time off annually, adoption and surrogacy aid up to $20,000 per child and fertility aid up to $35,000. These benefits are also offered to same-sex couples. In addition, 40 percent of executives leading $1 billion-plus businesses within the company are women.

6. McKinsey & Co.

Benefits offered: At McKinsey & Co. birth parents are offered 16 weeks of paid time off, and non-birth parents are offered eight weeks of paid time off. The company also provides flexibility that allows employees to take 10 weeks off between projects, forgo excess travel and delay advancement in order to pursue better work-life balance.

7. Prudential Financial

Benefits offered: At Prudential Financial, mothers are offered eight weeks of paid leave, dads and adopted parents are offered four weeks of paid leave and every employee with a child is offered 22 job-guaranteed weeks off. Nearly all employees at this company also take advantage of flextime or telecommute on a monthly basis.

8. PwC

Benefits offered: At PwC, employees are offered $5,250 in annual tuition assistance, as well as college guidance and workshops on how to navigate school services for their kids. The company also helps families to pay down college debt of up to $7,200 per person over six years.

9. Unilever

Benefits offered: Last year, Unilever increased its maternity leave to 16 weeks and introduced breast milk shipping for new moms. The company also offers childcare services and subsidies and provides a special breakfast series at which female executives discuss their careers.

10. Zoetis

Benefits offered: Zoetis offers every employee one week of paid caregiver leave annually, an on-site child care center, assistance with covering treatments for children with autism spectrum and related issues and infertility benefits that averaged $35,000 per person in 2016.