2012 Working Mother 100 Best Companies Named For Leadership On Creating Family-Friendly Policy & Culture

NEW YORK, Sept. 18, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Working Mother today  named the 2012 Working Mother 100 Best Companies and the Top 10 of the year. The companies are recognized in the October/November issue of the magazine, on workingmother.com and will be honored at the Work Life Congress, to be held here on October 10th.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120918/NY75735-INFO)

Working Mother rewarded companies for their wide array of progressive workplace programs, including child care, flexibility, advancement and paid family leave. This is the 27^th year Working Mother has recognized organizations for their initiatives.

The Top 10 companies for 2012 are: Bank of America, Deloitte, Ernst & Young, General Mills, Grant Thornton, IBM, KPMG, Procter & Gamble, PwC, and WellStar. 

Carol Evans, president of Working Mother Media, says, "This year's 100 Best Companies are leading the way for the rest of the nation. They have created not only essential benefits, like flexible work options and telecommuting, but have also shown their commitment in new ways like elder care referral and legal assistance to help busy parents manage their personal lives as well as their careers."

Jennifer Owens, editorial director of Working Mother Media, states, "These 100 Best Companies know what it takes to keep all employees, but especially their employee moms, productive and engaged at work. As the stress surrounding work-life integration continues to rise, so does the opportunity for creating a win-win environment for employees and employers. The Working Mother 100 Best Companies see the payoff from their programs and policies and are outstanding examples for companies to emulate."

Here is a full list of Working Mother's 2012 100 Best Companies and some key statistics on their performance.

Representation of Women
Women made up 51% of all Best Companies employees – or 1.3 million last year and earned 48% of all promotions to manager as well, according to Working Mother.   "Female representation still shrinks the higher up the ladder the higher we go – but for the first time in years, there are two important improvements: Women now account for 43% of all managers at the Best Companies, up from 40%. And women now represent 23% of all corporate executives, up one point from last year," says Evans.

Maternity Leave
Not only do the Best Companies all offer paid maternity leave (versus 16% of the nation's employers), but they offer an average of seven fully paid weeks to employees who have worked at least a year, according to Owens. For dads, there is also paid paternity leave, at an average of three weeks paid – at 78% of Best Companies; and for adoptive parents, the average is six weeks of paid leave (up from 5 last year) – at 81% of Best Companies.

Backup Child Care
This is a number that continues to rise among the 100 Best Companies. This year, 86% of the 100 Best winners offered back-up child care, while 93% offer child care resource and referral services.

Methodology 
The 2012 Working Mother 100 Best Companies application includes more than 500 questions on workforce representation, child care, flexibility programs, leave policies and more. It surveys the availability, usage and tracking of programs, as well as the accountability of managers who oversee them. This year, particular weight was given to child care, flexible scheduling options and advancement programs.

About Working Mother Media
Working Mother Media, a division of Bonnier Corporation (bonnier.com), publishes Working Mother magazine and its companion website, workingmother.com, and the Working Mother Research Institute. The National Association for Female Executives (nafe.com ), Diversity Best Practices (diversitybestpractices.com) are also units within WMM. Working Mother Media's mission is to serve as a champion of culture change. Working Mother magazine reaches more than 2 million readers and is the only national magazine for career-committed mothers; Workingmother.com gives working mothers @home and @work advice, solutions, and ideas. This year marks the 27th anniversary of the magazine's signature research initiative, Working Mother 100 Best Companies, and the 10th year of the Best Companies for Multicultural Women. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and Pinterest.

SOURCE Working Mother Media