2014 "Best Companies for Multicultural Women" Named By Working Mother

NEW YORK, May 13, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- The 2014 "Best Companies for Multicultural Women" have been named by Working Mother magazine—an honor that recognizes the 25 U.S. corporations that create and use best practices in hiring, retaining and promoting women of color.  The Top 5 companies, featured in the June/July issue of Working Mother and on workingmother.com are: American Express, General Mills, KPMG, Procter & Gamble and State Farm.

The Working Mother Research Institute has conducted the study since 2003, evaluating how multicultural women are represented at every level of management and decision making at companies that apply for inclusion on the list.

Carol Evans, president of Working Mother Media, says, "The Best Companies for Multicultural Women are leaders in building an inclusive culture so that women of color can thrive and lead. We are proud of the policies and programs these winning companies support. Creating a culture of inclusion and authenticity is essential for all companies that want to have access to the top talent needed to drive their business." 

Key findings of the 2014 Working Mother report can be found on workingmother.com.

Here are some highlights of the survey of the companies:

Direct Reports
At the 2014 Best Companies for Multicultural Women, 9% of the executives reporting directly to the CEO are women of color, up from 5% last year. Multicultural women represent 12% of the Best Companies' top earners (defined as those among the top 20% of earners at the company); last year this number was 10%.

Representation of Multicultural Women
Representation of multicultural women at the senior manager level (8%) and corporate executive level (4%) each increased a percentage point in the past year. Multicultural women received 13% of all promotions to manager and above, down from 15% in 2013.

Best Companies Workforce Composition
The 2014 Best Companies for Multicultural Women employ more than 2.7 million workers with almost 32,000 worksites across 50 states in the following 7 industries: Consumer Products, Financial Services, Hospitality, Insurance, Professional Services, Retail and Technology. Multicultural women make up 20% of total employees at the Best Companies while multicultural men represent 18%.

Methodology
The Working Mother Best Companies for Multicultural Women application is only available to companies that have at least 500 U.S. employees. The winners were selected based on their answers to an extensive questionnaire covering representation; hiring, attrition, and promotion rates; recruitment, retention, advancement programs; and company culture.  The Working Mother Research Institute creates a scoring algorithm based on the previous year's benchmark results to determine the winners.

About Working Mother
Working Mother magazine reaches 2.2 million readers and is the only national magazine for career-committed mothers; 42% of our readers are multicultural women. WorkingMother.com (workingmother.com) gives working mothers @home and @work advice, solutions, and ideas. Working Mother Media, a division of Bonnier Corporation (bonnier.com), includes the National Association for Female Executives (NAFE, nafe.com), Diversity Best Practices (diversitybestpractices.com), and the Working Mother Research Institute. Working Mother Media's mission is to serve as a champion of culture change.

SOURCE Working Mother Media