- Accenture: BRG’s #1 Best Company for Working Moms
Being a working parent, particularly a working mother, is a daunting task. Some companies go above and beyond for their working moms and are committed to making sure that they do not have to choose between family and work. Many of these companies offer strong work/life programs, allow telecommuting, offer benefits that include backup child care and offer strong maternity leave and adoption benefits to make sure the mothers, and their families, are well taken care of. This article is part of our feature on The Top 100 Best Companies to Work For in the U.S.
Ranking the Best Employers for Working Moms
1. Accenture
Accenture is a consulting company that preaches employee trust, freedom and flexibility to its clients, and it makes sure to live by those rules as well. The vast majority of employees take advantage of the company’s policies that allows them to work odd hours and telecommute when necessary. Mothers get two months of fully paid maternity leave and may also return to work at reduced hours as they adjust. The company subsidizes up to 40 hours of backup childcare per year for parents in a pinch.
2. Lego Systems
Lego loves women and it shows in its policies. Health insurance is provided for women that work just 20 hrs per week, including in vitro and other fertility treatments. Three full months of paid maternity leave is the average and new mothers can take one additional month to phase back into their schedule at reduced hours. Lego also reimburses 100% of tuition to all of its employees.
3. Johnson and Johnson
Do you want to work for a company that will help you eat better, work out, quit smoking and live a generally healthier lifestyle? Johnson and Johnson does all of this and more. They have on-site health coaches and workouts from Zumba to Yoga to boot camp style workouts and if those don’t fit your immediate needs, the health coaches will help you come up with a customized routine to help get you where you want to be.
4. Booz Allen Hamilton
This technology and strategy consulting firm goes the extra mile in its offerings for working mothers. The company sets up a support system for families moving to new towns that helps build community for the family as well as helps them find the best place to live and the best schools. Eight weeks of fully paid maternity leave doesn’t hurt. The company also gives adoption leave of two weeks for newly adoptive parents and it runs seminars on international adoption for its staff.
5. American Express
This credit card company offers support to parents whether they are newly expecting or at a later stage of parenthood. The company puts an emphasis on healthy living and even provides employees with free generic drugs to help with some chronic illnesses as well as offering free access to a 24hr nursing hotline. The company has wellness centers at seven locations that mothers are free to access for advice and consultations from nurses, health coaches, dietitians and more. American Express also offers ten fully paid weeks of maternity leave which is among the highest available.
6. Yale University
If you want to foster dreams of greatness in your children, why not consider working at one of the world’s top universities? With access for employees and their children to all of the cultural happenings at Yale including but not limited to art exhibits and plays, children will be exposed to a rare and unique array of intellectual pursuits, and we can’t forget the libraries, which are some of the most extensive offered by any university. Mothers also may take advantage of the free babysitting service and 12 sick days per year that can be used to care for ailing family members.
7. Bank of America
Health insurance at 20hrs/week is a godsend in these times and that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Bank of America’s offerings. Three full months of fully paid maternity leave, consulting for establishing strategies for financial stability and plans for the future, childcare subsidies,
8. Cornell University
Cornell has a “family helper” list made up of primarily students that are looking for paid opportunities to help with everything from house cleaning to child tutoring. Children get 50% off tuition and employees get free undergraduate and graduate degrees. Employee kids will also have 30% of their tuition covered should they elect to attend a different university.
9. Genentech
Ten weeks of paid maternity leave and 29 lactation rooms are both indications of how much Genentech loves women, particularly new moms. Opportunity is high for women at Genentech right now as the corporate leadership has just announced that they plan to increase the number of women in line for leadership positions by 50%, this means giving women better access to some of the best mentors in the biotech business.
10. SC Johnson
Company support groups for single moms, parents with teens, or special needs children, a subsidized concierge service to take time consuming tasks of the parents hands. Not only does SC Johnson have an on-site fitness center, they have an on-site medical clinic that does checkups and runs blood tests. After birth or adoption mothers can take up to six weeks partially paid and adoptive parents also receive a $5000 adoption credit.