The 100 best companies for working moms

Working moms are no longer a novelty, and over the years the country has had to change the way it thinks about this growing demographic.

Some employers in particular have excelled at providing the benefits and policies necessary to make life easier for women with kids.

Working Mother magazine just identified the 100 best companies for working moms to honor those that are setting the standard for work-life practices in the US.

"These companies are committed to serving their most precious resource, their employees," Jennifer Owens, Working Mother Media editorial director, told Business Insider. "They are asking tough questions and challenging themselves to be family friendly in an era of 24/7 global work."

To compile the list, which is now in its thirtieth year, Working Mother surveyed about 200 companies with more than 500 questions on their leave policies, workforce representation, benefits, childcare, advancement programs, and flexibility policies, among other things — as well as the availability, usage, and tracking of these programs.

"Working moms and dads tell us that the two most important factors in job satisfaction and engagement is flexible work and a supportive manager," Owens says. "Training and supporting managers to create a flexible workplace is step one in reducing absenteeism and turnover and increasing engagement and productivity."

In total, these 100 companies employ more than 2.1 million people, 46% of whom are women. Every company on the list offers telecommuting, flextime, paid maternity leave, and management or leadership training, and 11 are led by female CEOs. On average, new moms at these companies get eight weeks of fully paid maternity leave, new dads get three weeks, and adoptive parents also get three weeks.

Thirty years ago Working Mother's first list saw only five companies offer paid maternity leave, no companies offer paid leave for new dads or adoptive parents, two companies allow employees to work from home, and only two companies led by female CEOs.

Owens says she hopes these initiatives continue to get better.

"I always want to see paid leave continue to grow in terms of the number of fully paid weeks offered," Owens says. "I also want the trend of more women in positions of leadership to continue to increase as well."

Although the list isn't a ranking, Working Mother did highlight the top 10 companies for working moms in 2015 that do well across the entire application. "The top 10 are truly committed to winning the war for the best talent through creating a supportive workplace," Owens says. They are:

Abbott

Deloitte

Ernst & Young LLP

General Mills

IBM

KPMG

McKinsey

PwC

WellStar Health System

Zoetis

See the full list of the 100 best companies for working moms from Working Mother magazine.

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