Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, September 17, 1995 TAG: 9509150106
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: G-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LISA GENASC ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Long
International Business Machines Corp. recently set aside $50 million to help employees meet child- and elder-care needs.
For those and other workplace initiatives, both companies earned spots in Working Mother magazine's 10th annual roster of the country's 100 best companies for working moms.
The list, in the magazine's October issue, was to be unveiled last week.
``Our company believes its people drive its success,'' said Erika Moyer family and work manager at Newark, Del.-based MBNA America Bank, a leading credit-card lender. ``For us, satisfied people mean satisfied customers.''
Although for four years MBNA has been included among the top 100, new on-site child-care centers, before- and after-school care and summer-camp programs helped vault the company into this year's top 10.
Several of the country's largest companies were on the list, including Xerox Corp. and Dow Chemical Co., but small firms also rated a mention.
Hanna Andersson Corp., which sells family clothing by mail from Portland, Ore., was cited, as was G.T. Water Products, a Moorpark, Calif., plumbing products manufacturer with 27 employees. That company has an on-site school paid for by George Tash, the company's owner and president.
Tom's of Maine, Inc. was cited for the flexibility it grants working parents and subsidies given employees for child care. Frontier Cooperative Herbs of Norway, Iowa, was included for its on-site child-care center that costs employees only $1 per hour.
Child care wasn't the sole focus of the survey. Working Mother also looked at how women were paid and how quickly they were promoted.
One company cited, Hoechst Celanese Corp. the Somerville, N.J., maker of chemicals and pharmaceuticals, was lauded for its specific goals for advancing women. Managers receive rewards at bonus time for helping the company reach its targets.
Consequently, although the overall employee population has fallen in recent years, the numbers of women in all areas of the business have grown, said Clyde Jones, director of equality and work life initiatives.
IBM chairman Louis V. Gerstner Jr., meanwhile, was named Working Mother's fourth annual ``Family Champion'' - a company leader who has taken personal responsibility for improving workplace policies.
``When Gerstner came to IBM it was hemorrhaging and he had to take tough action, but he understood the need for work-family programs,'' said Ted Childs, director of work force diversity. ``He believes ... that he is investing not just in today's work force but in tomorrow's work force.''
But perhaps most striking, is that in the decade since Working Mother began compiling the list it has closely tracked women's gains in the workplace, said Betty Holcomb, deputy editor of the magazine.
``The long term changes essentially swept us away,'' she said. ``When you look at the workplace 10 years ago and compare it to now, there has been a revolution in the types of workplace offerings.''
When Working Mother debuted the list in 1986 only 30 companies were worthy of recognition and the benefits paled in comparison to those offered today.
Before- and after-school care, holiday day care and sick-child care were merely unmet needs and flexible work schedules such as job sharing and telecommuting were still mostly absent from U.S. companies.
Today, such benefits are standard among the Working Mother 100 companies, Holcomb said. Seventy-six companies now offer child care on-site or at a nearby center, 26 reward managers for advancing women and nearly one-fifth have set up special dependent care funds earmarked for child and elder care programs for their employees.
Still, also noteworthy, Holcomb said, is that companies with the best workplace policies tend to concentrate in industries where competition for workers is fiercest. Those include pharmaceuticals, chemicals, technology, banking and insurance, she said.
``Often companies in those industries had to implement the policies to attract talent,'' Holcomb said.
Working Mother chooses the companies based on pay, opportunities for women to advance, child care and family-friendly benefits such as part-time jobs with benefits, job sharing and flexible hours.
Here is an alphabetical list of Working Mother magazine's list of 100 best companies for working mothers. Companies marked with as asterisk have major operations in Western Virginia.
The magazine didn't rank the companies from best to worst but identified 10 as exceptionally progressive. They are marked with an (x).
Aetna Life & Casualty Co., Hartford, Conn.
Allstate Insurance Co., Northbrook, Ill. (*)
American Management Systems, Fairfax, Va.
Amgen Inc., Thousand Oaks, Calif.
AT&T, New York
Avon Products, Inc., New York
Baptist Hospital of Miami, Miami
Barnett Banks Inc., Jacksonville, Fla. (x)
Bayfront Medical Center, Inc., St. Petersburg, Fla.
BE&K Engineering and Construction, Birmingham, Ala.
Ben & Jerry's Homemade Inc., Waterbury, Vt.
Beth Israel Hospital, Boston
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts, Boston
The Bureau of National Affairs, Washington, D.C.
Calvert Group, Ltd., Bethesda, Md.
Chase Manhattan Bank, New York
The Chubb Corp., Warren., N.J.
CIGNA Corp., Philadelphia
Citicorp-Citibank, New York
CMP Publications, Inc., Manhasset, N.Y.
Coopers & Lybrand LLP, New York
CoreStates Financial Corp., Philadelphia
Corning, Inc., Corning, N.Y. (*)
Deloitte & Touche LLP, Wilton, Conn.
Dow Chemical Co., Midland, Mich.
DuPont Co., Wilmington, Del.(*)
The DuPont Merck Pharmaceutical Co., Wilmington, Del.
Eastman Kodak Co., Rochester, N.Y. (*)
Eli Lilly and Co., Indianapolis, Ind.
Exxon Corp., Irving, Texas
Federal National Mortgage Association, Washington, D.C.
Fel-Pro Inc., Skokie, Ill. (x)
First Chicago Corp., Chicago
First Tennessee Bank, Memphis, Tenn.
First Union Corp., Charlotte, N.C. (*)
Ford Motor Co., Dearborn, Mich.
Frontier Cooperative Herbs, Norway, Iowa.
The Gallup Organization, Lincoln, Neb.
Gannett Co. Inc., Arlington, Va.
Genentech, Inc., South San Francisco, Calif.
General Motors, Detroit
Glaxo Wellcome Inc., Research Triangle Park, N.C. (x)
G.T. Water Products Inc., Moorpark, Calif.
Hallmark Cards Inc., Kansas City, Mo.
Hanna Andersson Corp., Portland, Ore.
Harris Bank, Chicago
Hewitt Associates LLC, Lincolnshire, Ill.
Hewlett-Packard Co., Palo Alto, Calif.
Hill, Holliday, Connors, Cosmopulos, Inc., Advertising, Boston
Hoechst Celanese, Corp., Somerville, N.J. (*)
Home Box Office, New York
Hughes Electronics, Los Angeles
International Business Machines Corp., Armonk, N.Y. (x)
John Hancock Financial Services, Boston
Johnson & Johnson, New Brunswick, N.J. (x)
SC Johnson Wax, Racine, Wis.
KPMG Peat Marwick LLP, Montvale, N.J.
Lancaster Laboratories, Inc., Lancaster, Pa.
Leo Burnett Co., Inc., Chicago
Lincoln National Corp., Fort Wayne, Ind.
Lotus Development Corp., Cambridge, Mass.
Lucasfilm Ltd., Lucas Digital Ltd., LucasArts Entertainment., San Rafael, Calif.
Marquette Electronics, Inc., Milwaukee
Marriott International, Washington, D.C.
Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co., Springfield, Mass.
Mattel Inc., El Segundo, Calif.
MBNA America Bank, N.A., Newark, Del. (x)
Mentor Graphics Corp., Wilsonville, Ore.
Merck & Co., Inc., Whitehouse Station, N.J. (x)
The Miami Herald-El Nuevo Herald, Miami
Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing, St. Paul, Minn.
Morrison & Foerster, San Francisco
Motorola, Schaumburg, Ill.
Mutual Life Insurance Co. of New York, New York.
NationsBank Corp., Charlotte, N.C. (x) (*)
Neuville Industries, Inc., Hildebran, N.C.
Northern Trust Corp., Chicago
Nynex, White Plains, N.Y.
Patagonia, Ventura, Calif. (x)
Phoenix Home Life Mutual Insurance Co., Hartford, Conn.
Procter & Gamble, Cincinnati, Ohio
The Prudential Insurance Co. of America, Newark, N.J.
Quad-Graphics, Inc., Pewaukee, Wis.
Resource Bancshares Mortgage Group, Inc., Columbia, S.C.
Riverside Methodist Hospitals, Columbus, Ohio
The St. Paul Cos., St. Paul, Minn.
St. Petersburg Times, St. Petersburg, Fla.
Sara Lee Corp., Chicago (*)
SAS Institute, Cary, N.C.
Schering-Plough Corp., Madison, N.J.
The Seattle Times Co., Seattle
Security Benefit Group of Cos., Topeka, Kan.
Tom's of Maine Inc., Kennebunk, Maine
TRW Space & Electronics Group, Redondo Beach, Calif.
United States Hosiery Corp., Lincolnton, N.C.
Unum Life Insurance Co. of America, Portland, Maine.
USA Group, Inc., Fishers, Ind.
WearGuard Corp., Norwell, Mass.
Wegmans Food Markets, Inc., Rochester, N.Y.
Xerox Corp., Stamford, Conn. (x)
by CNB