Families Valued : Magazine Rates Firms With Moms in Mind

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Sept. 12, 1995 12 AM PT

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From Associated Press

NEW YORK — Patagonia Inc., the designer and distributor of outdoor wear, offers new fathers in its employ eight weeks paid paternity leave.

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 unveiled Monday.

“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 many 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 Inc., 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 an hour.

Working Mother also looked at how women were paid and how quickly they were promoted.

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, the company’s director of equality and work life initiatives.

When the list debuted in 1986, only 30 companies were worthy of recognition and the benefits paled in comparison to today’s.

Today, such benefits as care facilities and flexible schedules are standard among the Working Mother 100 companies, said Betty Holcomb, deputy editor of the magazine.

Holcomb said 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,” she 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.

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The Working Mother List

Working Mother magazine in its October issue names 100 of the best companies nationwide for women who have children. The magazine does not rank the companies from best to worst, but does identify 10 as exceptionally progressive. The companies were chosen 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. In alphabetical order:

Exceptionally Progressive

Barnett Banks Inc., Jacksonville, Fla.

Fel-Pro Inc., Skokie, Ill.

Glaxo Wellcome Inc., Research Triangle Park, N.C.

International Business Machines Corp., Armonk, N.Y.

Johnson & Johnson, New Brunswick, N.J.

MBNA America Bank, N.A., Newark, Del.

Merck & Co., Whitehouse Station, N.J.

NationsBank Corp., Charlotte, N.C.

Patagonia Inc., Ventura, Calif.

Xerox Corp., Stamford, Conn.

California Companies Among the 100