Workplace Sweet Workplace

The slash-and-burn era of downsizing and restructuring sometimes leaves one feeling that every employer is part Simon Legree--and that’s the nice part. But there are companies out there that have recognized that benefits often characterized as “family-friendly” really boil down to good recruitment and retention tools.

These benefits, more broadly known as work/life programs, are not social engineering, they are a way to better compete for good workers and to command their best efforts, thereby adding to company profits.

This is an admittedly arbitrary sampling of some mid-size to large employers based in Southern California that have received recognition as good places to work, with a listing of some of what they offer.

(Small employers that aren’t likely to be hiring much and several family-friendly companies based elsewhere that have local operations--including Xerox, Prudential and Deloitte & Touche--were omitted for space reasons.)

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* Amgen (Thousand Oaks): Offers flextime, compressed work, extra leave for childbirth at full pay, paternity leave, adoption aid, resource and referral services for child and elder care, on-site child care, summer care, backup care, pretax set-asides for child care, reimbursements for child-care and elder-care expenses caused by business travel, scholarships for children, savings plan, on-site convenience store, laundry service.

* Department of Water and Power (Los Angeles): Flexible scheduling, paid parental leave, on-site child care at one work site, resource and referral services for child and elder care, lactation program, parenting seminars at work site, pretax set-asides for child care, savings plan.

* Hughes Electronics (Los Angeles): Work at home, flextime, job sharing, compressed workweeks, extra leave for childbirth with some pay, resource and referral services for child and elder care and adoption, near-site child care, after-school program, pretax set-asides for child care, subsidies for sick-child care, pretax set-asides for child care, reimbursements for child-care costs for non-routine business travel, scholarships for children, savings plan, profit sharing.

* Mattel (El Segundo): Work at home, flextime, job sharing, compressed workweeks, extra leave for childbirth with some pay, adoption aid, resource and referral services for child and elder care and adoption, on-site child care, holiday and summer care, backup care, sick-child days, pretax set-asides for child care, reimbursements for child-care costs for non-routine business travel, scholarships for children, savings plan, profit sharing, full-time work/family manager.

* MCA/Universal Studios (Universal City): Flexible scheduling, on-site child care, emergency child care, resource and referral services for child and elder care, parent resource center, lactation program, parenting seminars at work site, pretax set-asides for child care.

* Metropolitan Transit Authority (Los Angeles): Flexible scheduling, emergency child care, on-site child care, near-site child care, resource and referral services for child and elder care, pretax set-asides for child care, savings plan, parenting seminars at work site.

* Patagonia (Ventura): Work at home, flextime, job sharing, compressed workweeks, extra leave for childbirth with full pay, paternity leave, adoption aid and leave, resource and referral services for child and elder care, on-site child care, family-care provider network, after-school and holiday and summer programs, backup care, sick-child days, direct subsidies for child care, pretax set-asides for child care, reimbursements for child-care costs for business travel, savings plan, profit sharing, full-time work/family manager.

* Pacesetter (Sylmar): Flexible scheduling, parental leave, financial assistance, near-site child care, pretax set-asides for child care, savings plan, employee assistance program.

* Pacificare Health Systems (Cypress): Flextime and telecommuting, subsidized child care, sick-child days, lactation program, pretax set-asides for child care, savings plan, profit sharing.

* Rhino Records (Los Angeles): Flextime, extra leave for childbirth with some pay, paternity leave, adoption leave, pretax set-asides for child care, savings plan, hardship loans, on-site fitness center, reimbursements for volunteer philanthropic hours (in the form ofvacation time).

* Rockwell International (Seal Beach): Work at home, flextime, job sharing, compressed workweeks, family-leave programs, on-site child care and other child-care options, adoption aid, family pagers, pretax set-asides for child care, savings plan, profit sharing, on-site dry-cleaning, prescription delivery, fitness centers.

* TRW Space & Electronics Group (Redondo Beach): Work at home, flextime, job sharing, compressed workweeks, only federally mandated leave for childbirth but with some with full pay, resource and referral services for child and elder care, on-site child care, community child-care programs, pretax set-asides for child care, scholarships for children, savings plan, profit sharing.

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Sources: Working Mother magazine; Los Angeles County Child Care Advisory Board; Labor Department, Corporate Citizenship Company Profiles (https: //www.ttrc.doleta.gov/citizen/);”The 100 Best Places to Work in America” (Doubleday, New York)