Here's How Six Companies Take The Lead Supporting Working Mothers
With Mother’s Day around the corner, families are preparing to celebrate the women who raise, care for, and sustain them. Yet most mothers, and indeed fathers, don’t receive the kind of workplace support they need to balance care for their families with bringing their full selves to work
As of March 2015, about 70% of mothers with children under 18 were part of the U.S. labor force, up from 47% in 1975. Despite this, many working parents lack access to basic workplace supports – only 13% of workers have access to paid family leave, while 11% are offered child care assistance, and only 6% have flexible workplace benefits. With more mothers in the workforce, but fewer families having access to the benefits they need to balance work and home life, it remains decidedly challenging to be a working parent.
But there are some companies that rise above, taking the lead on providing policies and initiatives that support working parents and create inclusive, flexible workplaces. JUST Capital's 2017 polling highlights the issues that matter most to the American people, including many work issues that are critical to parents in the workforce, and so we looked at companies that provide strong support to families, and working mothers in particular. Out of the 875 companies we evaluate, we found just six that:
- Disclose a detailed paid time off policy.
- Earn a top score for Paid Time Off on Glassdoor.
- Earn a top score for Work-Life Balance on Glassdoor.
- Provide flexible working hours or working hours that promote work-life balance.
- Provide day care services to employees.
- Have conducted and made public the results of an internal gender pay equity analysis.
The companies – Adobe, Cisco Systems, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Salesforce, and VMware – have each made commendable strides toward building a more inclusive capitalism that encompasses the needs of working families. In addition to their strong performance on issues relevant to working mothers, their performance in the JUST Capital rankings is excellent overall, and all six have earned the 2017 JUST 100 Seal for America’s Most JUST Companies.
It may not be a coincidence that all six are tech companies either – the industry is well known for offering generous paid parental leave in an effort to attract and retain top talent.
The efforts of these companies are moving the needle forward on establishing better structures for working mothers and families, and while the rest of corporate America is lagging, we hope to see many more companies offer programs and initiatives like these in the coming years.
Here’s how these six leaders stand out:
Adobe Systems
Since 2015, Adobe has offered up to six months of fully paid leave to new parents – starting in the U.S. and India (which make up 80 percent of the company’s workforce) and continuing to expand globally. Adobe provides back-up child care, tutoring and test prep, as well as access to adoption assistance that reimburses employees up to $25,000 for eligible expenses. For mothers traveling on business, Adobe provides breast milk delivery services that help employees overnight breast milk back home.
Cisco Systems
Cisco offers unique paid leave opportunities for new parents, having established in 2017 a new global minimum of 13 weeks paid leave for new parents, as well as four weeks paid leave to supporting caregivers – such as grandparents – that can be taken flexibly over the first six months. Cisco also provides a host of childcare programs at their locations worldwide – from daycare centers to resources for in-home babysitting – and flexible work environment and systems, which allow parents to balance work and home needs.
