NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
Employers are doing more for working mothers, according to Working Mother magazine's new survey of employer efforts, which includes a new roster of top 10 and top 100 companies.
"Even these tough economic times haven't swayed the commitment of our forward-thinking 100 Best companies," says Working Mother Editor-in-Chief Jill Kirschenbaum. "Companies are responding to pressure from both men and women in Generations X and Y, who want a balanced life. Work/life benefits are here to stay."
The magazine said that it is seeing a wide-ranging increase in such family friendly benefits as child care and flextime. Four years ago only 30 percent of companies on the 100 Best list had a wide array of child care and flexibility options, according to the magazine. Now 96 of the 100 Best offer child-care resource and referral services, and 18 percent of companies nationwide offer some of those services. In addition, all of the top 100 offer flexible working hours, and 55 percent of all companies also offer it.
Companies are also increasing non-traditional offerings such as massages and take-home dinners straight from the company cafeteria in an effort to cut stress and keep employees healthy.
Drug and financial services companies were the leaders among the top ten companies in Working Mother magazine's new Top 100 Companies for Working Mothers list released Tuesday. (Click here to see the entire list)
Drugmakers Abbott Laboratories (ABT: Research, Estimates), Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY: Research, Estimates) and Eli Lilly (LLY: Research, Estimates) were joined by mortgage backer Fannie Mae (FNM: Research, Estimates), bank holding company Wachovia (WB: Research, Estimates) and financial services provider Prudential Financial (PRU: Research, Estimates) at the top of the annual list put out by the magazine.
Also among the top ten were cereal maker General Mills (GIS: Research, Estimates), computer leader IBM (IBM: Research, Estimates) and two privately held companies: household products maker S.C. Johnson and management consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton.
The most entrenched company on the list is IBM, which is on the top ten list for the 16th year, and has been among the top 100 companies for 18 years. It was also judged best in class in terms of providing child care, with the magazine reporting that it provided 63 full-time on- or near-site child-care centers, serving 2,324 employee children, along with company-sponsored before- and after school care, family child-care homes and summer programs.
Other best-in-class companies include Booz Allen for advancing women's careers with its extensive mentoring and career counseling programs and Wachovia for the most family-friendly culture, as the magazine cited its management training on work/life issues and its elder-care resources. S.C. Johnson was judged the company offering the most flexibility, with 37 percent of its workforce telecommuting, 55 percent working flextime, and nearly two-thirds on compressed work weeks.
IKEA North America President Pernille Spiers-Lopez was named the magazine's annual "family champion" for helping to institute flex time and full benefits for part-time workers at the retailer, which makes the top 100 list for the first time.
Two other companies were judged best-in-class even though they did not make the top 10 list --women's apparel maker Liz Claiborne was judged the company with the greatest representation of women in its overall work force as well as its top management, and financial services company J.P. Morgan Chase was judged the best in terms of total compensation, with 31 percent of its top-paid executives being women.
Eli Lilly, Prudential, S.C. Johnson and Wachovia are new to the top ten list this year. They replace financial services firms American Express and Bank of America, consumer products maker Colgate-Palmolive and software provider Computer Associates, which all still remain on the top 100 companies list while falling out of the top tier. Bank of America had been on the top ten list for nine years before this year.
There are 17 companies new to the top 100 companies list this year, including two of the nation's largest companies -- General Electric Co. (GE: Research, Estimates) and Microsoft Corp. (MSFT: Research, Estimates) Another 12 return to the list after not being on the 2002 list, including retailers Target Corp. (TGT: Research, Estimates), cosmetics maker Avon Products (AVP: Research, Estimates) and Harvard University.
Some high profile companies are among the 29 dropped from the list this year, including drugmakers Bayer Corp. (BAY: Research, Estimates), Merck & Co. (MRK: Research, Estimates), Hoffman-LaRouche and Pfizer Inc. (PFE: Research, Estimates), computer makers Hewlett Packard (HPQ: Research, Estimates) and Sun Microsystems (SUNW: Research, Estimates), automakers General Motors Corp. (GM: Research, Estimates) and Ford Motor Co. (F: Research, Estimates), consumer products maker Procter & Gamble (PG: Research, Estimates) and financial services firm Merrill Lynch & Co. (MER: Research, Estimates) Magazine spokeswoman Meryl Weinsaft said the magazine doesn't comment on companies dropped from the list.
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