Best Financial Services Firms for Working Women
Ask any harried working mom, or dad for that matter, and they're sure to say that balancing personal and work commitments remains a serious challenge. So, when Working Mother Magazine reveals its 2011 Working Mother 100 Best Companies list, the survey brings much attention-for better or worse.
The list uses data on flexible work arrangements, parental leave, childcare, health and wellness support, and management advancement opportunities for women. The top ten included only one bank-troubled Bank of America.
BOA took the lead for its forward-thinking employee benefits, including such things as hardship assistance; health insurance for part-timers (20 hours a week or more); pretax health, dependent care, and commuter expense accounts; on-site and nearby subsidized child care centers; and nanny, babysitter, and caregiver assistance referrals. BOA offered its female employees an average of 12 weeks off of fully paid maternity leave.
According to the magazine, women managers and executives were 47 percent of BOA's workforce in 2010. Women represented 37 percent of BOA's top earners that year. In 2010, thirty percent of Bank of America's employees had a flexible working arrangement. Of the working mothers polled, they ranked flexible work arrangements as the most desired benefit, placing it higher than compensation or paid days off.
Interestingly, consulting firms dominated the top spots, with Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG, and PricewaterhouseCoopers all placing in the top ten. Prudential Financial also placed in the top ten. Ernst & Young and KPMG have appeared on the list for 15 years running. American Express and Citi also appeared in the top 100, both making it on the list for 21 years straight.
The full list also included the following insurance, banking, financial services, consulting and investment firms: Accenture, AON, Bain & Company, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, FINRA, First Horizon National, Goldman Sachs, Grant Thornton, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, JPMorgan Chase, MassMutual Financial Group, MasterCard Worldwide, McGladrey, McKinsey & Company, MetLife, Morgan Stanley, Moss Adams, New York Life Insurance, Northern Trust, PNC Financial Services, Principal Financial, and TIAA-CREF.
