Multicultural Women represent 20 percent of the combined total workforce at this year’s 23 winning companies versus only 17 percent of all employees nationwide. Even more impressive, hiring of Multicultural Women at the winning companies continued to outpace attrition for the third year in a row.

Among the Best Companies for Multicultural Women, Multicultural Women make up 12% of managers, 7% of senior managers, and 3% of corporate executives. Multicultural Women also make up 5% of the Boards of Directors of winning companies. Moreover, Multicultural Women make up 10% of all top 20% earners and 9% of all top 10% earners at our winning companies

Finding the best ways to recruit, retain and advancement women of color will be the focus of Working Mother Media’s annual Multicultural Women’s National Conference, to be held July 27-28 at the Sheraton Hotel and Towers, in New York City. More than 600 multicultural women are expected to attend to both celebrate the Best Companies for Multicultural Women as well as focus on this year’s provocative topic, “Ambition: Where Passion Meets Purpose.”
 
“We are particularly proud that our winning companies continue to recognize the importance of recruiting, retaining and advancing women of color,” says Carol Evans, President of Working Mother Media. “That’s why our annual event is packed with programs designed to help companies learn innovative ways to help propel even more Multicultural Women into leadership roles.”

In a year of tough economic choices, virtually all Working Mother Best Companies for Multicultural Women offer company-sponsored affinity or employee-run groups for multicultural women as well as special recruitment initiatives for Multicultural Women, and more than 90% offer special programs designed to retain Multicultural Women. A majority of Best companies have also offered mentoring, career counseling, and tuition reimbursement for more than a decade.

The 2010 Best Companies for Multicultural Women (in alphabetical order):

Allstate Insurance – Northbrook, IL
American Electric Power – Columbus, OH
American Express – New York, NY
Burger King – Miami, FL
*Cisco – San Jose, CA
Citi – New York, NY
*Deloitte – New York, NY
*General Mills – Minneapolis, MN
Goldman Sachs – New York, NY
Heath Care Service Corp. – Chicago, IL
IBM – Armonk, NY
JPMorgan Chase – New York, NY
*KPMG – New York, NY
Kraft Foods – Northfield, IL
McDonald’s USA – Oak Brook, IL
MetLife – New York, NY
PepsiCo – Purchase, NY
PricewaterhouseCoopers – New York, NY
Procter & Gamble – Cincinnati, OH
Sodexo – Gaithersburg, MD
State Farm Insurance – Bloomington, IL
*Verizon Communications – New York, NY
Walmart – Bentonville, AR

*Denotes a member of the Top 5 Best Companies for Multicultural Women

Extended coverage of Best Companies can be found here.

Best Companies for Multicultural Women Methodology: To be considered for Best Companies for Multicultural Women, each company applied and supplied Working Mother with 2009 data about the hiring, pay and promotion of multicultural employees. Applications focus on representation of multicultural women; recruitment; retention and advancement programs; and company culture. This year, equal weight was given to all segments of the 350-question survey. An independent survey research firm tabulated the scores.

About Working Mother Media
Working Mother magazine reaches 2 million readers and is the only national magazine for career-committed mothers; WorkingMother.com brings to the Web home and career information, advice and a broad range of solutions daily. This year marks the 25th anniversary of Working Mother’s signature research initiative, Working Mother 100 Best Companies, the most important benchmark for work-life practices in corporate America. Working Mother Media, a division of Bonnier Corp. (www.bonnier.com), includes the National Association for Female Executives (NAFE, www.nafe.com), Diversity Best Practices (www.diversitybestpractices.com), the WorkLife Congress and the Multicultural Women’s Conference and Leadership Summits. Working Mother Media’s mission is to serve as a champion of culture change.