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Submitted by Kelli Daley on Fri, 2010-01-22 12:09

Women at AstraZeneca took an average of 18 weeks of job-guaranteed leave after childbirth.

Photo: On the left is Tracey Forte, Recruitment Coordinator, and on the right, Emily Cox, Recruitment Partner.  Both are working mothers.

Working Mother 100 Best Companies cross all industries and services.  In health care related fields, a number of national pharmaceutical firms and health insurance providers rose to the top with work-life programs that allow their employees more flexibility and benefits than others. Here’s a quick look at Best Companies in Health Care (based on 2009 stats) and some of the highlights of their work-life provisions and what we love about them.

Abbott
Mothers-to-be receive infertility counseling and prenatal breastfeeding education, while those who’ve given birth, used a surrogate or adopted receive up to six weeks of fully paid maternity leave. Back at the office, breastfeeding staffers can access “lactation stations,” phone 24-hour nursing consultants and receive discounts on pumps, diaper bags and baby formula to help ease their financial burden.
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AstraZeneca
Families are warmly welcomed at this tight-knit pharmaceutical firm, which has seven locations in five states. The sprawling ten acres on which its Rockland, DE, child-care center is located give toddlers, preschoolers and their older siblings room to roam, while summer vacation programs at the nearby Wilmington headquarters also help keep school-age kids entertained. Moms and dads at all sites can access full-time child-care discounts or request ten days of subsidized backup care.
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Bayer
Eager to become a global employer of choice, this Pittsburgh-based health-care, materials and nutritional products company is dedicated to helping women grow with the support of its women’s networks. Though just one third of its employees are female, management is determined to see women rise up the corporate ladder. A new HealthCare Women’s Leadership Initiative is designed to help attract and develop high-performing women and has set a goal of 25 percent of women in senior leadership roles by 2012.
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Bristol-Myers Squibb
From the start of their careers, high-potential women are paired with top executives who help them outline a professional plan. As they rise through the ranks, women are invited to an annual two-day workshop that shows them how to steer their careers in the direction they want. Meanwhile, multitasking mothers can breathe easier with 10% tuition discounts at child-care chains, four on-site child-care centers (used by more than 1,000 parents) and $300 annual backup subsidies.
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Eli Lilly and Co.
Formal telecommuting arrangements allow parents who work for this pharmaceutical firm to spend more time at home with their children, while company laptops make it easier for all employees to work offsite—and one third did so last year. The firm has an Integrated Workplace initiative, which stocks entire floors with lockers and docking stations and distributes BlackBerrys to encourage employees to work wherever is most convenient.
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GlaxoSmith-Kline
The pharmaceutical firm promotes a “culture of balance” exemplified by the firm’s Working Mothers Alliance, which briefs parents on alternative work schedules and shows them how to navigate unorthodox career paths. To give them the stamina to get everything done, there are three-day resilience workshops, which demonstrate how to eat right, stay flexible and maintain high energy levels. For extra relief, parents may opt to work from home or take “career breaks” of up to 180 days. Child care is available to all employees, with sliding-scale tuition at 16 on- or near-site centers.
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Johnson & Johnson
This New Brunswick, NJ–based health-care company ramped up its efforts to create a “culture of caring” by introducing an additional 40 paid hours off for anyone who needs extra time to tend to family and personal responsibilities. Meanwhile, six weeks are partially paid for those who give birth, in addition to at least eight weeks of job-guaranteed leave. The company offers all parents discounts at six national child-care chains, plus sliding-scale tuition at seven on-site facilities with fulltime, backup, sick-child, holiday and summer care. In-home elder-care assessments, on-site nursing-home reviews and scheduled check-ins on older relatives help relieve stress.
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Merck & Co.
In a global survey of 12,000 employees, management discovered that alternative arrangements (including telecommuting, job-sharing and compressed workweeks) had become so integral to workers’ sense of well-being that 49% of them said it affected their decision to remain with the firm. Motivated by the findings, Merck introduced the Global Flexible Work Arrangement program, which encourages workers to apply for such options and emphasizes that all requests are considered equitably. It then launched a website featuring request forms and training.
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Novartis Pharmaceuticals
Jobsharers, telecommuters and other flex fans can rely on the firm’s easily customizable child-care offerings, including discounts on fulltime care at national chains with budget-friendly backup (just $15 to $25 per day) and in-home sick care ($5 per hour). Impressively, anyone who saves $4,000 in a pretax child-care account is gifted another $1,000 by the company. Summer camp fairs and college coaching programs help make life a little easier for the parents of older kids.
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Pfizer
Tthis New York City–based pharmaceutical firm helps employees by launching a leadership development initiative for female managers and directors, as well as an array of new mentoring programs—like one in the Global Manufacturing division that features small group discussions. Moms seeking further education to climb the ladder can tap up to $10,000 in annual tuition reimbursements and an allowance for books and supplies.
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Sanofi-aventis
This global pharmaceutical firm goes the extra mile for its employees’ children. Last year it strengthened its efforts to ensure its families never go without child care by expanding access to its subsidized in-home and center-based backup program. Sanofi-aventis also introduced discounts on full-time care at two national chains and provides free memberships to a babysitter-finding service. Mothers-to-be receive 18 job-guaranteed weeks off—with 12 fully paid—and can now take Fridays off for up to 12 weeks after they return.
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WellPoint
Top executives guide women at the level of manager and above through targeted developmental “assignments,” including public speaking and expanding their personal networks. For balance, half of all workers flex their hours and one third telecommute, while employees giving birth or adopting can take 12 job-guaranteed weeks off and halve their hours the first week they’re back, with a full week’s pay. Resource and referral helps them find child care, for which there’s a 10% match (up to $455) in their $5,000 pretax savings accounts.
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