Full-time employees of the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics are automatically given at least 35 paid days off each year.

Just months after her second daughter was born, Kari Schrage visited this academic medical center to interview for a job as senior public affairs specialist—and was immediately sold by what she saw penciled in on her schedule. Without her even asking, management had set aside time for her to use a lactation room. “They get the little things that matter to parents,” she says of the Madison, WI–based organization where she’s worked for three years. To help all of its mothers find balance, the center offers on-site cafeterias and pharmacies that make it a snap for them to grab dinner and prescriptions. Free bus passes for traveling around the capital, darkened office “reflection rooms” that provide at-work sanctuary and company-sponsored holiday shopping trips also help. But the biggest perk may be this employer’s new in-home and center-based backup care, which costs just $2 to $4 per hour, up to 60 hours per year.

President & CEO: Donna Katen-Bahensky

VP, HR: Janice Bultema

Women managers/execs: 69%

Women among top earners: 69%

Women on board of directors: 31%

Women corporate executive hires in 2008: 33% 

Women participating in management or leadership training in the past year: 40%

Women participating in formalized executive succession planning last year: N/A

Women promoted last year who utilized a formal flexible work arrangement: 35%

Formal compensation policies reward managers who help women advance: Yes