McKinsey & Co.’s Sponsorship Masterclass shows female partners how to advocate for the women below them and locate their own sponsors as well.

To better understand how female employees are flowing into and up the executive pipeline at this management consulting firm, global managing director Dominic Barton compares their high-level representation against a set of internal goals each quarter, joined by the senior partners in charge of each global region. In related discussions, the directors of the firm’s women’s initiative meet with office leaders to assess the progress of female managers on the partner track and locate in-house sponsors for those who need them. The firm’s 1.5-day Pathway to Partner program, held in New York City, finds senior partners facilitating discussions among small groups of female engagement managers and/or associate principals, with a focus on helping them define their leadership vision. It’s part of a larger women’s curriculum that fosters skill-building and promotes a sense of community at every level.

Global Managing Director: Dominic Barton

Director: Michelle Jarrard

% of senior managers who are women: 25%

% of corporate executives who are women: 11%

% of promotions to manager, senior manager and corporate executive positions that went to women: 26%

% of the top 10% of the company’s earners who are women: 14%

% of corporate executives with profit-and-loss responsibility who are women: 10%

% of the executives running divisions with revenues of more than a billion dollars who are women: --

% of executives who report directly to the CEO who are women: N/A

% of the members of the board of directors who are women: 7%

% of female workforce participating in mentoring: --

McKinsey & Co. employees can take a one-year leave of absence to explore their personal interests (language study, athletic training, time with family, and more).

Alternative work arrangements have always been this management consulting firm’s strong suit; all of its employees adjust their hours on a regular basis, and nearly everyone telecommutes when needed. In 2010, the firm intensified its support for such options by appointing partner lisa ellis (who once worked part-time herself) as its new “flexibility champion.” In this role, the mother of three offers guidance to consultants with formal flex schedules and maintains a dialogue with the firm’s leadership about the best ways to serve them. To encourage more employees to investigate flex, the firm has expanded its training around the issue, enhanced its flex website and released a book on flex users. These efforts are critical to helping working mothers rise; so is the firm’s generous tuition aid, which reimbursed users an average of $14,500 last year.

Managing Director Dominic Barton

Director Michelle Jarrard

Women managers/execs 29% 

Women among top earners 22% 

Women hires in 2010 32% 

Average weeks of fully paid maternity leave offered 14 

Allows new moms to “phase back” into work with reduced hours? Yes

Offers affinity group for new mothers? Yes

Offers backup childcare? Yes

Employees working flexibly 100%

At McKinsey & Company, the whole office shuts down for the last week of December so no one feels any pressure to work.

With the formal launch of its Mom's Network last year, this management consulting firm gave all women who were expecting or raising children their own representative–a dedicated manager assigned to keep tabs on their progress and answer any work-life questions. Women who are pregnant may take ten paid days off before giving birth and can stay home for 12 fully paid weeks afterward  (16 if their children are multiples, premature or born with special needs). Partners in every office mentor moms and explain the details of on- and off-ramping, but it's the annual Mom's Facebook that really helps consultants with kids find a network. With personal insight (and a bit of humor), senior women have written Laptops & Lullabies: The Mom's Guide to McKinsey. In a real bind, moms can contact the firm's backup-care program, which will send a nanny to their homes; use is unlimited, and the fee is subsidized for non partners five days per year.

Managing Director Dominic Barton

Director of Diversity Initiatives Paulette Gerkovich, PhD

Women managers, senior managers and corporate execs 27%

Women among top earners 22%

Women on board of directors 7%

Women corporate executive hires in 2009 N/A  

Women participating in management or leadership training in the past year* 22%

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

Women promoted last year who utilized a formal flexible work arrangement 6%

Do formal compensation policies reward managers who help women advance? No

 

*Percentages reflect number of women participants versus company’s total female workforce.

McKinsey’s Mom’s Leaders Network, staffed by senior women, counsels and supports female employees before, during and after maternity leave.

Women who consult for this globally renowned firm tend to have a hand in structuring the way their assignments develop and regularly work off-site with their clients. To limit business trips, employees can log on to a videoconferencing system at the office or through their home computers and hold virtual meetings with clients. But consultants (who make up roughly half the staff) aren’t the only ones taking advantage of flexibility: In 2008, 95% of employees of this New York City–based firm worked from a remote location.

Managing Director: Ian Davis

Senior Manager, Diversity initiatives: Paulette Gerkovich

Women managers/execs: 30%

Women among top earners: 14%

Women on board of directors: 7%

Women corporate executive hires in 2008: 0%

Women participating in management or leadership training in the past year: 100%

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

Women promoted last year who utilized a formal flexible work arrangement: 5%

Formal compensation policies reward managers who help women advance: No