A full 56% of the employees who attend management and leadership training at this financial services firm are women, and their participation in succession planning is up by at least 42% in recent years. At dozens of annual events, they have mentoring opportunities; as members of employee resource groups, they are able to make formal arrangements. Across the firm, those who belong to the Women in Finance network forge alliances and interact with leadership; top women bond at Networking Encourages Women’s Success initiative meetings, to which they bring junior employees. On-site college classes are offered in seven locations (76% of attendees are women); tuition aid for other programs ranges from $8,000 to $12,000 per year.

Chairman & CEO: John Strangfeld

Senior VP, HR: Sharon Taylor

% of senior managers who are women: 32%

% of corporate executives who are women: 26%

% of promotions to manager, senior manager and corporate executive positions that went to women: 49%

% of the top 10% of the company’s earners who are women: 32%

% of corporate executives with profit-and-loss responsibility who are women: 24%

% of the executives running divisions with revenues of more than a billion dollars who are women: 29%

% of executives who report directly to the CEO who are women: 40%

% of the members of the board of directors who are women: 21%

% of female workforce participating in mentoring: 45%

Alicia Vacchiano’s path to her current role is a testament to her abilities, determination and courage.

A straight-A student, Alicia left high school at the end of her junior year in high school to help her divorced mom make ends meet. Working in a supermarket, Alicia got her GED, married, had a son and eventually divorced. As a single mom of a 3-year-old, she joined Prudential in 1988 as a receptionist and began pursuing her undergraduate degree in Information Technology with the help of the company’s tuition reimbursement program.

Along the way, life happened.

A new marriage in 1992 added two stepsons, while increasing work responsibilities resulted in promotions into management. Alicia completed her degree in 2006 and went on to receive her Masters in 2009. Now a director in the company’s HR Risk Management area, Alicia and her husband also care for a childhood friend of her son.

In the early years, Alicia’s drive to succeed was fueled by a need for self-sufficiency and to provide for her son. Having achieved that, Alicia now shares the lessons of her professional and personal life — complete with its wisdom and blessings — with those in her broadening circle of influence.

“I’ve worked hard and taken advantage of the many opportunities my company and my family have given me to grow,” she says. “It’s a delight to give back and to be able to help others succeed as well.”

It’s easy to find people to admire at this financial services firm, where moms run two of the three highest-earning businesses and the number of women promoted to senior management increased by 51% in 2010. Encouraged by their example, female employees have recently doubled their participation in its career-counseling and life-coaching programs. Those in the retirement and life insurance divisions enjoy their own leadership forums, but mentoring and tuition assistance are widely available. Women who work 20 hours per week can take nine partially paid weeks off after the birth of a child.

Chairman & CEO John Strangfeld 

Senior VP, HR Sharon Taylor

Women managers/execs 50% 

Women among top earners 37% 

Women hires in 2010 40% 

Average weeks of fully paid maternity leave offered 4 

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

Offers affinity group for new mothers? No

Offers backup childcare? Yes

Employees working flexibly 90%

Alternative schedules are immensely popular with employees at this financial services firm, where 90% of the workforce adjust their hours. The firm has rolled out a widely used emergency-care program that gives parents inexpensive options when their children are sick or their usual caregivers aren’t available.

Chairman & CEO John Strangfeld 

Senior VP, HR Sharon Taylor

Offers on-site or near-site childcare Yes

Sponsors backup childcare Yes

Sponsors sick-child care Yes

Sponsors before- or afterschool childcare Yes

Offers business-travel childcare reimbursements Yes

Offers support groups for parents of teens No

Offers college coaching Yes

Offers affinity group for employees with children who have special needs Yes

Offers scholarships to employees’ family members Yes

Offers adoption assistance Yes

In 2009, 58% of the employees who received management and leadership training at Prudential Financial were women.

Parents hold 54% of the jobs at this financial services firm, and 36% have children young enough to attend day care. They appreciate the childcare center that the firm offers at its Woodbridge, NJ, location and its backup care centers at sites in Newark, NJ, and Drescher, PA, which allow 20 annual visits (40 for newborns) at $15 per day. Outside of those areas, parents take advantage of child-care discounts of up to 15% and either use in-home backup care for $4 per hour or rely on any of 3,000 centers for $2 per child per hour. To afford it, they save money in the firm's pretax child-care account, which comes with a 25% match (up to $1,000). Travel-related child care is reimbursed up to $500 annually. For foster parents, there's also a gift of $1,000 the first year they care for a child. Moms like the firm's free life, health and budget coaches, ten fitness centers and eight medical clinics.

Chairman & CEO John Strangfeld

SVP, HR & Chair of the Prudential Foundation Sharon Taylor

Women managers, senior managers and corporate execs 50%

Women among top earners 37%

Women on board of directors 14%

Women corporate executive hires in 2009 75%

Women participating in management or leadership training in the past year* 34%

Women participating in formalized executive succession planning last year* 4%

Women promoted last year who utilized a formal flexible work arrangement 89%   

Do formal compensation policies reward managers who help women advance? Yes

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

Free phone-based health coaching provides Prudential families with support when they need to lose weight, quit smoking or improve overall wellness.

Flexible schedules have been used by employees at this Newark, NJ–based financial services firm for 30 years, but they got a boost in 2008 after new CEO John Strangfeld and his senior team rewrote their official diversity statement to include work/life balance and alternative arrangements. Soon, paper request forms were traded in for an online database where workers can easily apply for formal arrangements; and a website was built to list all options, policies and guidelines and provide links to the technology needed to go remote. For years, 90% of employees have flexed their hours, but usage of telecommuting, compressed workweeks, job-sharing and part-time work surged last year to 67% from 55% of the population, thanks in part to nine flex pilots in previously underserved areas.

Chairman & CEO: John Strangfeld

Senior VP, HR & Chair of the Prudential Foundation: Sharon Taylor

Women managers/execs: 50%

Women among top earners: 31%

Women on board of directors: 14%

Women corporate executive hires in 2008: 50%

Women participating in management or leadership training in the past year: 32%

Women participating in formalized executive succession planning last year: 34%

Women promoted last year who utilized a formal flexible work arrangement: 90%

Formal compensation policies reward managers who help women advance: Yes