When Maggie Carey joined SC Johnson 14 years ago, she had no idea what kind of whirlwind career was in store.

After completing her education at Cornell University, Maggie stepped into a sales role and it wasn’t long before she was promoted to a marketing associate position.  But it was when she and her husband Sean, a sales director at SC Johnson, decided to start a family that things really took off.

Shortly after the birth of their first son, Sean was promoted to Country Manager — Puerto Rico. The stress of new family life can be tough enough without the obstacles Maggie and her husband had to overcome, namely the language barrier.

Thankfully, the couple did find child care. And Maggie’s supportive managers had a plan to keep her professional life on track as well. “I thought I was going to have to leave the company,” recalls Maggie. “Instead, they saw an opportunity to use my situation as an experiment.” The company found marketing projects for Maggie to do at home, part-time. The only catch: she’d have to come back to headquarters, in Racine, WI, for one week every month.

The plan worked. As for the language barrier, Maggie solved that for herself: She learned Spanish during her time in the Caribbean.

The Careys welcomed a second son to the family before returning to Racine for good. And Maggie now serves as Category Manager of Air Care New Product Development in North America.

The key to Maggie’s success in juggling career and family, she says, is the leadership at SC Johnson. “There is such passion and integrity here,” Maggie says.

“They understand that, as challenging as a career in marketing can be, I do have demands outside of work. They know that for me to be able to focus while I’m at work, I have to be able to focus on my family when I’m at home, too. It’s the advantage of working in a privately-held environment for a company that stands by its commitment to family values.”

Grocery shopping, gassing up the car and buying and wrapping gifts are the kind of time-consuming tasks that can drain hours out of a mom’s day. Fortunately, this consumer products company subsidizes a concierge service that takes these chores off parents’ plates—and that’s not the only way it saves them time. Workouts are easier to fit in now that there’s a new 4,400-square-foot fitness center at the Racine, WI, headquarters, and an on-site medical clinic performs checkups, runs blood tests and treats fevers. In warm weather, office farmers’ markets even make it easy for moms to buy fresh produce. After the birth or adoption of a child, employees can take six partially paid weeks off (with a $5,000 adoption benefit); single moms and the parents of teens and kids with special needs have access to in-house support groups.

Chairman & CEO H. Fisk Johnson, PhD

Senior VP, Global HR Pascale Meyran

Women managers/execs 37% 

Women among top earners 32% 

Women hires in 2010 54% 

Average weeks of fully paid maternity leave offered 2 

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 69%

Creating a healthy environment for employee families is important to this consumer products company, which only requires parents to work 20 hours a week to earn family medical coverage. The on-site health center at headquarters offers free physicals, immunizations and flu shots, administered by a staff of 15.

Chairman & CEO H. Fisk Johnson, PhD 

Senior VP, Global HR Pascale Meyran

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 Yes

Offers college coaching No

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

Offers scholarships to employees’ family members Yes

Offers adoption assistance Yes

SC Johnson’s annual employee retention rate is 97.7%.

Moms at this consumer products company can take mildly ill children to a local hospital for temporary care, with 75% of the cost covered by their employer (up to $500 per year). When they're feeling better, kids ages 6 weeks to 12 years can play at a child-care center near headquarters, which offers full-time and backup care. Most parents can flex, telecommute or compress their weeks; after five years, they get an eight-week sabbatical with 25% pay. During the summertime, many parents leave work at noon on Fridays. "We used those afternoons to explore lakes for swimming and fishing and to go on picnics and outings as a family," says category sales manager Megan Rath, a mom of two. Families who need a retreat stay in one of 22 cabins that pepper the company's lakeside vacation property in Minocqua, WI, where kids hike, boat, do crafts and play Ping-Pong. You can't beat the cost: less than $300 per week for a family of four.

Chairman & CEO H. Fisk Johnson, PhD

Director, Organizational Development & Effectiveness Mandy Chooi

Women managers, senior managers and corporate execs 36%

Women among top earners 32%

Women on board of directors 30%

Women corporate executive hires in 2009 0%

Women participating in management or leadership training in the past year* 9%

Women participating in formalized executive succession planning last year* 59%

Women promoted last year who utilized a formal flexible work arrangement 100%

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

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