When its original women’s initiative was launched 22 years ago, no one at this semiconductor and educational technology company could have foreseen how essential to female advancement future chapters would become, with their mentoring, lectures and up-close-and-personal discussions with business leaders. The P&L Women of TI Network stages annual summits devoted to moving women into the C-suite and works with leadership on related initiatives. Today, there are 18 female employees with profit-and-loss responsibilities—twice the number that there were just four years ago.

Chairman, President & CEO: Richard Templeton

Senior VP, HR: Darla Whitaker

% of senior managers who are women: 6%

% of corporate executives who are women: 20%

% of promotions to manager, senior manager and corporate executive positions that went to women: 25%

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

% of corporate executives with profit-and-loss responsibility who are women: 13%

% of the executives running divisions with revenues of more than a billion dollars who are women: 0%

% of executives who report directly to the CEO who are women: 15%

% of the members of the board of directors who are women: 36%

% of female workforce participating in mentoring: 4%

In addition to being an outstanding employee at Texas Instruments, human resources manager Jennifer Kleman has overcome many unique parenting challenges to create an innovative work-life approach that is truly successful for her and her family.

Jennifer started working at TI in June 2000 as a contract recruiter and joined the company as a full-time employee a few years later. After giving birth to twins in 2007, she took a year-and-a-half leave of absence to take care of her boys’ medical challenges. “Many people at TI helped me on a personal basis during this experience and it has touched me in a unique way,” Jennifer explained.

In particular, Jennifer said a TI senior vice president made a significant difference in her twins’ quality of life. This VP took it upon herself to ask a person that she had met as a board member to help get the boys an appointment at a leading neurology facility. This treatment helped the boys tremendously.

With her sons’ medical conditions stabilized in February 2009, Jennifer made the decision to return to work. But this decision was not an easy one. According to Jennifer, she struggled with the decision and talked to her two oldest boys about it

“My oldest child said I had to make the decision from my head and my middle child said I had to make the decision from my heart,” Jennifer explained. “In the end, I made the decision with my head but through my heart and it was the right decision for all of us.”

For Jennifer, schedule flexibility continues to be the key ingredient to her work-life success, while an extremely positive outlook on life coupled with unwavering love for her children makes her an outstanding working mom. She leaves the office by 4 p.m. each work day and returns a few business calls on the way home. After getting all of the children to bed in the evening, she sleeps from 9 p.m. to midnight, works at home from midnight to 3 a.m., then goes back to bed for a few hours of sleep before getting the children ready to start their day.

 “Making any work-life balance successful involves figuring out what works for your individual lifestyle so you can truly add value to everything you do,” Jennifer said. “This schedule works very well for me and allows me to be a good mother and employee.”

Wandering through art museums, marveling at exotic zoo animals and enjoying world-class concerts are just some of the things that families do for free when Mom works for this semiconductor- and educational-technology giant. Women also enjoy hanging out with their kids at office sports events, picnics, parties and the annual take our Daughters and Sons to Work Day, which welcomed more than 1,000 visitors in 2010. Employees’ little ones swim and swat tennis balls at the company’s fitness centers in Dallas, Plano and Sherman, TX, and cook, paint, play basketball and study robotics at their spring, summer and winter camps. (Proud mothers post pictures in the intranet “Parenting Room.”) to open up their jam-packed schedules, 70% of workers flexed their hours last year.

Chairman, President & CEO Richard Templeton 

Senior VP, HR Darla Whitaker

Women managers/execs 19% 

Women among top earners 11% 

Women hires in 2010 20% 

Average weeks of fully paid maternity leave offered 8 

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 70%

More than 4,500 Texas Instruments employees used the company’s concierge service to complete personal tasks and chores last year.

All those little things no one tells you about being a mother are addressed by the Practical Parent Education program at this semiconductor and educational technology company. Available on-site and online, the program features expert advice on how to get kids to stop whining, how to handle a strong-willed child, how to reduce power struggles and more. "I am a single parent of a seven-year-old son, and these classes are a big help," says Momchil Milev, a senior electric design automation engineer. Mothers flock to the company's online support groups, too, which help parents and anyone with special-needs or elder-care issues. Subsidized backup care and 10% discounts at child-care centers nationwide make things easier, as does a child-care facility at headquarters, which offers a subsidized camp experience during school breaks. Parents at HQ also get priority access to sick-child care at a nearby hospital.

Chairman, President & CEO Richard Templeton

VP, Employee Benefits Lita Alessandra

Women managers, senior managers and corporate execs 18%

Women among top earners 12%

Women on board of directors 36%

Women corporate executive hires in 2009 0%   

Women participating in management or leadership training in the past year* Not tracked  

Women participating in formalized executive succession planning last year* Not tracked  

Women promoted last year who utilized a formal flexible work arrangement 22%

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

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

Texas Instruments offers two drop-in child-care rooms for parents who exercise at their Dallas and Plano, TX, on-site fitness facilities.

“Time is not an infinite resource” is the work/life mantra of this Dallas semiconductor and educational technology company, which discourages employees from equating long hours and frequent business trips with getting ahead. Last year, 90% of its workers were able to complete assignments from home or another convenient location, while 27% found time by compressing their weeks (an option available at all manufacturing sites). Employees wanting to scale back can consult the new FlexPaths website, which shows them how to propose alternative arrangements and educates managers on the business case of such requests. Encouraged by this flexibility, 92% of pregnant employees decided to return to work after their eight fully paid weeks of maternity leave. Anyone who adopts receives two paid weeks off, with up to $4,000 to cover costs.

Chairman, President & CEO: Richard Templeton

VP, Employee Benefits: Lita Alessandra

Women managers/execs: 19%

Women among top earners: 10%

Women on board of directors: 36%

Women corporate executive hires in 2008: 0%

Women participating in management or leadership training in the past year: 20%

Women participating in formalized executive succession planning last year: 20%

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

Formal compensation policies reward managers who help women advance: No