Every winter, the Cabin Fever event at AOL’s Dulles, VA, site treats kids aged two to five, to face painting and arts and crafts activities.

Kids get a great start in life when their moms work for this Web services company. Its innovative Well Baby program offers coaching on prenatal care, childbirth, lactation and newborn health. New mothers may take eight fully paid weeks after a birth, or two fully paid weeks off (with a $4,000 benefit) after adoption. There's an on-site child-care center in Dulles, VA, which boasts one building for infants and toddlers and another for preschoolers and school kids under age 12. Each winter, that site hosts a Cabin Fever event that treats kids ages 2 to 5 to face painting and arts and crafts activities. In a crisis, parents use subsidized backup care or take up to ten paid days off annually to tend to sick kids. To help moms and dads pay for dependent care, the company provides pretax accounts, into which they can put $5,000 annually. On-site fitness centers and discounts at gyms nationwide help employees stay healthy.

Chairman & CEO Tim Armstrong

VP Gillian Pon, PhD

Women managers, senior managers and corporate execs 29%

Women among top earners 27%

Women on board of directors 30%

Women corporate executive hires in 2009 17%

Women participating in management or leadership training in the past year* 8%

Women participating in formalized executive succession planning last year* 29%

Women promoted last year who utilized a formal flexible work arrangement Not tracked  

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

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

$5,000 in a company-sponsored pretax dependent-care account is how much AOL workers saving for child-care or elder-care expenses can sock away.

Hiring talented moms is only part of the family-friendly strategy for this New York City–based media, Internet and advertising firm; it also supports their rise through the ranks. While its Women’s Network Mentor program gives female associates an opportunity to bond with superiors at the director level or above, high-potential female leaders are provided with individual coaching and given specific goals designed to advance their careers. In fact, women in line for positions with profit-and-loss responsibilities are routinely urged to shadow others in those jobs and to test their skills while acquiring new ones in a job-rotation program. Through their participation in the Breakthrough Leadership program offered by Simmons College, female vice presidents learn strategies to deflect gender dynamics that could hamper their success.

Chairman & CEO: Tim Armstrong

Senior VP: Michaela Oliver

Women managers/execs: 35%

Women among top earners: 25%

Women on board of directors: 8%

Women corporate executive hires in 2008: 100%

Women participating in management or leadership training in the past year: 15%

Women participating in formalized executive succession planning last year: 100%

Women promoted last year who utilized a formal flexible work arrangement: 28%

Formal compensation policies reward managers who help women advance: No